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Wrecked car, need advice on radiator replacement..

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protege_chris

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
103
So I was driving down some little road and something ran out in front of me.. I swerved to the left (caught by surprise lol).. and the road curved to the right unexpectedly. I ended up running into a ditch or some woods or something at 40 or so mph.

I got it pulled out.. there's a loooot of body damage on the left side.. tire's borked. Engine will start, but the radiator is smashed in, cracked big time. What's the easiest way to replace it, and should I go with used or new for the replacement? '95 GL..

Another question.. my bloody airbags.. what should I do with them, how do I get them out.. and how much am I looking at to replace them? Any insurance company would call this car totaled, but I can't afford any kind of new vehicle.. so I have no choice but to get it fixed up again..

on a side note, I really love this car. Might as well be a tank.. hah. My face was burned (and my arms) pretty badly, and my girlfriend.. well.. not so lucky. The tips of two of her fingers were severed and her wrist is broken along with her hand being broken in a few places.. :/
 
Sorry to hear about the GF man, at least in the grand scheme of things you are both Ok. Speedy recovery to her.

As for my suggestion, let her go, I'd be willing to bet for the price of fixing your ride, you could find a nice used Contique, or something similar.
 
Sorry to hear about your accident. At least for the most part you are both O.K. I would have to agree that buying a different used Contour would be a better option. How is the subframe and how do the body lines look? A hard hit at 40 mph may require the car to be put on a "frame machine" for some tweaking to get things to line up properly.
 
BAD SVT said:
what has happened to empathy on CEG!? a guy was in an accident, got really hurt and his gf severed two fingers and broke a few bones, and 12people saw no need to empathize? wow.
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This is the Troubleshooting forum. Most will not post unless they have an answer to the problem as it relates to Troubleshooting.

Having said that, sorry to hear about the accident, Chris. I'm glad you guys are not hurt worse than you are. Airbags deploying is usually a major thing.

Yes, the car will be totalled. You are looking at a repair cost of $500 to $4000 depending on who is doing the repairs and what the replacement parts are.

The things I can "see", at a minimum, are radiator, wheel, tire (with balancing and alignment), driver axle, strut, wheel bearing (and maybe hub), wheel stuts. This is assuming that you don't have safety inspections, i.e., you can get away with just removing the airbags, (airbag light on the dash and the airbag diagnostic module or it will "beep" at you every few minutes). And body damage is not included. I am just thinking of getting it back on the road again.

As suggested in an earlier post, you are better off taking the insurance payoff and buying another used Contour. I think you can get an early model nowadays in the $500 to $1000 range.

Good luck on whatever your decision is. If you decide to keep the Contour, the instructions on airbag removal is in the autozonelink. And the junkyard (and our Classifieds) would usually be the cheapest place to get parts.
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/ce/97/0900823d801bce97/repairInfoPages.htm
 
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I managed to drive it the few miles home. It was quite cold outside so I didn't end up overheating (it wasn't that far). So it actually DOES drive (though it was rather eerie driving down the road as I did.

bjpic-0349.jpg

bjpic-0353.jpg


Looks like my house will be utilizing public transportation for a while. xD
Sadly it doesn't run past 6pm here and I go to work at 10pm :D

Things could have been much worse, overall. There won't be any insurance money, in short. I'll just have to try and save a few paychecks. I don't have any daylight pictures of the damage but here are the ones I had taken.

The damage on the front left continues down the driver's door, just kind of pushed it in (a tree limb or something)
CIMG5710.jpg


CIMG5711.jpg

CIMG5709.jpg

CIMG5708.jpg


If it hadn't been for the enormous pile of dirt we seem to have come to a stop in, it would have been a tree.. and I suspect the car and the occupants would have been a bit more messed up in that case.. :/

Video of me driving it home:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Pkx1fjHal0
I thought all the dash lights lit up were humorous. The check engine light was not on when I started it, only code I'm pulling is still for the EGM (which I had been ignoring for a while). It switches on sporadically, and continued that after the crash with no new codes.

