Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Contour Running Hot.........

I've got a '97 Contour "Sport" with the Zetec 2.0, 68K miles, I've noticed it's been running warmer lately, usually on the "L" of normal. The other day, sitting in traffic, the guage was on the verge of touching the Red section. Once I started moving the temp dropped back to the "L". Does this sound like the Water pump problems I've heard about? I haven't checked the fan yet to see if it's coming on or not. I'll be investigating that tomorrow.

Thanks!!
Scott Marencic
LDPosse@juno.com

Sounds like your water pump is going. mY 96 V6 began to overheat.I was lucky that I saw the temp rising fast and was able to get of the road and cut the engine off, before major engine damage was done.I thought a warning light would come on, but its a contour.

I think for a zetec that is normal. Mine is a 95 with about 100K on it and when I get stopped in traffic the temp guage goes right up. When I start moving again the guage comes back down. If you check out the zetec area and do a search it has been talked about before. The engines tend to run on the warmer side then the duratec does. I thought I had a problem with my fans but they run very quickly before it hits the red and brings the temp way down. The guage is not calibrated per say, so who really knows what the temp is unless you read the data coming from the sensor

do a search and you will see that this is normal for contiques. only with the zetec, if it is the v6, it has a water pump failure. when one of my mystiques did this, i changed the thermostat, coolant, did a radiator fluse,added water wetter and did not change the gauge reading one iota. i put my obd11 scanner on while on a test drive and no matter how high the gauge said, it never got over 210 degrees and then the fans came on till about 204 dg. gauge still said almost hot. i then changed the sending unit and it still said almost hot. feel the water hoses and see if it feels to hot. probably not.

same here with the problem...i did the same thing as dealer502 but when i changed mines i got the one that opened before the factory one...cant remember the factory thermostat is set for. didnt see any differece couse the needle still goes to the " L " when stoped at lights...
good luck

Later

Check to see if your coolant level is above the full line by 1/2 inch . ( when hot ) The zetec will run cooler if the antifreeze is overfilled . But do not get carried away and fill it all the way . Also running the zetec with 5 quarts of oil , instead of 4 1/2 quarts also helps . Make sure your electric fan turns on when it just goes past "L" when it is at idle. The fan will rarely run when the car is moving and the temp should be at between "A" & "L " All zetecs run hottttt.

I AM going to try overfilling the oil by half a quart to see if that makes a difference on the gauge. did it make any difference on your gauge reading. i will try the antifreeze trick to. right now i only have an svt and a v6 se contour on the lot, no zetecs but when i get another one,i just know the gauge reading will be high.thanks for the help

My Zetec always runs in the R-M of NORMAL and the fan kicks in when nearing the M.

Stephen

Just out of curiousity, is your HVAC turned on at all when this is happening? The switch on my `96 is trashed. When the fan is on any of the settings, the car looks like it will overheat. When you turn the fan off, the temp drops. I think it is probably related to the heater switch that hasn't had its recall. I have had it go as far as shutting off all of my guages and dash lights.

Don't know how or why, but it did it.