first of all, I was really surprised to see a group in here or anywhere for ford contours. Anyways, now that you all are all here, have major ISSUES w/ my 98 LX. Started about 2 months ago, kept losing acceleration especially taking hills in Washington, MO and in around Ville Ridge, MO, kept having to floor it to get any power. Thought Jiffy Lube down in Washington was trying to screw me for additional services. Not knowing any1 in Washington (I'm a transplant from North St. Louis County)I called Valley Ford in Hazelwood, MO and a mechanic (Dennis was his name) told me it sounded like a timing belt problem. So I took it to Danmark Tire and Lube in Florissant, MO where they ran diagnostics on it and they told me it was coming up as a "Variable Timing Cam" problem and that was all they could tell me. They re- setted the computer and for awhile it ran fine. Then naturally as my luck runs it starting having acceleration and speed problems again. Took it to HillTop Auto down in Union, MO and they came up with: 1). timing belt 2). wiring problem 3). glitch in computer. They were only going to charge me $200.00 for a timing belt but he felt that, that may not be the problem, stating that the engine sounded to quiet for a belt problem. So, here I was, thinking alright I'm just a paranoid bitch, right, the car don't have the problem, I do right? Well here it is on a Monday night in Washington, MO and I start a new job tomorrow and my contour starts running like crap, threatening to die on me, thankfully I was still in my apartment complex and one little parking spot away from my door. Starts making some rattling noise and I said to myself "screw this" and shut that puppy off. Can any1 give insight to this problem and how much. P.S. I'm normally not a paranoid woman just majorly grumpy @ times. It's the age!