Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fordescort

Help our Ford Escort loosen up a little

Tandem Affinity — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:28:15 -0800

What can be done to make the manual transmission shifter easier to work again? We have a 2000 Ford Escort which seems to be working fine, with the exception of a few blips. One 'blip' is the amount of force currently required to shift the manual transmission between gears. All of the gears are equally difficult to shift between. I feel like I am pulling an oar through vaseline. It used to be that after driving for a while, the stick would loosen up a little and feel normal again, but lately that isn't the case. It doesn't seem to be just a cold weather phenomenon either, as the last few warm days in the northeast haven't made things easier, and we don't remember having much trouble with it last winter.

Could this be just a need to lubricate something? (If so, what? And with what?) Or is it a sign of a more major repair?

Hopefully this issue been address in MeFi somewhere else -- I couldn't find anything similar...

Can't open the hood of her car!

lizzicide — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:21:25 -0800

Both the normal inside-the-car hood release latch and the external back-up hood release cable have broken off of my friend's 98 Ford Escort Wagon, and we need to get under the hood to make the battery cooperate. We've jabbed around at everything we can get to under the hood with a long screwdriver, but we can't seem to locate the actual latch, and the hood remains shut. What's next? Crowbar? Any advice would be great.

How much does a catalytic converter cost?

headspace — Mon, 24 May 2004 17:14:18 -0800

The catalytic converter on my 97 Ford Escort blew out today, and I suspect it ruptured part of the exhaust works in front of the muffler. I can find out how much parts cost on my own, but I'm not going to be doing the service myself, so could someone knowledgeable in the realm of automotive repair hazard a ballpark guesstimate as to how much this might cost me to fix? I just need a general idea so I can figure out how much blood to sell to pay for the repairs.