Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting update to serpentine belt problem...please help

I took my 95 mystique ls v6 in, and the problem, apparently was that the air conditioner was shot and had seized and killed the belt, the total to repair all that was going to be over $1200 so I asked if they could just bypass the air conditioning conducter(?) and fix the belt. I don't really care about the air as of yet...having just moved across country and being unemployed for the moment.

So they found out they could do it with a shorter belt and went ahead, and the car starts and runs, but is overheating immediately. Its not the water pump or the belt that that runs the water pump. It's not the rad, or coolant, and the guy desn't have the diagnostic equipment to figure out what it is.
He suggested I take in to the Ford Dealer, who undoubtedly will charge me again for diagnostic and ridiculous labour rates.
Any ideas what could be causing the sudden overheating? Many thanks!

How do you know it's not the water pump?

The belt on the back of the engine may be OK, but the pump is well known for failing internally.

I think an earlier poster was aluding to the fact that the water pump is well known to break into smaller pieces. The impeller inside is made of plastic and tends to crack in the 50-70k mile range. You're supposed to get a new one with a metal impeller. I've heard of Autozone and NAPA carrying the metal impeller pump. You should also fish around to make sure you got all the parts so none of the passages get blocked up. The pump is supposed to be about $70 retail, who knows what the dealer charges for it.

Thanks, you were right about the water pump. The dealer is trying to charge me $600 CDN, to replace the water pump and the thermostat(just in case) 1 1/2 hours to replace the thermostat at $80 per hour???
Ugh. Cna't they tell if the thermostat is broken before they charge me $160 to replace it?

While replacing the water pump, the thermostat is only another 10 minute's work plus $20 USD for the thermostat.

Sounds like they're trying to charge you "full" flat rate for replacing the thermostat without taking into consideration the large amount of duplicative work.

Bring this to their attention and ask for an appropriate charge for the "additional" work of replacing the thermostat while the pump is out of the way and the cooling system is already open.

FWIW, I did this job for the first time this spring (both pump and thermostat) and the entire job was finished in less that three hours. That included removing the battery, draining the system, replacing the pump and thermostat, and flushing and filling the cooling system. If a hobbyist can do this job in this time span, their experienced mechanics should be able to do it in far less time.

Heck, just print this out, show it to the service advisor, and ask him to explain his estimate. See if he can do so without staring at his feet.

Steve

I had my wp and t-stat replaced at the same time, and it only came to about $300 here in the states. I don't know what that is Canadian, but sounds a bit overpriced. You don't necessarily have to take it to the dealer.

But from what I've read on this site, the WP is definitely a relatively easy DIY job, and I think the t-stat is nearby, and just as easy. I think there's a "howto" on the wp replacement. The T-stat is pretty similar for most cars.

$300? The pump is like $70, thermostat is like $10. So around $100 total in parts. So they charged $200 labor?

buy the parts....waterpump and therm and find a repair shop that works on american cars for relatively cheap...save yourself whatever the dealer will charge....waterpump and thermostat are easy repairs for a shop and theres now way they should charge u very much for the labor