Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Dead zetec? Please help with diagnosis.

Hi,
A friend of mine called last night saying his 1995 Mystique (zetec, MTX) just died (about 130,000 kms I think) --- here's the story:

Was driving up a steep hill in first gear, pushed hard on the accelerator and *BANG*, a big noise, and then a stalled engine.

He parked the car right there and left for half an hour. When he came back and tried to start the car there was a "graunching" noise from the engine --- and no start.

I know the details are sparse, I will try to go see the car today so we can get it towed away from the parking spot, but, Any preliminary guesses of what could be wrong, or is easy to check, before the car get taken to the dealer?

Thanks,
podangus

Broken connecting rod?Broken timing belt?(shouldnt be any crunch though if it is timing belt,unless zetecs are low clearance engines? im not sure if they are.)

Timing belt?

  I hope it's not the timing belt, because I want to believe that these are non-interference engines, and it sounds like what has happened is somewhat more catastrophic than what would happen on a non-interference engine if the timing belt broke.  But the timing belt is really easy to check.  This picture is of a 1996 Zetec, but it should be very much the same as your friend's.


  The green arrow indicates the upper timing belt cover, and the two red arrows point to the two bolts that hold it on.  Remove those bolts, and the cover comes off.  You have to wrestle it around that metal tube, but it's not as hard as it seems.
 


  Here we see the cover removed, exposing the timing belt and the camshaft sprockets.  Once you get to this point, it will be obvious whether or not the timing belt is broken.

Hi everyone,
Wow, thanks for the quick replies!

I haven't seen the car yet ... but my friend told me that there was a pool of coolant under the car when he went to get it towed this afternoon. Does this change the scenario much?

If a rad hose blew would the engine seize almost instantly? I wonder if the "graunch" noise was the starter trying to turn a seized crank. Still, this is all speculation, but if you have any more ideas ... I'm all ears.

Thanks,
podangus

If it blew a hose, the engine would not sieze immediately. It would overheat first, and if left alone, it would then sieze.

I once had a car with a similar problem. What had happened to mine was the car overheated (heat gauge malfunctioned) and I blew a hole in the top of the piston. The C-rod continued to tear a hole the size of texas through everying. When I removed the spark plug from that cylinder, the spark plug had been melted in half! I'm not trying to worry anybody, just had to put in my expierence.

Is there any further word on what happened to this car?