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98 Contour needs new 2.0 Zetec

M

morpho18

CEG'er
Joined
Jul 19, 2006
Messages
32
Location
Des Moines, Iowa
Do I need to source an engine from the same year of Contour, or can I drop in a similar 2.0 Zetec from a Focus/Escort?

VIN for my Contour: 1FAFP6637WK277970

Thanks in advance.
Adam

Edit:

Also, the valve cover is white, and i'm pretty sure the timing cover is black. Not sure if that helps any.
 
if you want it to drop in without any additional work you will have to source one from a 98-00 Contour/Mystique or 99-01 Cougar
 
okay, so i did some digging with a friend of mine to see if this is really a boat anchor or not.

originally thought i had blown a head gasket - was driving and had a large burst of steam. however, no coolant was leaking externally, and none was leaking internally (oil is normal color).

well we found something tonight that I had never seen before. take a look:

found a burst plastic connector of some sort, definitely a coolant line - thinking it's the line that runs into the heater core.
0928091818.jpg


which is located here (circled area):
0928091818a.jpg


the original thought amongst CEG'rs was that I had a bad water pump which caused a break in the coolant system somewhere. with this burst line, it definitely adds more to that theory. was driving at 65 mph for about 40 minutes and then a bang and a poof of white smoke, with coolant sprayed on the driver side of the engine bay. Anybody know what this plastic connector is?
 
that line does indeed go to the heater core. however, it looks like someone replaced part of that line with the plastic connector and some new hose as i dont ever remember seeing that connector there. however it is possible its supposed to be that way on the 98+ as i had a pre98.
 
I'll try to tie it back together with a metal air hose coupler and a few ratchet clamps.

I'll have to see if my mechanic friend has a heat gun that he can use to see if the motor is truly not circulating water. we'll have to tow it to his shop (he has free reign to his lift and tools over weekends :) ) and swap in a new water pump.

any other maintenance items that should be done while the pump is off? new timing belt? serpentine belt? any positioning sensors?
 
98+ do indeed use that coupler from the factory. No need to mess with anything else while you're in there, just do a water pump and see if that fixes it. The timing belt isn't in the way or anything.

That said, the rate of water pump failure on these cars is VERY VERY LOW. You may find that you water pump is just fine and something else is wrong. Was the coolant maintained properly?
 
mcgarvey said:
98+ do indeed use that coupler from the factory. No need to mess with anything else while you're in there, just do a water pump and see if that fixes it. The timing belt isn't in the way or anything.

That said, the rate of water pump failure on these cars is VERY VERY LOW. You may find that you water pump is just fine and something else is wrong. Was the coolant maintained properly?
Click to expand...

Coolant was fine. What was happening was it would take the car forever to come up to operating temp, and to generate any heat through the heater. It wasn't until 10-15 minutes into a drive that I'd finally get some warm air coming out of the vents. Thought maybe the ECT sensor was bad, so I swapped in a new one, problem still remained.

I talked to my mechanic friend and found that these water pumps have plastic shafts on the impeller, and sometimes those impeller shafts break, stopping waterflow through the engine. It all makes sense for my scenario. The water pump wasn't pumping water, so the fluid was never flowing. I'd finally get heat to flow through the vents when the water/coolant finally got hot enough that it would steam inside the cooling system. When the line finally popped while I was driving, there was an enormous white cloud, which was all steam. It makes sense thinking the scenario through, but it's not to say that there is something else wrong.
 
Your mechanic has the V6 water pump and the Zetec water pump highly confused. The Zetec water pump just does not break. (Although, I'm pretty sure I have a Cardone water pump in which a seal went bad, causing it to leak, but I have yet to run tests on it to verify if this is true). However, it IS common for hoses to burst on the Zetec. I blew off the heater hose on my car, and I have read of many others having the same and/or similar problems.

I bet your water pump is working, but your system is plugged up somewhere. However, it is still a good idea to replace the pump, as it is pretty cheap. Swap in a new pump, run some water through the cooling system for awhile to clean it, then refill with coolant.
 
if it was taking 10 minutes to come up to temp the first thing i would check would be for a stuck open thermostat.
 
The radiator is part of the "system" and can't be drained by itself. It has no drain. My suggestion for draining coolant is to pull the very small hose that is on the passenger side of the car, a little behind and to the side of the radiator. I think it is the "lowest point" of the cooling system.
 
zorrex said:
The radiator is part of the "system" and can't be drained by itself. It has no drain. My suggestion for draining coolant is to pull the very small hose that is on the passenger side of the car, a little behind and to the side of the radiator. I think it is the "lowest point" of the cooling system.
Click to expand...

great, thanks.
 
zorrex said:
The radiator is part of the "system" and can't be drained by itself. It has no drain. My suggestion for draining coolant is to pull the very small hose that is on the passenger side of the car, a little behind and to the side of the radiator. I think it is the "lowest point" of the cooling system.
Click to expand...
yup, it goes from the lower radiator hose to the heater core so it allows everything to drain.
 
Yep, stuck slightly open thermo. If water pump not circulating to motor, temp gauge would go up and engine overheat, not stay cold. Either bad thermo or possible heater core clogged to not circulate. Clogged core might pop that line if it was the supply line to heater, would also delay heater warmup.
 
well this is giving me a ton of hope that i've not ruined a 71k mile motor. Not bad for a 98.

i'm going to try to get the system flushed by this weekend and see if i can have her up and running again.
 
okay, so i changed the thermostat and now I have heat. I also drained the coolant and replaced it with new.

next question - after replacing the coolant and letting the engine run, the coolant in the overflow has changed to a nice shade of "gunk". is this a bad indication? or is it just dirty residue that has built up in the cooling system? should I have the system flushed and go from there?
 
Too much gunk and you'll plug up the system somewhere. Did you fill the cooling system with water and let the car run for a little while to help clean it out?
 
Flushed the cooling system and the fluid in the overflow still looks a bit dark.

Just to make sure it wasn't oil, i checked, double checked, and triple checked the oil on the dipstick, and it shows absolutely no signs of coolant in the oil.

To be clear, I couldn't completely flush the system with a hose, since I live in a condo without access to water spigots. I just filled up some gallon jugs with water and poured them through.

Now that I know the car is running, I'm going to take my car to my parents house and flush it out with an actual hose.

While I was driving, I noticed the air was only blowing out of my defrost vents, so I tracked down the leak to where one of the vacuum lines plugs in behind the glove compartment. Now I have air coming out of all the right vents. INCLUDING HOT AIR!

Seems that the thermostat did the trick.

Thanks to all the advice on the board!
 
Drove the car to work today! Drives just fine. If there were really something majorly wrong with either the cooling or oiling system, I'd know within seconds of start-up, right? Not to mention I'd have a CEL, or an oil-pressure indicator illumintating. Just want to make absolute sure that this thing doesn't have a hidden gremlin anywhere that will jump out and bite me when I least expect it.

All things considered, the car purrs like a kitten. Forgot how much of a fun little car it is!
 
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