Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Car overheating...no heat. Waterpump?

I have a '98 SVT E0 with 67K miles. Today my car started overheating rapidly so I pulled over and got a tow.

There is also no heat. I suspect the waterpump, is there anything else I should consider?

possibly thermostat stuck closed

No, it's probably your waterpump assuming your on the original one. If the car threw a CEL along w/ the other symptoms :waterpump is toast. BTW if your out of warranty do the work yourself it's not that bad and you'll save money.

i did a water pump change on my car.. i went with the ford water pump,, complete pump with some hoses attached to it cost me $120 from the dealer.... i had to take the battery out, the battery tray and i could get to it.. it is a
96 V-6 engine...if you just going with the replacement part and not the whole water pump you can get by without taking the battery tray out.. as there is enough room to do it with the half of pump....
hope this helps.

Definitely water pump.

-Lance

The difinitive part of your post is that the heater isn't hot. A stuck shut thermostat would still provide heat to the heater. A water pump that has shelled the plastic impeller will not pump the water into the heater so the heater is cold.

Something to remember though is that overheating can damage an otherwise good thermostat. Contiques generally don't need a thermostat when the water pump fails, but it would not hurt to change it because overheating often damages thermostats and you are nearly there anyway.

Here is another vote for a water pump. I have a 98 E0 SVT and it went at 36k miles. The impellor was in 8 pieces when the mechanic took it off. Also he found the belt tensioner to be stuck, its spring loaded and corrosion had frozen it. While your at it, checking the condition of the belt tensioner is easy and a replacement is fairly cheap.

Eric

Thanks for the input guys. It was the water pump...and a collapsed thermostat housing hose.

The impeller had broken clean off and in three pieces. One of those pieces, I couldn't find. I tried flushing the system....but it's just gone.

A couple of months ago, I took my car to the dealer to do some recall work. While I was there I asked them to replace the WP so I could avoid this whole hassle.

They said "don't worry, those things never go".

I had a piece wedged behind the stainless steel cone of the housing, hopefully you checked there and also checked that cone was undamaged and firmly in place. BTW I presume you replaced with metal impeller.

Yeah, I checked their....nothing.

As far as a metal impellar (no it's plastic)...I'm just lucky I found a WP in stock somewhere on a Sunday.