[Drivesthebeast]

My Dad's Contour didn't have overheating issues like yours seems to, but it DID have issue with running properly in certain conditions where it would actually buck and then stall when you used the accelerator. After like 6 trips to more than one dealership, he finally got the car to act up with a tech in the passenger seat. He let the car sit in their lot outisde over night when it was damp and cool, went there first thing in the morning, started it, and proceeded out of the dealer lot with the svc tech with him. He didn't let it warm up much, because he wanted to simulate what it's like trying to leave an intersection or driveway on the way to work. Sure enough, the car bucked and stalled when turning right and trying to accelerate in 1st merging into traffic on Upper James (he left the lot at Mohawk Ford). Then he restarted it and tried to move off again, and it did the same thing. So, the tech seemed dismayed as to what had just happened 2x which they hadn't been able to replicate before, and then surprised when my dad restarted the car, rev'ed it to like 5000K, and dumped the clutch, making the axles hop and start shredding the tires. He pinned the rev limiter on the 2.5 in the first 3 gears (which he had to do, because southbound traffic was about to plow into them from behind). The tech was shocked as to how abusive my dad used the car at the time, and my dad let him know that he's almost been t-boned or worse when trying to turn onto a busy road early in the morning, and the car decided to stall at the worst possible momement.

I know that they replaced the 02 sensors (all of them) like 4 times, the TPS and MAF's more than once, reflashed the computer more than once, replaced the fuel pump, and went through 3 filters. They were NOT able to fix the problem. SO, like yourself, my parents where stuck on what to do, as they loved their car, a Contour SE with a 5 speed, leathers, skirt package, optional rims, and a custom ordered interior (the car had been built in Kansas City, and brought to Canada with an interior like an SVT, but not in a colour SVT's were made in). They ended up breaching their lease with Ford (which took them and their lawyer over 6 months to accomplish btw...). They ended up buying their 92 Topaz GS for $1900, which only needed about $250 to safety, to replace it with.

I'm sorry if the circumstances aren't completely the same, but your thread struck a chord of relevance to me...

Best of luck to you!