Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 97 Contour Head Gasket $$ worth it or not

A month ago I took my car in to the ford dealer cause i was leaking antifreeze/water(leaving puddles & temp gage went up) They couldnt find anything wrong. No leaks,cracks. They said it was dry underneath. Aweek ago it started again real frequent. It over heated on the freeway and killed. I had it towed to a different shop. They said its the headgasket but the head needs to be reconditioned and grind the valves, gasket kit etc.Also the timing belt needs replacement which I know it does. It is a 2.0 4 cyl and they want 1670.00 for the tow and head job.IS IT WORTH IT WITH 140,000 miles on it. Ive had it since 35,000 miles and all else is good. If not what do I do?? Junk a otherwise good car with high miles-HELP-Im paying $57 day for a rental and need to make a decision to get another or pile on more miles with a repaired car. $1900 with timing belt

Well the car is probably only worth about $3500 in "good" condition... I love contours, but that is very pricey to me, you could probably have the engine rebuilt for not much more than that... I would say sell it, someone will fix it up... Or have the entire engine rebuilt, it will last you another 140k miles...

Rebuild it and add a turbo

For $1600 I can sell you a WHOLE new motor!!!!

Find one of those "Thunderbolt" or other engine rebuilders that will also guarantee the engine for a year. Probably will cost about the same because their labor cost is lower from mass production rebuilding. Or, take the rebuild money and make a big down payment on a used car with a good engine. If your present car needs lots of suspension work I would look for a used car with fewer miles.

Geez Man !!!

She needs some real advice here.... I don't think she is looking for speed right now....



Regarding your problem MsContour.. I went through the same problem with a Daytona that I had: my leak was so bad that it was BURNING antifreeze... you could see ALL this white smoke coming from exhaust.. The guy charged me $700 total. I figured: the car was worth like $1,500 maximum... but it was a good car and I was decided to keep it. So I changed it. Later on I gave it to my sister and I bought my Contour. After using the car for 6 months and destroying it.. my sister sold it for $500

SO basically the thing is IMO: if you fix the car you gonna have to keep it for few more THOUSANDS of miles... If you don't like the car don't spend the money.. cause you probably won't get it back...

You can never gage the cost of parts/repair against what the car is worth if you sell, parts dont go down in price because they go on an older car....

If you have a leak only part of the time , as 1 day a week it just might be not a head gasket . Check to see if the puddle is on the driver side or passenger side . When does the car leak ??? When running OR does it leak while it sits all nite in your driveway .??? The 2.0 zetec likes to leak where the top radiator hose goes into the thermostat housing . There are 3 bolts that hold the 2 pieces together . One piece is plastic and the other side is aluminium . This area likes to leak when there is a tempture change outside greater than a 25 degrees, when the car sits NOT running for a long time . Like over-night . THE BOLTS LIKE TO LOOSEN ...... So try tightening them up yourself .

I do not think she is going to install a new motor herself !!! AND I am sure you are not going to do it for free ..... P.S... how much is shipping a motor to a person ??? Would a 34 cent stamp cover the cost or is shipping free ???

yeh im sure 34 cents postage will cover it nicely :rolleyes:

personally for the money i'd rather go with the new engine than putting that much into the older one