Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Can someone answer me a question about a possible water pump issue?

I was on my way home today from work and had the AC cranking! 93' degrees in PA today... So any rate. I am tunnin'along at about 75 and look down at the temp gauge and notice its almost in the "RED" zone

I imediatly freak OUT and turn the AC off and turn the heat on!!! It moved down a bit.. The issue is that I have NO idea how long it was on! Its a half hour drive home from work... The car ran fine NO steam while driving. Nor NO smell of anti freeze? I do NOT think it hit red nor pegged any of the time. I drove home. Popped the hood and there was crackling (steaming) but NOT much...The Water resivoir was almost at the top of the cap!

I let the car cool and went out to see if the water dropped, sure enough the resivor was EMPTY.. It only took a 3/4's of a gallon of water to get it back to the line....

The car has 61,000 miles on it! No signs before of any trouble.... Could I have done anything to the motor with it just getting to the tip of red in the gauge?

After I added the water I started it to circulate it? The water did drop after I started it. Could it be the pump? I squeezed the the large radiator hose next to the battery while it was running, would I be able to feel any water flowing thru it? I felt NOTHING? But I was at idle rpms... Not reved,,,,

My buddy is a mechaninc and he is going to change the thermostat, pump, belt and flush the coolant... Monday.... The car sits till then

The real pisser is that I had the ESP to 60,000 miles... I am 1000 over!!!! Son's a biatch's....

Hey doesn't it mean YOUR 60,000 added miles and not from 0 (ZERO). I bought the car it had 24,000 on it already!!! LOL...... So the warranty should go till 84,000... :rolleyes: I paid full price so why don't we get the miles/warranty we paid for!!!! HA HA .. Stick it to us FORD.....

Thanks for any help you can throw at me and I know this is a ongoing topic that we all will run into while we own these cars....

Spankey

97 Sport V6

Was the heat hot? (Not that I think you could tell in this weather.) If so, it's probably not the wp (at least not classic Duratec impeller meltdown). Good idea to replace the stat, pump, belt (might as well at that point), and flush it. Don't forget to replace the rad cap.

Sounds to me that you lost coolant somehow. See any drips under the car in the driveway? Maybe the wp failed in the classic failure - blown seal allowing coolant to weep out of the pump. My wife's 88 Olds did that a few months ago. Not a drop of coolant left in the overflow, heat was still hot, and temp idiot light was coming on (no gauge). When I pulled her pump off, I could see evidence of coolant coming out of the weep hole which was hidden when the pulley was still installed. I did the whole cooling system tune up (including new hoses), and she's been fine since.

Unless you pegged the temp gauge for a significant time, you *should* be fine. Our cars actually have a Cylinder Head Temp sensor, which is supposed to cut spark to allow the fuel charge to cool the cylinder in an overheat condition. Doesn't seem to have helped people here when their pump died.

sounds like the thermostat stuck,had it happen to me.It's cheaper to try the thermostat and a flush,before throwing to many parts at it.

Ford might be receptive to just-passed-warranty claim considering Contique wp failure frequency, however, you would probably have to pay dealer to fix and have warranty claim adjudicated by Ford later. A call to your dealer re foregoing would be advisable since in all probability it's the wp.