Sorry to hear about your luck. I own a 1996 Ford Contour SE V6 5 speed and have owned the car since 98. It currently has 90K miles and the only maintance ive done to it other than replace the oil, tires, etc is the waterpump that went at 70K after two dyno pulls. Other than that, my car has been perfect. It gets driven fairly hard too. The syncros still engage just as smooth as the day i bought the car. Suspension handles great as well. Perhaps you just got an odd ball car. The duratec motor certainly isnt junk and neither is the mtx-75 5 speed transmission (The CD4-E automatic....well thats a different story). If that was the case, then Ford certainly wouldnt be putting the duratec into the Mazda 6, Jag x-type, Jag S-type, Lincoln LS, Escape, Taurus, Sable, and Aston Martin. Yes, thats correct the Aston Martin V12 is 2 duratec 3.0L's!
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"The CEG Nazi"
www.contour.org
1996 Ford Contour SE - Sold
3.0L V6 and Arizona Dyno Chip Turbo Kit
364 whp, 410 wtq @ 16 psi and only 4,700 rpms.
1999 Tropic Green SVT Contour - Bone stock and MINT