Laubamabar
New CEG'er
Hey guys, my car's been deteriorating the past month. I really don't know much about troubleshooting cars, so any help you could offer would be great. I have a 95 Contour GL with manual transmission and around 140k miles. Basically I want to know if these problems are isolated or related, and how complex the repairs will be. i.e., if I can let my relatives work on it or if I should put it in a shop.
Problem #1: My driver's side door is stuck and won't budge. When I pull the exterior handle it doesn't feel like it's caught on anything, not even a faulty lock (mine are manual locks, btw). The lock appears unengaged in the interior and is stuck in place. Has this happened to anyone before? Is it an expensive fix?
Problem #2: My fan pretty much crapped out a week and a half ago, and that won't budge either. It was a little weird before - I would get a pretty mild airflow until I put it up to the highest setting and bumped it a notch down, then it would blast the air. I was doing this one day, and it started blasting on all the heat levels except the lowest setting. Then the dial just stuck on the lowest setting. I'm still getting heat through the vents, but it's a mild flow. Is this an isolated thing, or could it indicate something else is going on? Especially since my other problem's kinda serious . . .
. . . And on to Problem #3: My engine temperature budges too much. My car overheated on Monday as I was driving back to school Philadelphia during a snowstorm. I was probably on the road 2, 2 1/2 hours at that point, and I'd been idling a lot since there were a lot of busy intersections (on top of a snowstorm). I let it set for 45 minutes and replenished the antifreeze, which had been at a good level a few days before. Anyway, I was in heavy Philly rush hour traffic again last night after about the same amount of driving, and as it idled at an intersection I watched the temperature gauge slowly creep up again. Thank god I'd already gotten my booze at that point.
It could have been doing this for a while, though, but I'm not in the habit of checking the temp gauge. The driving's a lot different while I'm at home: there's little stop and go traffic, and the car usually doesn't run longer than 30 minutes without a break.
I guess the thermostat needs to be replaced, but is the temperature thing related to the fan malfunctioning? It seems kind of odd that the temp goes up when I'm idling, since I have no problems once I get going for a while. Could something more serious be behind this? Ghosts, maybe? Is my car going to catch fire next week at this rate?
Problem #1: My driver's side door is stuck and won't budge. When I pull the exterior handle it doesn't feel like it's caught on anything, not even a faulty lock (mine are manual locks, btw). The lock appears unengaged in the interior and is stuck in place. Has this happened to anyone before? Is it an expensive fix?
Problem #2: My fan pretty much crapped out a week and a half ago, and that won't budge either. It was a little weird before - I would get a pretty mild airflow until I put it up to the highest setting and bumped it a notch down, then it would blast the air. I was doing this one day, and it started blasting on all the heat levels except the lowest setting. Then the dial just stuck on the lowest setting. I'm still getting heat through the vents, but it's a mild flow. Is this an isolated thing, or could it indicate something else is going on? Especially since my other problem's kinda serious . . .
. . . And on to Problem #3: My engine temperature budges too much. My car overheated on Monday as I was driving back to school Philadelphia during a snowstorm. I was probably on the road 2, 2 1/2 hours at that point, and I'd been idling a lot since there were a lot of busy intersections (on top of a snowstorm). I let it set for 45 minutes and replenished the antifreeze, which had been at a good level a few days before. Anyway, I was in heavy Philly rush hour traffic again last night after about the same amount of driving, and as it idled at an intersection I watched the temperature gauge slowly creep up again. Thank god I'd already gotten my booze at that point.
It could have been doing this for a while, though, but I'm not in the habit of checking the temp gauge. The driving's a lot different while I'm at home: there's little stop and go traffic, and the car usually doesn't run longer than 30 minutes without a break.
I guess the thermostat needs to be replaced, but is the temperature thing related to the fan malfunctioning? It seems kind of odd that the temp goes up when I'm idling, since I have no problems once I get going for a while. Could something more serious be behind this? Ghosts, maybe? Is my car going to catch fire next week at this rate?
r cooling fan:shrug: