Since I noticed no one posted a 100% correct fix for the 'loss of power while driving' solution I thought I'd post my experience. ((ANSWER: Fuel Pump Module [ under $200 ] ))

About 6-7 months ago I came across a 2000 Ford Contour with only about 107000 ( give or take ) miles for only $750. At the time the car had a flat tire so I couldn't test drive it, but everything seemed to be in working order. There were a few minor issues such as electric things like the blinkers & AC were not working.

Literately 5 minutes after buying the car, it kills on the drive home. As soon as I tow the car home I hit the net seeking a solution and there were many! From the battery to the alternator.

So I started with the Alternator. I found one cheap for around $78 on Amazon and found a guy on Craigslist to put it in for $40, so it cost me around $120. Unfortunately he broke another part ( I can't remember what one but it cost me a total of $125 between the part an labor with the new mechanic. ). When that didn't work I contacted a buddy who knows a few mechanics. Once I felt like I had the right guy for the job, I headed back to Amazon to get the next part ( he thought ) that might fix the problem. The next part I bought was the Ignition Coil Pack around $26 and he put the part in for free. So now I'm at a little under $275 worth of parts :), still not bad.

The car starts, we let it run about 30+ minutes with no issues, so we think we are all good! Shortly after the mechanic leaves BAM, it does it again on the test drive. The mechanic tells us to lift the back seat and bang on the fuel pump to see what happens. IT STARTS! So he says we need a fuel pump. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS UGLY! So I go online to order the fuel pump and it's actually quit cheap ( under $50 ), but they have about 4+ types that all claim to work with the 2000 Ford Contour. Then I also see the Fuel Pump Module, but it was a bit pricey so I tried to keep it simple an just buy the pump. Well, after 3 orders and each pump being wrong, I finally decided to buy the Fuel Pump Module for $170 ( if you buy this anywhere other then eBay or Amazon it's almost $500 ). Come to find out since there were so many issues with the fuel system it's hard to find the original fuel pump and you have to buy the whole system.

So the Fuel Pump Module arrives! I do a little reading and see you can get to the fuel pump through the back seat, so I decided to save myself a little money by taking a shot at it my self :). I used a pair of grips and pulled the seat back, unplugged the few wires and I had the new pump in within minutes. YES, I'M A GIRL! An I did this alone, LOL, and I have no mechanic experience an I didn't even brake a nail :P.

SOoo, my 2000 Ford Contour is now working A++! If you are on budget, you can fix this problem with $170 on your own.

Total Paid for parts & labor $535 ( could have been $170 ) Total Paid for car with parts $1285

The minor things were fixed with fuses + the car had a $400 radio system. The car is valued at a little over $3000 and is in mint condition so even though I came out spending $1285 I think it was still a great deal :).

I posted a very long complaint under "Engine" category. I have a 2000 Ford Contour v6 2.5 that I purchased in Feb. 2010. Shortly after the car would start cutting out & die around a 1/4 tank of gas. It would not crank back up until I put more gas in it. It was especially bad when I made a left turn going uphill. It didn't do it all the time. Some times it would go all the way to empty without any problem. But it has gotten a lot worse just in the last month. First it started doing it at 1/2 tank instead of 1/4 tank, now it does it between 3/4 & full. It also makes a popping noise like backfiring from the engine (which I forgot to mention in my complaint under "Engine"). I have had this car put on many, many machines & shows many,many different codes. Each time I take it to a different place it shows another code. I have replaced a few things which have not helped at all. The only way the car will run is if I keep it on full, or actually past full. Also, when it does this cutting out & dies & I have to put more gas in before it will crank back up it has to be on level ground, or maybe the front pointed down hill. If the front is pointed uphill it will not crank. Yesterday I took it to another mechanic & when he put it on his machine he said "GOOD LORD"- because it was showing so many different codes. I know that if there were truly a problem with all these codes at the same time the car would not be running at all. I read a post on here from Cassandra O. in Burkburnet, Tx. she is the only person I have found on any of these complaint sites who actually finally got her car fixed. She says a mechanic did some research and replaced "a sensor or chip on or near the fuel pump". I cannot find anyone, even the Dealer, who knows what this part is actually called. As a matter of fact the Dealer said in so many words that it does not exist! Her post was an old one (2002) but I responded anyway hoping she will somehow see it and tell me the name & phone number of the mechanic who fixed her car. She says that she has not had this problem since he replaced this part & it had been 3 years! If anyone knows the exact name of this part please let me know. Also, everyone should call Ford, like I did yesterday, @800-392-ford. They will take all your information, about you, your car and the problem. It is entered into their system. I told her there needs to be a recall on these cars. She says if they get enough complaints there probably will be a recall. They will fix the cars and reimburse any money spent on repairs for this problem. Says I will be notified by mail (or email, but I didn't give her my email address) if there is a recall. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

