First I'd like to say that this forum is a wealth of information. And I am sorry for so many of the following questions
K, We just bought our first contour a week ago, from a "As is" dealer, it rides smooth, gears change smooth
and the body is, is in great condition. its 8 degrees out right now and its starts up without a problem on the frist crank.
The one and only problem is its overheating, and there is no Hot air inside the cab. when we bought it, I noticed a few leaks in the rad hoses, the upper hose and at the stem in the overflow, we've replace both pipes with new, replaced the thermostat,
In reserching this problem we learned that the normal response to this situation is that its the WP, so we took it off last night, it was a white plastic Impeller, there was no cracks in it, and the impeller was firmly attached to the turn shaft. The belt is a little worn we will replace that tomorrow hopefully. The thermostat was also replaced with a working one (tested it in boiling water)
But its still over heating and no hot air inside.
What we've experienced so far,
when first test driving the car all worked well we only test drove it for ten mins ran it pretty hard Noticed that no hot air was coming from the heater But assumed it was that the car wasn't warmed up, However the heater did kick on when we went up a hill, got back to the auto placeand Checked under the hood noticed the leak in the upper rad hose.
Upon completion of buying the car we took it stright to walmarts auto center to have a full service done to it. On the way to walmarts the sound of the engine changed
and heat came out of the heater, Then after that on the way home the temp gauge went into the red, Still no hot air coming from the heater. Thus began our journey into knowing way to much about the car we own now lol
The list of repairs and checks we've done is,
Replaced upper rad hose,
(Cursed at the car) lower hose on the overflow tank to Rad,
(Cursed at the car) the Thermostat,(Cursed at the car) Taken WP off No Cracks in impeller.
we really hoped it was cracked and the cause of the problems , when it wasn't we(Cursed at the car)
There is no foam or dicoloration in either the oil or tranny fluid's
Thanks for reading this far:
Now the questions
Question 1: Where can I get good access to the heater core inlet and outlet pipes to find out if either are hot.
And if the Core or Rad turns out to be plugged and probably hasn't been flushed in so long, whats the best way to Flush both the Heater core and the Rad.
Wheres the locations and descriptions of the pipes that would prove most effective in Back-flushing the system.
Question 2: is there a valve that could be stuck closed besides the termostat that could cause both of our problems.
Or could the Problems be from two seperate causes?
Question 3: Could a broken overflow cap cause one or both of these problems
Question 4: what and where is the fan clutch on this car, and could it cause the problem.
Question 5: Above the rad is a hose with a bleed valve on it I think, Then that pipe goes over to the Right side of the engine into a thermos type looking device, What is it and could it cause the problems
Off that subject another Question is when We had an oil change done at walmart, and they put 10w30 in the car, The manual recommends 5w30, will the 10w30 harm the car? or should we make them replace it or return the money and have it done again with the recommended oil , it says right under the hood 5w30
Also under the hood a ford tag says an official repair made in 2000, reprogrammed PCM , I believe thats what it says,
what does that mean?
Thank you for you time, we would really appreciate any answers the the above questions. This is our only hope of getting clear answers no one we've talked to knew anything about the contour and Had no idea how it looks under the hood, atleast here you guys know your cars
-Josiah
