Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance Overheating...

So, a few days ago I posted here about what I could do to get more power from my 4 cylinder... well thanks to all who replied but... I'm not going to be able to do any of that now!!! On my way down I-64 going through Indiana I suddenly notice a really loud and high pitched screech come from somewhere in my car. Of course I had no clue what that meant but I just happened to look down at my temperature gauge and the needle was all the way at the very end of the L in normal. The only thing I knew to do was blast my heater and get off as soon as possible. So I crank my heat and oh man did that suck!!! in 90 degree weather here I am with the heat on full blast Anyway, I'm looking for the next exit and look back down at my gauge and it's way up in the red now so I knew I just had to get off on the shoulder cuz I wouldn't make it to an exit. The traffic was kind of bad and I needed to switch lanes to get over to the shoulder but I then notice that my acceleration is completely gone. When I hit the gas it just made this AWFUL noise that I can't even describe and it would not go any faster. So... I hit my hazard lights and just coast along trying to get over in the other lane... this is when I realize that my power steering is completely gone also! I can BARELY steer it over into the other lane and finally got it onto the shoulder. The car is just a HUGE cloud of smoke. Blowing out the exhaust, out the hood, even out the vents inside the car... I tell ya I have never seen that much smoke in my life. This all happened a couple days ago and I have since had it towed to my house. It will not start. When you turn the key it just makes this loud, high pitched sound and nothing happens. The battery works fine but the ignition just does nothing at all. I REALLY REALLY do NOT have the money to have it towed to any mechanic. So I was just wondering if any of you might know whats wrong with it, or if its even FIXABLE because I think it's just shot What REALLY gets me about this whole thing is that I just put in a new sensor in it that was working perfectly keeping the car cooler than it always used to be. So I THOUGHT I had this whole problem resolved with the over heating crap... but no...

(its a 96 contour GL btw)

I'd say the timing belt went out. I'm not sure if the waterpump is hooked up to that, but that's prolly shot too. Just pop off the timing belt cover and see if it's even still there (the belt, that is)...

When timing belt goes the engine dies IMMEDIATELY!!

Sounds like a hose blew, and your serpintine belt also went. Check your coolant level, and also see if your belt is still intact.

Last repair I did for one of these wasnt extremely costly. I had to get the head milled, replace the radiator hoses, flush the oil/cooling systems and all was good again. Made $800 when I sold that car too.

I'd say a belt broke also. Also when my car seems like it's getting into the hot on the temp guage, in the summer I crank on the A/C not the Heater, that could make it worse(?). With the A/C on it'll make the fans work more and stay on longer keeping the car cooler(?) I've done this and seems to work, I've only seen it go into the "L" part once but it dropped right away with the A/C on.
Good luck.

That is a bit interesting. Now by putting a larger load on the motor which makes it run hotter, it also turns on the second fan. I guess the question is, which way makes the engine cooler? Just the heater running or running the AC? The AC won't cool the engine at all, but the additional fan pulling on the radiator would.