I thought I'd share my limited experience on this car.
The turn signals and emergency flashers on my '98 Contour finally quit all together. I went to O'Reillys and their generic relay didn't look like what I'd seen pictured in the internet so I went to the Ford dealer. Theirs didn't either. But I bought it anyway as it appeared shorter than the generic. Well, the Ford relay was the correct relay (those pictured on the 'net were not for my year, I guess).
Where's the relay? A question I was having a hard time finding the answer to. It is located on the back side (towards the engine) of the turn signal switch. I had to remove the covers around the steering column (2 Phillips screws on top, 3 for the bottom) to gain access to the relay. Flip up the retaining clip, remove the old relay and replace with the new relay.
The hardest part was getting the relay. The generic relay might have worked and it was half the price of the Ford relay but hopefully I'll never know.
Happy Motoring!
Phil
Contour Turn Signal Flasher
Linear Mode
