Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Thermostat or WP failure?

Today while out and about I pulled into a store and looked at my temp gauge and noticed that it was pegged at the red. I remember smelling a burning smell on the freeway but checked my gauges and found nothing unsatisfactory. Guess it was me! Anyway some of my coolant had boiled over so I refilled the resovoir (after letting it cool down for about 1 hour) and then attempted to limp home. About two blocks later, the temp gauge was pegged at red again and I pulled into a parking lot. Again I let it cool down for an hour or so and phoned the closest ford dealer (which was "too busy" to talk with me at the time) Anyway at this time I checked and I had lost no fluid. After letting sit I started it up again and let it idle to see if it would heat up again. As I was idling teh temp gauge stayed at N. After about 5 minutes of Idling I thought I would try to make it to Tousley Ford. No luck I wasn't even out of the parking lot when the temp gauge started to climb making it to L before I shut it down and called a tow. Anyway I was thinking it could be the WP or the thermostat. I just found it odd that I didn't really lose any coolant (other than that boiled off) and I also noticed that the wonderful gremling of my fuel delivery was back in full force (wondering if that could be the culprit) Hopefully it will be covered under warranty and hopefully I didn't crack the block or something worse. What really sucks is that the local Ford dealers service are closed on Saturday or only open till 3p, rather annoying.

The same sort of thing happened to my '98 SVT at about 69,000 miles. It ended up being the famed water pump impeller failure. I also pegged my temp gauge a couple of times. Aparently nothing was damaged. She's got 88,000 now and still running strong! Good luck!

I'd have to agree on the w/p.

Don't drive it anymore...tow it home, get a metal w/p from Autozone and fix it yourself.

CEG will help you through it !!

Good luck.

Mine just went tonight too I was 3 miles from home and just drove it the rest of the way (took about a half hour or so though). I'd just get going on the road and shut it down if I was going straight. (It's past midnight, so it wasn't too bad of an idea) Dammit though!!!!!!!!!

Yes MarkO, you definitely have the right idea! Jlanger, if you're mechanically inclined at all you can do this pump! It's even easier than the V-8 in my Monte Carlo. While you're at the parts store getting your new pump, pick up a Chilton 26170 book or something similar. There is tons of good information and easy to follow instructions in there. Don't forget the coolant!

Usually the way to tell if it is the water pump or a stuck thermostat is if your heater will blow warm or cold. If it is a water pump, the heater will be cold since the water pump will not circulate coolant anywhere. If it is the thermostat, the heater will be hot because the thermostat only restricts circulation to the radiator but still permits circulation thru the rest of the system.

In short, if the heater will not get hot, it is time to check the water pump.

As she's still under warranty till sept. I will probably have the dealer take care of it. I understand that the replacement wp's have the same issues but for $50 it's cheaper than doing it myself. If it wasn't under warranty I might attempt it though I would have to do it someplace else (the apartment doesn't allow you to do auto work in the parking lot.) But I guess I will find out on Monday what really happened. I'm leaning more torward the thermostat because I turned my heat on in an attempt to reduce the heat in the engine bay and it was blowing warm air out. Thanks for the the comments guys/gals I know it's a oft repeated subject in this forum.

u described the same symptoms i had when my pump went...i guess it didn't completely go but it did show signs of leaking when dealer checked it out...also they replaced my thermostat at the same time....