Brought the car to the local dealer in Roseville at the night dropoff, and the mechanic cold started and diagnosed the problem as the starter and related parts and replaced them. The next day, the winding noise was still there. I called and was told there is suddenly are 4-5 '99 and newer front wheel drive Contis in for the same mysterious noise and repair. Today, the service manager called to tell me he was in a "hard spot", had replaced a pump in the transmission of another car, but the winding noise was still present too. He told me that Ford Motors will not send a technical representative and want him to "tape record the noise" and send to Detroit, but that he and his mechanics are "on their own clock". I have an extended warranty from Heritage, but they won't authorize the dealership a cent to diagnose the problem on my car unless he can specify a repair (hmm, what kind of warranty is that??). So, they will "tear down" the other Conti under the extended Ford warranty and hopefully find the whining source. Has anyone out there had this experience? I heard the SHO transmission in these cars is only rated for 275 hp but the newer Contis produce up to 300 hp.