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1996 contour over heating problems

E

eucredawwg

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Our 1996 ford contour 4 cylinder, has problems, when its idiling, the car wont heat up, blows cold air, but when you drive, it starts over heating, i have changed top radiator hose, back radiator hose an thermostatt, am wandering if the water pump needs changed? i dont think its blowing blue smoke out teh back, and the water pump pulley seems to be makin some noise, need help fast pls, my email is eucredawwg@yahoo.com
 
I seem to be in the same boat as you. I seem to be a little further in my troubleshooting though. I have a 1995 Contour V6 5speed that I bought at an auction on Sat. Temp was going straight to red when u turned the key on before even starting the car. Replaced the temp sensor and it fixed that problem. Gadge reads correct now. Start the car and rev it at 1500 rmps for about 5 min and the temp is to the "L" in normal. The fan kicks in right when it hits the "M" everytime. I also replaced the overflow cap. While the old one was holding, I questioned how much pressure it was holding after reading other peoples posts. I also have the problem with it getting really hot with no heat coming out the vents. No heat would lead me to believe that it is a heater core but the over heating almost sounds like the water pump. I have done a flush with prestone flush kit and a flush with viniger. Neither seemed to help at all. I am working my way up the value in the parts list. Starting with the cheapest and working twords most expensive. t-stat and gasket $12, temp sensor $26, overflow cap $8. I am going after the waterpump tonight because it seems to be alot less labor intensive than the heatercore. Please anyone if you feel I am wrong stop me before I do this! Priced the water pump w/ gasket and belt just under $50.
 
The original water pumps in these cars usually blow up around 50k miles [the impeller breaks into pieces]. Replacing it is an easy job but the fact neither of you mentioned any overflow spewing into the engine bay makes me think it's another problem, especially if the temp guage is reading that high.
 
try disconnecting the lines which run into the heater core at the firewall, and hook up a garden hose, and flush the actual core. i had an s10 which was overheating and had no heat... after flushing the sediment and garbage out of the core the truck ran cooler because water was able to flow thru the whole system as opposed to just the engine/radiator and with all the bypass hoses and garbage it wasnt cooling efficently with the plug in the system??? just a thought for ya
 
Do you have a pic of where these lines are located to flush out the heater core? From other posts that I am reading it seem to be common that the temp guadge goes to 'L' in normal after replacing the temp sensor. To me that seems high but they say that is still and acceptable operating range. As for no heat that could be caused by a blend door malfunction? I really would like a digital readout of the acual temp the car is running at. It seems hot to me. The electric fan goes on when the needle hits 'M' and never goes off till u turn off the car. I know the t-stat is working. Nothing is blowing out the overflow.
 
The original water pumps in these cars usually blow up around 50k miles [the impeller breaks into pieces]. Replacing it is an easy job but the fact neither of you mentioned any overflow spewing into the engine bay makes me think it's another problem, especially if the temp guage is reading that high.

Yes, so true. My wife's original water pump lasted about 90k, but the replacement only lasted about 50k miles. Hot coolant and a plastic impeller do not go well together.
 
How many quarts does the cooling system hold? When flushing out the system all three times it took less than a gallon? If you were to hook a garden hose to the car to back flush the system, what hose would you connect it to? I have a feeling that I might have some air pockets in the system, I hear a gurgling noise from the t-stat area when I turn the car off. Frosty said that he hears this too once in awhile on his car, but not for a prolonged period of time. Mine isnt for a long time either.
 
How many quarts does the cooling system hold? When flushing out the system all three times it took less than a gallon? If you were to hook a garden hose to the car to back flush the system, what hose would you connect it to? I have a feeling that I might have some air pockets in the system, I hear a gurgling noise from the t-stat area when I turn the car off. Frosty said that he hears this too once in awhile on his car, but not for a prolonged period of time. Mine isnt for a long time either.

I would connect the garden hose to the 1" hose coming from the coolant res and un clamp and remove the upper rad hose and let it rip. Oh and I would remove the stat also for the flush.
 
Yes, so true. My wife's original water pump lasted about 90k, but the replacement only lasted about 50k miles. Hot coolant and a plastic impeller do not go well together.

listen to this guy... you can learn something. the v6 contour water pumps suck after 50-90k miles. the metal impellar water pump is great. you may find one in the classifieds here or you can go to BATINC.COM to get one. i think they run about $80 more or less
 
A/C Delco makes a metal impeller waterpump for Duratec (I have one), and I believe Autozone carries one too. Some CEG'ers have replaced waterpumps on Zetecs.
 
Regarding Zetec water pumps... The original owner of mine documented everything... at 217k I'm still on the original with no signs of degradation....

Mind you that the orginal (1 owner) owner, flushed the system every 30k miles. When I bought it at 168k I figured it was good to keep the sequence going and flushed it at 180k. I'm a little overdue for the 210k, but now that spring is finally here it will be done soon.
 
The original water pumps in these cars usually blow up around 50k miles [the impeller breaks into pieces]. Replacing it is an easy job but the fact neither of you mentioned any overflow spewing into the engine bay makes me think it's another problem, especially if the temp guage is reading that high.

the original water pump in pre99 contours with the duratec tend to fail because they are the black plastic impellar. zetec do not have issues with the waterpump failing as the duratec does.
 
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