Assuming that I can get my butt to work for the next two weeks, I should be able to put a down payment on something. I crashed the night before I was supposed to start my new job.
 
wow! when u said "bloody airbags" in ur op, i didnt realize it was literal. so u're not even getting the insurance money? am sorry to hear that. hope u get on ur feet as quickly as possible. like it was brought out by others... if u decide to keep ur car, junkyard is the way to go. if not get another tour.
 
Ok, well, I got out there and started messing with the car.. cut out the airbags for now.

I'm stuck on getting the radiator fan and radiator out now though. The lower transaxle fluid (?) line (and the lower radiator hose)... looks just IMPOSSIBLE to get out due to everything in the way... was I supposed to remove anything else?.. and I can't figure out what kind of angle to get on the battery side bolt for the radiator fan.

Here are a few pictures.. Please forgive my ignorance on the subject of vehicle repair, the last (and only other car) I did mechanic work on was a 92 mazda protege, and it was a world of different in the engine bay ;)

CAR.jpg


car2.jpg
 
I've been going off of AZL today, it just looks as if they have MUCH more room down there than I do.
0900823d801bc97d.gif
 
I took a closer look at the car today.. passenger side of the bottom of the radiator, I assume there used to be a drain plug there. It's broken off, a little hole there now.

Had a friend pour water down it, and that's the only place it leaked.

The radiator is still damaged and will NEED to be replaced, but aside from that, I think if I patch that hole, it'll at least be movable for a while.

I cut the airbags out..
my only issue I'm not sure on how to fix now, the left turn signal.

The LENSE is broken completely. The bulb is not. The light for the left signal in the instrument cluster is steadily lit. The turn signal works for hazard AND when switched to turn left. I'm not too sure on if it works as a parking light, but the bulb doesn't seem to be damaged. What could be causing the steady light in the cluster?
 
protege_chris said:
I took a closer look at the car today.. passenger side of the bottom of the radiator, I assume there used to be a drain plug there. It's broken off, a little hole there now.

Had a friend pour water down it, and that's the only place it leaked.

The radiator is still damaged and will NEED to be replaced, but aside from that, I think if I patch that hole, it'll at least be movable for a while.

I cut the airbags out..
my only issue I'm not sure on how to fix now, the left turn signal.

The LENSE is broken completely. The bulb is not. The light for the left signal in the instrument cluster is steadily lit. The turn signal works for hazard AND when switched to turn left. I'm not too sure on if it works as a parking light, but the bulb doesn't seem to be damaged. What could be causing the steady light in the cluster?
Click to expand...

Check the #23 fuse under the dash, the flasher unit which you can access by removing the bottom piece under the steering column (it's attached to the turn signal/highbeam switch unit), and finally check the turnsignal/ highbeam switch unit itself. It wouldn't hurt to make sure the wiring to the light itself is fully intact. But I would guess one of the first three. And do it in that order too, it will make things easier for you.
 
I re-did the atf line into the radiator, and now the car won't start unless I push the gas halfway down while I'm cranking. Is this because of the fact the top radiator hose is disconnected or do I have another issue?

Viiiideo. I had been up for 30 hours and just finished work andddd have a flu so disregard my anger. :d

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zSMjJEL4lIs
 
protege_chris said:
I re-did the atf line into the radiator, and now the car won't start unless I push the gas halfway down while I'm cranking. Is this because of the fact the top radiator hose is disconnected or do I have another issue?

Viiiideo. I had been up for 30 hours and just finished work andddd have a flu so disregard my anger. :d

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zSMjJEL4lIs
Click to expand...

the disconnected radiator hose has nuthn to do with the car starting. the only variable should be temperature.
 
Really Sorry to hear about your accident. I hope every thing works out for the best.

*Bump* Help a fellow CEG'er out here folk's
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