# 1999 Ford Contour jerking when driving accelerating slowing down

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-ford-contour-jerking-when-driving-accelerating-slowing-down/73712>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** contour, ford\
**Created:** [July 23, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-ford-contour-jerking-when-driving-accelerating-slowing-down/73712 "2012-07-23T19:15:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Running\_on\_empty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@Running\_on\_empty](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Running_on_empty)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-ford-contour-jerking-when-driving-accelerating-slowing-down/73712/1 "2012-07-23T19:15:51Z")

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Hi, I was driving the car yesterday and was getting on the highway ramp and stepped on the gas and car went crazy. It started to accelerate and decelerate by itself. I had no control of the car whatsoever. When driving at 0 to 40mph no problem so far, but anything over this car will jerk, like it’s changing gears by itself, ‘going fast and slow.’  
What is this? Do I need a fuel filter, or plugs or what? I don’t know when the last time I changed anything the car mileage is 135,000  
Help

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**Author:** ![RemcoW](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/remcow/32/2471_2.png) [@RemcoW](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RemcoW)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-ford-contour-jerking-when-driving-accelerating-slowing-down/73712/2 "2012-07-23T19:21:47Z")

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I’d start with the fuel filter as that is a common way a clogged filter rears its ugly head. It is cheap and usually pretty easy to do.