A nuter question on this '95 2.5L atx machine (I'm a newbie to these Contours (go easy on me) so I'm full of questions - at least 'til we get this thing diagnosed.)
When I finally got this motor to start (just barely runs, throws no codes, and makes all kinds of strange noises, including popping sound in maybe the intake, etc) I let it run for about five minutes, and then shut it off. I leaned over the engine to double check that the plug wires were correctly connected in the coil, and I noticed that the rear portion (the firewall side) of the UIM was pretty hot to the touch.

Put my hand on the front (towards the front of the car) of the UIM and it was cool, as I would suspect, since it only ran for about five minutes and is drawing cool (65 degree) air.
What's going on here.

Is this normal? Or does the UIM contain coolant passages to assist in warmup? Or can exhaust preheat the UIM? If the EGR is stuck open, wouldn't exhaust get in both sides of the UIM, not just the back side?
Thaks in advance for any explanation/thoughts/ideas/etc.