OK. Car starting losing power on interstate when engine hot. would lose power then surge ahead . Car would either shut down or would stagger onto shoulder and required cooling for 30 minutes+ before restarting. go 20 miles stop 30 minutes. Took car to dealer. they replaced air intake gasket 557 bucks. Unfortunately we trusted this would fix problem Nope. Next time on highway of course 100 miles from nowhere it did the same thing only worse. Now they tell us replace fuel pump 900+ bucks. and that is supposedly with a deal on fuel pump and labor. Read about this problem and seems to be issue with 2000 contours that get miles on them. Not sure if the air intake gasket was ever needed but dealer says both were needed. they just failed to id both problems initially. I understand dealer not running 100miles on test drive but you would think they have access to data to id this type of defect based on computer read out. Check engine light did come on when car acted up both times.

Update from May 29, 2018: Actually turned out to be the fuel pump. $ 900.00 charge to fix which is ridiculous on an old ford. Not that tough for a normal auto shop to fix. Put the car up a little, drain the tank, lower the tank, remove and replace the pump, and remount the fuel tank. But this was grandmas car so wanted it fixed right so took it to the ford dealer. Arrrrrgh.

I really couldn't complain that much about the fuel pump. It was factory and almost went 200,000 miles. The shop said the car was displaying lean codes and fuel pressure codes. The problem was initially fixed after replacing the fuel pump. But less than a week later it came back. The shop said the fuel line got kinked when the gas tank was dropped. They replaced the line for free. The problem came back two days after that. It turned out there was also water in the gas. I added water remover and all seems to be well now.

The car had been dying on us periodically and would start again after about one hour. Mechanics were not able to identify the problem because once we got it to the shop, the car started up again and they could not test it. Finally last weekend the car died and did not start up again at all. The nearest mechanic was able to diagnose it and said we needed to replace the fuel pump. However, since he said they could not sell it to him separately, he had to buy the entire fuel kit and it would cost me about $900, not including the labor. Obviously I was outraged, since the car is a piece of crap already and is not even worth that much. I am going to see if another local mechanic can find a used fuel pump for less, but I am not going to put more than a couple of hundred dollars on this car. I am so fed up and it's just not worth it. I am thinking of donating it to charity, since I doubt anyone would even buy this car. NEVER GET A FORD. I'm looking into buying a foreign car, since all my past cars have been American and they are not built to last.

I am glad I ran into this site because now I see how common this problem is. I see that no one has found a solution, so it makes my choice of donating the car for parts more final.

I am glad I decided to check this website before giving in to a mechanic who didn't know what the hell was going on with my car. I took it to 3 different mechanics, including the Ford Dealer! They all told me it was "probably" my fuel pump, a $400 cost. I wasn't willing to spend that much on a problems that wasn't a sure fix. I am going to call the dealer after seeing the post about the chip near the pump and see what they say. Hey, I have an idea..anyone know a good attorney? Maybe we can get Ford to pay for all of our vehicles for producing a vehicle that has a huge problem that can't be found!

I just read complaints about the exact issues I was having with my car. I wish I would have know about this site much earlier. I would have saved a bunch of money or saved some one else a bunch of money posting this earlier.

I first experienced the issue driving back from CA coming thru the dessert from a funeral. Luckily my husband was with me and the kids. We thought it was a clogged fuel filter. My car started spitting and sputtering. Sometimes it would start and then die immediately or drive at the most 5 miles and die again. My husband kept getting under the car ( I could not: I was 9 months pregnant), removing the fuel filter blowing it out and replacing it.

