Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 2.5 duratec

My father has a 95 Mystique with a 2.5. About six months ago the water pump went out. Since that time he has been getting coolant on the plugs and bubbles coming up in the coolant. Are these engines bad about blowing head gaskets or cracking the heads. Also can you remove the heads without removing the engine. The only replacement engine that he can find is in 99 Cougar. Does anyone know if this will fit. He was told that we would have to change the intake manifold and use the one off of the 95. Thanks Larry

sounds like a bad head gasket to me.. good luck getting the car back and healthy

Waterpump failures and the resulting overheated engine can cause headgasket failure, cracked heads or a cracked block in severe cases. I'm not positive, but I believe the heads can be removed without pulling the engine, although space is tight. The 2.5L from the cougar is the same engine as the mystique. There may be differences in the injector wiring harness on 96+ engines, so swap the intakes to be sure everything will plug up and be calibrated OK for your (OBD-1) computer.

Blown head gaskets are pretty rare on the 2.5L V6 except if there are other problems which cause it. (IE water pump.)