Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Cooling fans SEIZED?

OK, here's yet ANOTHER story about my sisters 95 Contour...I swear I'm starting to think that the early Contours are one of the worst cars ever made...I mean I've never seen a car with this many recalls in my life!!

It started with her complaining that her temperature gauge was getting too high...she said it would only go down if she turned on the interior Heat...which sucks because it's like 90 degrees + with humidity...

Then other day she was driving around...it was quite hot out...she was idling outside of Wal-Mart waiting for her friend to pick something up...then she started to smell something burning...next thing there was smoke coming from underneath the hood...

She was able to drive home after that and it never really smoked like that again...later that night she and her boyfriend were looking around under the hood and found that the fuse for the cooling fans was blown...they also noticed that their was a whole bunch of open wires all around the fans harnesses etc...

Now open wires are no surprise to my sister because in February she had the big Recall done where they supposedly replace all the underhood wiring harnesses because of faulty wire insulation...but she was surprised because she thought they would have replaced the ones for the cooling fans...anyways...she bought a new fuse and put it in...and of course it blew right away...so she took it to Ford yesterday and they agreed to replace the fan wiring for free due to the same Recall but they also let her know that her fan motor(s) was seized and that it would cost her $500(CDN) to fix!!!

It really sucks and I feel bad for her...and to top it off TODAY is her damn BIRTHDAY!!! She doesn't really have $500 just to spend like that...she needs money to get her plate renewed, emissions test, oil changed, licence renewed etc...and can't really afford to replace the fans at that cost...

I told her she could drive it around but she'd have to turn the Heat ON once the engines temperature gauge starts reaching near half-way...and of course nobody in their right mind would want to be driving around in 90+ degree weather with their Heat on!!

So now people from her work are telling her thinks like she can just replace the motor...or she can try to lubricate the motor to un-seize it etc...to me that all sounds pretty much wrong but I thought I would ask you guys if there's ANYTHING she can do besides replacing the entire fan/motor assembly??

THANKS!:)

PS She has the 2.5L engine with dual fans...

NO, the whole thing must be replaced.

Same thing happened to me.(Going from memory here)

One of the two fans siezed and it would overheat on idle or slow hot day driving.

I replaced it myself, not rocket science, but you'll need to know a couple of things.

1: I got a new fan assembly (the two fans encased in their plastic frame) from a salvage yard. They sell them all the time. Just check to make sure both fans spin freely with no "grit" feeling in them.

2: From the top you'll undo the top part of that fan assembly. If you look how it connects to the radiator you'll see what I mean. Unhook the wiring to it as well (just remember how it goes back together)

3: From the bottom the fan assembly is held on there by a couple of bolts as well I believe.

4: I undid from the bottom side the bolts that hold the radiator to the front frame. I then pulled the radiator towards the front of the car enough that the fan assembly could slip down (kinda sideways) out between the radiator and the front subframe.

5: Reversed the process for the new install.


It's kinda tricky, but it can be done. Worse comes to worse, get a salvage fan and have someone besides the dealer put it on. Do you know a trusted mechanic? I shouldn't be more than 1.5 hours labor...period.


Good luck!

Oh, and I paid like $50 - 75 for the fan itself. Nowhere near $500 to fix.

There was a recall on the cooling fans. Ford recall # 00S44.Transport Canada # 2000284
Here is the Transport Canada site with the relevant link.

http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/recalls/recall_e.asp?recno=8981&

I was reimbursed the $500.00 and change for the work I had paid for prior to the recall.