Once we got home I had the fuel filter changed. This did not work. Some times my car ran others it would not start for days/weeks. I noticed it was happening a lot when it would be between 1/4 to 1/2 tank but not so much while it was full. I thought it was the gauge that was off. When it did it once around a full tank, I finally called the mechanic he said it was the fuel pump. This cost me almost $600 to replace. This worked great for about 6 months. Then all symptoms reappeared. This time even worse. I had to have the mechanic come and get my car. So that was an added fee. The part was warrantied but the work was only for 90 days so I had to pay another $250 for labor and then the tow charges. This lasted 14 months when all symptoms were back again. This time my car died coming home on HWY 121 in Irving, TX at 5:30 pm ( if anyone knows this area you will know this is NOT good). I was coming back from the baby's dr appt getting shots.BTW did I tell you this was in the middle of July in TEXAS. So here goes my car in the shop for the 3rd time. That is when the mechanic did some research on recalls and such. Found that there is some sort of sensor or chip on or near the pump that keeps frying. Once this was replaced I have not had a problem with that issue. It has been over 3 years now. :) But I do have other issues this will be listed under transmissions/ flywheels

NOTICED FOR ABOUT A WEEK THAT PICK UP WAS SLUGGISH WHEN BRAKE WAS USED, EVEN WHEN TURNING CORNERS. ONE MORNING STARTED CAR,MOVED ABOUT 3 FEET, AND ENGINE DIED,TRIED TO START AGAIN,ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. CALLED MECHANIC,CAR STARTED & HE DROVE IT,SAID NO PROBLEM,MAY NEED TUNE UP.HE CHANGED AIR FILTER,OIL & BLEW OUT THE FUEL LINE(NO TUNE UP).WAS FINE FOR ABOUT 2 WEEKS,HAPPENED AGAIN,BUT STARTED UP & WAS GOOD FOR ABOUT 4 MORE WEEKS.TODAY ENGINE STARTED FINE,WENT 3 BLOCKS,TURNED CORNER,LOST POWER.KILLED 4 MORE TIMES IN THE 4 BLOCKS HOME. STARTED LATER IN AFTERNOON. SAME MECHANIC WAS CALLED,DIDN'T COME OUT,SAID MAY NEED A NEW FUEL PUMP,BUT CAN'T SAY THAT IS DEFINITELY PROBLEM.I DON'T WANT TO SPEND 500.00 AND HAVE IT HAPPEN AGAIN.ANY IDEAS AS TO WHAT IS WRONG ?

Good Grief!! I've had my car since 04...never had a problem till jan. 08...the engine just started hesitating a lot...we didn't know what was wrong. Then we gotit checked after it died on me in May 08 after just backing up into a parking spot. everything was cool for 2 weeks then it started up again. Then July 08....it turned on me. I was driving on a tight curve and then it died...almost hitting another car. It started back up 2 hours later. Then I got 2 weeks of dying while driving and then Aug. 2, 2008 it just died. Now it's been sitting. Hopefully God will allow it to be fixable.

when i got my contour for the first time the problem didn't seems to show its ugly face until my gas tank was nearing empty. The car would not respond to sudden throttle pressure ( flooring it ). instead of a crisp or atleast some sort of acceleration like most are used to my car acted like i had not touched the gas at all. In fact it actually resulted in a sudden drop of my RPM's. I feathered the gas a little and kept on going after i let off the gas completely and let the car go to a complete stop. after my RPM's had completely dropped and i was at an idle i gave my car more gas and it acted like everything was normal again... (THe first time of coarse) but this was not just a little hiccup that never happened again , this was a very frequent re-occuring problem. After the first time it happened it began to happen alot more. The weird thing is that i didn't seem to have the problem if i was over a quarter tank in fuel. Until one cold day i was driving home from a wedding and my car had its problem like before except i was over a quarter tank. i Then waited a little while to try and start my car like i normally do which usually works but surprisingly my car would not start. the batterie was good , all my lights and stereo would turn on but my car wouldn't even try to start. No clicking or anything. I still haven't figured out whats wrong and my car remains undriveable .