• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

1999 Contour with cracked engine block, whats next?

D

DJBERN

CEG'er
Joined
Nov 25, 2003
Messages
58
Location
Columbus, OH
My radiator went out in December, and being a broke college student, I drove it around anyway, only for short distances. I took it on a 2 hr trip and the engine overheated, it died on the side of the road. I tried to start it back up, and all I hear is grinding. I assume it's a cracked engine block, but I haven't had it checked out yet. So here's the question, what should I do next?

1) Could it possibly be something other than a cracked engine block?

2) Should I try to put a new engine in it, like http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1999...006QQitemZ160218630232QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V this one? Sorry for the eBay link.

3) If I didn't want to fix it, how much could I sell it for? The body is in good shape, the only problem is the trunk lid, where one of the hinges is loose from the lid, so it takes some effort to close it.

I'm either gonna get it fixed, or sell it and save $ for a down payment on a new car, but i'd like to fix it if the ENGINE repair is less than $1000

What should I do?
 
personally i wud start with a very detailed inspection of the engine and bay, and compression test if possible, then if nothing was found i might consider pulling the head and/or oil pan to check the internal components. :shrug: if you do sell it as a parts car or damaged engine car i doubt anyone who wud buy will really care if the head has been pulled as long as it goes with the car.

anyway, that's just me, i would inspect the crap out of it before deciding to sell or fix...and i'd probly fix it anyway. that's just me tho:shrug:
 
There is no reason to jump to the conclusion that the engine block is cracked. Take it to a repair shop and have them do a free estimate. Then you can decide whether to fix it yourself or have them do it.
 
If you knew it was going to overheat, why did you take it on a 2 hour trip? :shrug:

You probably warped a head, but who knows what else happened after that. Turned a cheap fix into a major one.

The cost to repair really depends on whose doing the labor. If your going to pay someone to do it, expect a pretty hefty labor bill, especially if the engine has to be pulled.

I honestly dont think you could get much for a blown zetec contour. Maybe $500. I think you would be better off fixing it up.
 
Last edited:
WTF?!!!! Ultimate fail of the year. What is an SE radiator at the junkyard? $40? Takes about an hour to replace if it's your first time and don't have a clue.
 
todras said:
WTF?!!!! Ultimate fail of the year. What is an SE radiator at the junkyard? $40? Takes about an hour to replace if it's your first time and don't have a clue.
Click to expand...

True statement ^. Changed mine out in my SE 5 years ago and took about 1.5 hours and a lot of swearing..... I didn't have a clue
 
pgt said:
There is no reason to jump to the conclusion that the engine block is cracked. Take it to a repair shop and have them do a free estimate. Then you can decide whether to fix it yourself or have them do it.
Click to expand...
Just out of curiousity; they do free estimates in this country??:shocked:

Good bless America!!
 
if it makes u feel any worse, i am in the process of buying a 95 tour, tranny is slipping so i'm gett'n it for $245 as of now, unless someone wants to fight me for it i may have to pay more:shrug:
 
beyondloadedSE said:
If you knew it was going to overheat, why did you take it on a 2 hour trip? :shrug:
Click to expand...


I put about 30,000 miles on my '86 Plymouth Reliant AFTER the radiator disintegrated. The trick is to always put the heat on full blast - sucks when its 95 degrees out but you do what you have to do.
 
96RedSE5Sp said:
I put about 30,000 miles on my '86 Plymouth Reliant AFTER the radiator disintegrated. The trick is to always put the heat on full blast - sucks when its 95 degrees out but you do what you have to do.
Click to expand...

um, that only works correctly if the radiator/block has WATER in it....don't do jack once the water is on the asphalt!:shrug:
 
tredse1 said:
um, that only works correctly if the radiator/block has WATER in it....don't do jack once the water is on the asphalt!:shrug:
Click to expand...

exactly, and your temperature gauge is measuring how hot the coolant of the engine is, so if you have no coolant flowing you have no idea how hot the motor is actually getting.
 
AliasJerk said:
exactly, and your temperature gauge is measuring how hot the coolant of the engine is, so if you have no coolant flowing you have no idea how hot the motor is actually getting.
Click to expand...

true, also FYI not positive on tours but in general Ford temp sensor usualy go bad the first time the motor gets hot anyway, so more than likely it wasn't read'n correctly even when it did have water in it
 
96RedSE5Sp said:
I put about 30,000 miles on my '86 Plymouth Reliant AFTER the radiator disintegrated. The trick is to always put the heat on full blast - sucks when its 95 degrees out but you do what you have to do.
Click to expand...

thats what I did. It was 5 degrees all winter in Ohio, and as long as the heat was on full blast and i had the windows all the way down, things were fine.

I should've just got the radiator fixed, but seeing as I didn't have a JOB at the time, nor did i have the money (either mine or borrowed) to get it fixed, I had to do what I had to do. Mistake on my part, but life goes on....

if I can get a FREE INSPECTION that would be sweet, but I doubt it lol

If I could get $500 for the car, I wouldn't have ANY problem with that because I'm looking at buying a van since I have to haul DJ equipment everywhere... any takers on here? PM me, I don't want to turn this into a classified post.

Anyways, how much would an inspection cost me on average? What kind of inspections can I do on my own? I know you guys can't give me an exact price, but give me an estimate because I'd hate to have to get it towed to a repair shop for them to inspect it and tell me what I assume already.

Thanks for the responses
 
If this means anything, I was going 65 on I-75 and the engine started to decelerate on its own. I pulled over, and it just stopped so when I tried to turn the key, it makes a HARSH grinding sound. If that tells anybody anything, let me know. It's a shame I know all of this stuff about mobile entertainment but I just learned how to do a tune-up lol
 
tredse1 said:
have you tried to start it since? if so does it still make the ginding sound?
Click to expand...

Yup. I'm asking all of these questions because I have a lot of free time (but still no money) to look at it tomorrow under the hood. If things are beyond a repair, I'm going to start pulling all of my car audio stuff out of it
 
hard to say without hearing it myself but it MIGHT, not likely but posible that it is your water pump locked up, is it a duratec or zetec? zetec water pump is driven by the timing belt so i could see it causeing probs like that if locked up...i don't know what kind the duratec has tho. try to look over every thing and look for anything that don't look normal, also have someone else crank it a few times and listen for where the sound is coming from.
 
FavoriteMystaque said:
See if there is Oil in the engine.
Click to expand...

and how do i check if it's IN the engine?

i just dont want to pay $$$ for someone to tell me whats wrong when it's already going to cost me to get it fixed. i know that's how car repair goes... I just wish I was back in Columbus, where I know people that can look at it for me for free.

Any CEG members in the Toledo/BG area that want to swing by? lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top