Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting runin hot, Impellar problem?

A friend of mine just got a car like mine a few weeks ago (98 svt) and we went to a lil street gathering to hang out and his car is all stock and has 59k miles, mine has 50k miles and when we were there we were in traffic about 6-8min. at idle and my temp needle was fine but he yelled out his window and said that his needle was over far and the engine light came on, it's a pic of a engine with wavy lines over it (that means it's overheated right?) mine was fine and no light came on but his was on for a while, pretty much until we got out of traffic and back on the highway, but he said that since then the engine light with the wavy lines over it come on everytime he starts the car and then eventually goes off and then while driving it will come back on and then eventually go off, his fluid level is right above the MIN. line, what do you think it is, i thought maybe it was the impellar thing but i didn't look into it anyfarther than checkin out his fluid level. If it's not the Impellar thing, what do you think it is? Thanks.

it it goes all the way to hot and stays there and the fan i son well it can only be the coolant level low or absent, or the water pump (impeller) not moving the coolant around or the thermostat.....
thermostat for the contour is about $15 from dealer
water pump $45 to $60 for the impeller replacement,
complete pump about $120 from dealer.........
and the cost of coolant.....

almost forgot if its the V-6 its got the water pump on the opposite side of the engine and is driven by a small belt from the cam shaft, check to make sure the belt did not break, you gotta take the plastic cover off the front of the engine to view it(but then you have to remove it to get to the water pump anyway... hope this helps.

Just FYI "engine light with the wavy lines over it" is a low cooliat warning

You sure that's a low coolant warning? I thought it was a overheat warning or engine prob or something. His coolant was right on the MIN line last time i looked at it, but i'll let him know, if anyone has an opinion on this please let me know, cause if it's more than that, then i'm gonna have to make some time to go over to his place and fix it. Thanks

Our cars like to have the coolant about 1/2" above the max line. It soulds like he is experiencing the normal slightly low on coolant Contour thing. Most all of them would turn on the low coolant light for a few minutes after a cold start unless the coolant was slightly high. This is one of the most common items posted here.

Thanks for the reply Big Jim, i also read on here somewhere that, that "green" coolant only last about 2 years, is that true? And is that what causes the water impellar to get bad? Thanks

Info on wp failures and low coolant light available in FAQ section from home page.

Ask your friend it the dash light was red or yellow.

If it was yellow, add more coolant tot he bottle.

If it was red, he has temp problems that need to be addressed before the car is driven again.

Steve