97 contour with 6 cyl. This is my sons car so I'm getting this second hand. BTW, I'm not particularly mechanically savvy.
Car is overheating and leaving a trail. Obviously boiling IMHO. Sound proofing above cap on reservoir is wet.
About a week ago the top hose blew (the big $$$ one) and was replaced by a local shop. Previously to that, the thermostat was replaced (don't know why). There has been occasional coolant drips on the driveway (prior to hose blowing) and son has administered bars leak to the rad. BTW, temp sensor NOT working, guage reads cold at all times.
Anyway, after searching / reading here, seems there is a good chance this is a water pump. Don't know if heat blows cold when overheating.
Is the impeller issue (cracking) applicable to a 97 contour with the V6? If so, great. Assume I should also be looking at replacing the thermostat, since it is probably fried too.
How can the system be bled afterwards? Is is possible that a n airlock in the system could also create this problem is the system was not bled after the hose replacement?
I was watching the reservoir over the weekend while the car was idling. The water level in the reservoir would slowly increase until it was right at the cap level. This was after the car had boiled and cooled off a bit. Anyway, I figured i t didn't push water out of the cap because the level was now lower. After the car had been shut down a few minutes, the top hose started to shudder as fluid either filled it or emptied from it. Based on my "guesswork" it seemed to me the direction of flow was towards the firewall. Does this sound right? As I said, I'm not that mechanically savvy.
A lot of questions here, any help much appreciated!
