Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Rough engine/no heat

My 95 contour with 130,000 km seems to run rough for first 30 sec or 1 minute after starting then smoothens out. Also the vent inside the cabin doesn't blow hot air...only cold. Can these two be at all related and any ideas. I checked under the hood and haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary...I don't know too much about cars so any pointers would be appreciated.

Does your car overheat ==> WaterPump???

Junglo, your waterpump may be out. You not having heat is a good symptom. Don't drive it anywhere. You'll need to change the pump.

Here's the how-to on how to change waterpump

The rough starting may be unrelated. With 130K on it when's the last time you,
1: Changed plugs & coil
2: Coolant flush
3: Changed fuel filter
4: Changed PCV valve
5: Changed air filter
6: Cleaned throttle body & EGR passages behind throttle body
7: Checked to see if secondaries are opening & if linkage that opens them is still attached & working (I can't find a how to on that one)

These are all good things and all but #2 can give you trouble if they're not right. (2 is just good to do anyways)

About your secondaries, if you have a V6, then if you look under the air intake tube (almost under the plastic engine cover part, and pretty close to the top of the Vee of the engine) you'll see a little metal wire thingy that connects the IRMC to a little lever. While the engine is running, and you're under the hood, rev the engine to about 3800 for a couple of seconds and you'll see that linkage move back and forth as the revs rise and lower. That linkage opens what is called the secondaries, which basically switches the path the air takes going into the cylinders. The UIM or upper intake manifold is that series of tubes on top of the engine. There are two paths the air can take, the long tube path or the short tube path. One is for lower engine speeds and turbulent flow, while the other is for higher RPMS (ergo higher speed) and a less turbulent flow. That linkage actually pulls on the secondaries. You might notice that in driving hard, once the RPM's go above 3800 (or so) RPM's the engine will hesitate just for a split second. That's the crossover from one set of intake runners to the other.

Anyways, it's always good to ensure that linkage is working. The metal wire is held in place on both ends by tiny round plastic clips. Orginal ones are made of black plastic that breaks very easily as the heat of the engine degrades the properties of the plastic they are made of. New replacements (dealer only, but cheap) are made of a white plastic that is more immune to heat degradation.

Whew,....what was your question again....?

The car runs a bit hotter but not in the red. Runs between "M" and "A" in "NORMAL" range on the gauge. If the water pump was not working wouldn't it go right to the red? I am thinking perhaps vaccum leak..but I have no way of knowing. At the front of the car there are two plastic caps on a couple of protusions from metal tubes. almost like the caps on air valves on tires but bigger. There is one near left front and one near right front. Whether these caps are on or off makes no difference. I am thinking that there is suppose to be vaccum in these tubes but there appears none as there is no air sound when I remove the caps. I have the 4 cylinder Z-tec.

Darn! I just ran the engine for 5 min. The radiator is cold and so is the air from cabin vents. Does this indicate thermostat doesn't work and water pump may work or is it water pump for sure.

If your car was severly overheating from a water pump not working, there would be paint chips flying off the top of hood, happened to my car, the one before my Contour, it was a 1990 Camry, it took a while to realzie it to, but by then the engine was wrecked, so that car was junk.

I would check other components of the cooling system, like thermestat, have you ahd the coolant completly drained and filled lately?????, liek within two years or 24,000 miles.

With your car running rough for a minute or two, does it do this in the morning, that is when mine does it, they all do.

When your water pump goes, either one of two things can happen, it will leak, or it will seize up and blow the bearings, and make metal fly and destroy the radiator and cooling fan, and maybe a few other things.

On this Contour to be safe I will replace the water pump at 60,000 miles when I get the timing belt redone, I have yet to get it done because my Contour just hit 53,500 today.

Now with your heater, you do realize that is under warrenty for 10 years or 150,000 miles right? The heater blowers have found to be bad from the beginning so they are under warrenty, tomorrow drive it to the Ford dealership tell them hey fix this, and it is 100% free.

I have been driving this car around. Maybe time to replace water pump anyways with the milage on the car. The blower motor I think is working except that it is blowing cold air. Is there a way to tell if it is thermostat or the water pump. I did have to add water to the radiator reservoir...about 1.5 L.

If I take to the shop, how much should it cost to replace the water pump. By the way, I have probably driven several hundred KM with the car like this..But no smoke or anything.