Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Blown Head Gasket

Just had the bad news that my 96 Contour has a blown head gasket. No symptons leading up to problem at all. Temp guage always in the normal range, no white smoke, just a sudden skipping problem. Really was hoping it was just a plug, but Ford Dealer diagnosed and said head gasket and possible cracked cylinder to the tune of $1600 and $1000 more if cylinder cracked. Extended ford warranty expired 1500 miles ago and phone call to Ford yielded no satisfaction. I'm having a hard time excepting that this car went from factory to blown head gasket in 6 years. Asked Ford to stand behind this product and they refused. In 2000 the catalytic converter blew but thankfully, ford had an extended warranty on it to 100,000 miles. Seems like an awful lot of major problems for a young car. Anyone have any suggestions? I am frustrated with Ford and need help.

Replacing a head gasket is a big job. I'd ask exactly what diagnostics were done to determine the gasket is blown before spending that kind of $$$. Let us know what they say so we can run it through the BS meter. Not saying it isn't posible, but you want to be sure before that kind of cash layout. We've got some real experts that can confirm if the proper diagnostics were done (and I'm not one of them).

Tell them you're going to have to ask your father/brother/husband (or some other man) about it before you authorize the work. I know that sucks (and sounds sexist), but a lot of shops will blow smoke to someone they feel doesn't really understand cars (especially women). Not saying anything about you (really, I'm trying to help), but doing that can't hurt. If their story changes, get the car out of there ASAP.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Mine did it in five. When we got the head off, we found that the machining job on the bottom of the head and the top of the block was only kind of half finished: big swirl marks and so on that looked much rougher than a head gasket surface ought to be.

You didn't say if you have the zetec (4) or duratec (6) engine.

I'd take it somewhere else and get a second look at it! But, yes, like PA 3L said, i would take someone in that knows a thing or two about cars (not saying you don't) and have them talk to the mechanic face to face...see if he can see if they might be BSing you!

I to have the contour from you know where everytime you turn around its something. My waterpump just cost me 700.00 parts were 200.00 but 65.00 an hour for labor. I too have contacted Ford many times and just recently for another problem they should of fixed last year and I was told they are about to ban me from calling no sure what she was talking about but i call all the time as I feel I have a lemon and they wont do anything. I was told I could get the government involved and I just might do that. Good luck and yes they do take advantage of women all the time I had that experience and when my mechanic steped in they changed their tune. Good luck

Took the advice of some people here and pulled the car out of the ford dealer and took it to another garage who said it was nothing more than the power pack (distributer cap) and a blown plug. Both were changed and now the car runs fine. Like I said, there were no symptoms of a blown head gasket. Ford did charge me $73 to diagnose the problem and I plan to take my service bill to them and demand my money back. Is there anything other recourse I could take for a misdiagnosis? This really irks me that they tried to take advantage of me.

could be worse. you could of brought your svt to ford becouse of a small tick and 500 bucks later have them tell you they have no idea what is wrong with your car and they sugest a new engine($6000) even though the car runs with no lack of performance. my last ford ever

Here in California you could contact the state Bureau of Automotive Repair and register a complaint. I don't know if you state has such a program.

That is really disappointing. The management would certainly like to know what happened. Maybe they don't know yet that they have such an incompetent.

First of all, good for you!

That almost sounds like down right fraud! It seems they would have to pull the plugs for a compression test to make a "head gasket" diagnosis. If they did a compression test, they would have :

A- Found the head gasket was actually OK.
B- Found that the plugs were in bad shape.

Unprofessional and/or incompetent to say the least. :rolleyes: Good luck with your dealings with the service

When my head gasket blew, Ford's professional diagnosis of what was needed for repair consisted of looking down the spark plug hole.

They could at least have opened the oil plug and seen if any water had gotten down there...