We bought a 1998 Ford Contour with a 2.0 Liter engine, also has the option to run it on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The charging system light(looks like a battery w/+ & - light on dash ) stays on for about 4 to 5 min after starting car, and will come on intermittently during different trips. As posted by another, no other real problems that are typical of battery or alternator issues, just really an annoyance. The car runs fine otherwise. Any thoughts anyone wants to share is appreciated. Also noted that my brother has worked on Ford's for 25+ years and we are just beginning to diagnose, but some of the Contour's do have a bad record of wiring harness problems that I think was handled in a recall, but still checking that out as well.

The Charge system idiot light goes on and off in no pattern. It may not come on for several days, it may flicker a few times or it may come on and stay on for the entire drive (30 minutes. sometimes it will blink on for about a minute or 2 then go off and then blink on again several times duringthe course of driving. I've had the car to the mechanics twice and they could not find a problem with the charging system. They thought it could be a sensor going bad. The car runs and starts fine. It doesn't show any of the typical problems a bad charging system would have; hard starting, rough idle, diming lights, stalling, etc. the light is more of annoyance right now and a real problem.