Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Overheating problem

Interesting problem with my 1998 SVT (2.5 Duratec - 5 Speed). There is a brand new thermostat (Autozone), coolant temp sensor, temp switch, water pump, and cooling fan relays (both), however, the care overheats with the thermostat in. when I remove the thermostat, the engine overheats in traffic. The electric fans dont switch on when the temp of the coolant get high, so I wired in a switch. I was thinking that the hoses might be run incorectly as there was some backyard mechanic work done to it, but all the hoses are specific fit to their component making it impossible to put the wrong hose on the wrong part. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Do you have heat inside the car?

Nic.

great question, completely forgot to mention this, the heat is fine. In north dallas right now it is cold, and driving on the highway to work the temp never gets real hot, but on those days with traffic (stop and go) the temp guage reads Normal and the heat is good, if I get going and the guage reads closer to N then the hot air cools down a bit. On those especially cold days when it never got hot enough, the check engine light comes on and the code is that the ECM did not read the engine coolant temp sensor increase in temp fast enough.

after the car has heated up shut if off and feal the the upper and lower rad hoses(be carful not to burn your hand on the exhaust pipes) both hoses should be warm-hot and squeeze them to they should be firm-solid. i once had a air bubble in my system. and are u sure that your car is over heating buy a cheep cooking theromomenter and place it in your coolent tank when you think your car is over heating. the temp sensor is based on resistance. so even thow u have new parts the wires may of broken down and are resisting more giving u a false reading

I did this and the upper hose, the one that goes from under the intake to the upper right hand corner of the radiator where the battery is is soft, and warm, th one below it, that seems to go back to the resevoir is also soft and warm, niether are hot nor firm. I like the idea of the cooking thermometer, will try that when the raining stops in DFW. Great suggestion, thank you very much.

You could have a restricted radiator or an air bubble in the system. I would try to backflush the cooling system first.