Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Contour: worth fixing? what would it take?

My contour has been out of action for a couple of weeks now. Its a '96 GL (I4 z-tec) The codes have been run showing thermostat problems and the left bank is running lean. The heater doesn't work and the car has been overheating. I'd been taking it easy, trying a couple of things. The week before it was the maf sensor (fixed). The car now produces a white smoke and idles very roughly. Its been sitting in my driveway ever since and hasn't moved. Can anybody help??? I've come up with a some possible causes, but not being a mechanic (I'm trying to do as much as I can myself), I don't know for sure.
Overheating: Thermo, Water pump?
Smoke: bad valve???

I've thought about just trading her in, but I love my contour too much. Besides, the thought of trading her out for a rice car just doesn't seem right.

Also, if it comes down to dropping a new motor, is it possible to drop the V6 in place of the I4. What would have to be done? Is it worth it?

You mentioned your heat doesn't work. Is it the blower or just lack of warm air? You are not prone to waterpump failures with the Zetec, but you perhaps that is the case although I seriously doubt it. Here are some things to check. Make sure your coolant is full to the max line and use the bleed screw to ensure you have all air out of the system (do this while engine is running). Also check your condensor and radiator for bugs and crud that get caught in between the fins. If clogged squirt as much as you can with a hose. Also be sure that your cooling fan is operating as it should be. If if you have done all of the above and your gauge still shows overheating then I would have the sending unit FOR THE GAUGE replaced. There is also another for the engine computer I believe. You may want to replace that too if the fan wasn't coming on. If all of the above fails, perhaps it's your waterpump. The white smoke could be one of 2 things. First cold engines have to burn out the condensed water inside them and will smoke when first started up and if something in the computer isn't quite right then it may not be idling right. The idling may have something to do with the bank that is running lean. You may have an oxygen sensor out ($40 to replace if you do it yourself I think). If the smoke is not from the engine warming up, usually white smoke is burning antifreeze/water which is somehow getting into the cylinders. I am not an expert, but I think that could mean that your head gasket is blown, but I think you would also be finding water in the oil as well. Did you let it overheat for an extended period of time? Hope this is of some help and somebody please correct me if I am wrong. Contours are always worth fixing, but how many miles do you have on your lil' Zetec?

If he has the waterpump w/ the plastic impeller, then it could've very well failed. Happened to me . Check the oil for antifreeze, if there is none then do what is mentioned above. If there is...
To answer your other question, a V6 swap would be too much work. The good news is that it shouldn't be too hard to find another Zetec if it comes to that

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The car now produces a white smoke and idles very roughly

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If it's more than the normal white vapor at startup, you have a blown head gasket. Sounds very much like it.

Steve

def sounds like a head gasket or a head. Probably nothing wrong with the block because I think it's made of cast. It usually is worth getting a new head, but sometimes it can get expensive if you can't do the work yourself. The easiest way to tell if it's def the head or the head gasket is to look at the oil, if there's water in it, it's one of the two. probably the overheating is because your losing water in motor, and when the water gets low, you overheat.

The "white smoke" description sounds most like a blown head gasket. You will need to check things like see if the engine oil is contaminated with antifreeze, run the car with the antifreeze reservoir cap removed and watch for gas purging, pull spark plugs and look into the cylinders to see if antifreeze is present (or remove spark plugs, disable ignition system and turn engine over while watching for antifreeze to spray out of the spark plug holes. There are also some repair shops that have a chemical additive that they add to the antifreeze and then run an exhaust gas analysis to detect the chemical additive (tells them that a corruption of the cooling system by the piston/cylinder/cylinder head region has occurred. My guess is that you will be able to determine blown head gasket by checking the oil, pulling plugs, or running with antifreeze reservoir cap removed. The exhaust gas should smell like antifreeze if the gasket or worse is shot.

Let's say you determine at a minimum that the headgasket could be shot. The cylinder head has to be pulled and checked for warpage. I don't know the Ford spec but the usual rule of thumb is that an overhead cam engine can tolerate no more than 0.002" warpage; greater warpage means replace the head because the cam will likely bind-up in its bore. Look at the cylinder walls. If the engine has been severely overheated, the walls will be scored. If they are scored, replace the engine.

And we haven't even gotten to the root cause of the overheating yet...

Dave Keller
1995 Contour SE (No mods, yet)

Thanks for all the help. Talked to a friend who works on a lot of cars. Says the head gasket is gone and the head might be warped. Its going to take a while, but I'm dropping a new engine. I love my contour too much to let it go. The engine had almost 90000 miles on it anyway and its an ex rental car (I hate to think of what kind of abuse it saw before I got it). Another contour saved from the scrap yard.