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I may need a 3L.. PLZ HELP

M

milleniahead

CEG'er
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
208
Location
Jersey
Ok for the past 2 and half weeks ive busted a leak on my radiator hose (due to it sitting on the battery harness so it just rubbed itself a hole).. What i did was tape up the hole with duct tape and kept changing it until i could get a new part.. (i kept puttin in dexcool mixed with water whenever it got low) But of course the day when the part comes in the car finally started to overheat.. it never reached the H, but got about a quarter of the way to it.. I stopped right away put in more coolant/water. I then let it sit for 30min and then drove to my friends house to put the part in.. Everything was in, everything was good..

Now about 3hrs later i noticed the bastard was still leaking.. I threw in more coolant and let it sit overnight. Next day :censored::censored::censored::censored: was almost empty, so in goes more coolant. I get to work, look under the car and its still leaking.. Didnt know where the fk it was comin from.. So at lunch i drove around for awhile then stopped and popped the hood and watched where it would come from. What happens is the coolant bubbles out of the overfill hose and leaks down onto the ground just before the radiator fan comes on, when it comes on, it goes down again..

What my guesses were is that maybe i was just using too much water with the coolant which overheats and bubbles up etc. Or maybe the thermostat but it doesnt run hot/cold it stays in the middle...

Now my friend says it could be the head gasket which :censored::censored::censored::censored:ed up the cyclinder heads etc when it was overheating..which will make me need a engine/rebuild basically.. he said the gasket could cause air into the system which forces the coolant out the overfill hose.

is that tru? am i going to need a new engine? it runs fine but when it sits, it will start to bubble over and out the overfill hose and go back down again when the radiator kicks in. Is it too much water? head gaslet? cyclinder head? thermostat?

lastly if so, should i go with a 3L or just get another svt engine.. Me and my friends can install the engine but i just want to know what route i should take. I kno i can get a 3L for 4 or 5 hundred but what else comes with a 3L install? Would i need to do anymore upgrades to the tranny etc? I would read more into it but im at work and im not supposed to be surfing like that.. and if i did get another svt engine, who the hell has them?
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He just called me back and said its probably teh head gasket.. He said to get a kit etc... What kit is he talking about? and what do I need?
 
You'll know if it's a head gasket since the car would miss and buck. The coolant would be dumping into a combustion chamber quenching the spark. If you look at the oil it will have a milky look to it. Also white smoke would be coming out the exhaust. Have you replaced the water pump? You know the one the fails on almost all 95-98 Contours. You also appear to have a leak. That needs to be repaired properly as well. If you need another engine and go 3L route prepare for $2500 if you know how to do it yourself. That should include an upgraded trans.
 
todras said:
You'll know if it's a head gasket since the car would miss and buck. The coolant would be dumping into a combustion chamber quenching the spark. If you look at the oil it will have a milky look to it. Also white smoke would be coming out the exhaust. Have you replaced the water pump? You know the one the fails on almost all 95-98 Contours. You also appear to have a leak. That needs to be repaired properly as well. If you need another engine and go 3L route prepare for $2500 if you know how to do it yourself. That should include an upgraded trans.
Click to expand...


hmmm the water pump.. Not sure if that was done.. i think it was by the the owner b4 loco... but ill do it just cause i guess.. Also a leak where? I watched where the coolant comes out, its from the overfill hose.. I watch as the coolant resioviour bubbles up then out the overfill hose. When i had the leak before and i added too much water it would do the same thing because since the car runs damn hot anyway it'll basically boil in there and dissipate.

Ok so its not the head gasket cause itll be missin/bucking.. Since its not i can safetly say, the head gasket is not the cause right?
 
Just don't run the engine till you can replace the t-stat and waterpump. If the impeller broke or the housing became unstaked car would overheat in the summer pretty quickly. I guess I missed that it was coming out the overflow. So you just need to repair what is causing the overheating. Are cooling fans coming on also?
 
sorry if i wasnt clear.. the car doesnt overheat at all. It just pees out coolant from the overflow. Im thinking i just put in too much water and its boiling that which is makin it overflow.. If i drain it and it still happens again could it be the radiator itself?

cooling fans do come on... thats when the boiling and coolant level goes back down again.. So it prob is the WP as well.. So the WP and RAD would be a good start? ya?
 
nah u didnt heh.. I just was guessing to what it could be.. Im def taking ur advice though.. WP it is.. ill update with progress if anyone cares.

thx
 
Coolant should read 1" above max. Do not mix coolants also. If you have Dexcool mixed that could cause issues. Dexcool can not be mixed. Dexcool has also been shown the cavitate waterpumps in many different models of cars.
 
umm so yea the trouble has been resolved... there was a lot more water in the rad than i thought... when i disco'd one of the hoses all the water came pouring out.. it only had a slight hint of orange.. refilled with the 50/50 dexcool and all is good. For some reason all the dexcool came out but the water stayed when i first changed the hose...

shes back to normal.
 
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