BalusC
CEG'er
About one month ago I bought a 1996 Contour SE 2.5 V6 24V for a low price.
The low coolant light stays on all the time, regardless of the coolant level in the reservoir. This is maybe a sensor issue, so I don't really worry about this. But I have to refill the coolant very regulary, about half a liter every half a hour of driving. Fortunately the distances I drive are relatively small, so I only have to refill it once a day or two.
Also the engine seems to be relatively hot after half hour of driving. I haven't had this experience with all of my previous cars, but they all have a small engine (1.8L ~ 2.0L straight-4). But the climate is here relatively hot and the space in the engine room is relatively little (it is, say, very full).
I would like to solve this issue. I searched for noticeable coolant leaks, but I found nothing. I searched those forums for comparable problems and it turns out that the waterpump may be possibly broken. This seemed very reasonable, the hot water cannot be circulated through the engine and thus an overpressure would occur and cause steam leaks.
After concluding that, I decided to buy a new waterpump and replace the old one. I have successfully replaced it today (oh dear, what is there LITTLE space in the engine room, even after removing the battery and some of the coolant tubes! I hurted myself everywhere at my hands..).
During the replacement I was surprised to conclude that the old waterpump isn't broken. The impeller looks fine and so on. Although there was fairly a lot of some kind of corrosion inside the waterpump room. It is not rust, it rather look like some browny calcination. But OK, I have carefully polished the whole room clean and I rinsed it and all of the coolant tubes with high pressure water streams until only clear water flushes out of the lowest tube. In the meanwhile I have also checked for noticeable leaks and no, still nothing.
After reassembling I did a test drive of half a hour. The low coolant light is still on all the time (possibly just a dead sensor as told before) and the water temperature goes about halfway after one minute or two and stays there all the time (which is normal, this is not different from before the replacement). I drive about 2000rpm all the time. If I keep it around 3000rpm or higher, then the temperature will go higher after one minute or two, but it is still inside the acceptable zone. Also the airco seems to work fine, but as far my knowledge concerns, it has a just separate circulation system.
When I came back home after test driving, I noticed that the coolant level become lower than it was. I had refilled it to a bit above the MAX level and after this half a hour it become a bit below the MIN level. To exclude the presence of some vacuum in the system I refilled it once again, drove another half a hour again, but the level become a bit below MIN again and the story continues.
Well, now I don't know anymore what could be the problem. Could be there some leak which would only occur during overpressure? How could I find it without risking to hurt myself? Also, is it reasonable to assume that the coolant level sensor is just broken, or is there more into it which is related to this problem?
Sorry if the story is too long and/or if my English isn't that good as it should be, but I just tried to describe the problem as clear as possible
Cheers, Bauke
The low coolant light stays on all the time, regardless of the coolant level in the reservoir. This is maybe a sensor issue, so I don't really worry about this. But I have to refill the coolant very regulary, about half a liter every half a hour of driving. Fortunately the distances I drive are relatively small, so I only have to refill it once a day or two.
Also the engine seems to be relatively hot after half hour of driving. I haven't had this experience with all of my previous cars, but they all have a small engine (1.8L ~ 2.0L straight-4). But the climate is here relatively hot and the space in the engine room is relatively little (it is, say, very full).
I would like to solve this issue. I searched for noticeable coolant leaks, but I found nothing. I searched those forums for comparable problems and it turns out that the waterpump may be possibly broken. This seemed very reasonable, the hot water cannot be circulated through the engine and thus an overpressure would occur and cause steam leaks.
After concluding that, I decided to buy a new waterpump and replace the old one. I have successfully replaced it today (oh dear, what is there LITTLE space in the engine room, even after removing the battery and some of the coolant tubes! I hurted myself everywhere at my hands..).
During the replacement I was surprised to conclude that the old waterpump isn't broken. The impeller looks fine and so on. Although there was fairly a lot of some kind of corrosion inside the waterpump room. It is not rust, it rather look like some browny calcination. But OK, I have carefully polished the whole room clean and I rinsed it and all of the coolant tubes with high pressure water streams until only clear water flushes out of the lowest tube. In the meanwhile I have also checked for noticeable leaks and no, still nothing.
After reassembling I did a test drive of half a hour. The low coolant light is still on all the time (possibly just a dead sensor as told before) and the water temperature goes about halfway after one minute or two and stays there all the time (which is normal, this is not different from before the replacement). I drive about 2000rpm all the time. If I keep it around 3000rpm or higher, then the temperature will go higher after one minute or two, but it is still inside the acceptable zone. Also the airco seems to work fine, but as far my knowledge concerns, it has a just separate circulation system.
When I came back home after test driving, I noticed that the coolant level become lower than it was. I had refilled it to a bit above the MAX level and after this half a hour it become a bit below the MIN level. To exclude the presence of some vacuum in the system I refilled it once again, drove another half a hour again, but the level become a bit below MIN again and the story continues.
Well, now I don't know anymore what could be the problem. Could be there some leak which would only occur during overpressure? How could I find it without risking to hurt myself? Also, is it reasonable to assume that the coolant level sensor is just broken, or is there more into it which is related to this problem?
Sorry if the story is too long and/or if my English isn't that good as it should be, but I just tried to describe the problem as clear as possible
Cheers, Bauke
