Maybe the Contour is not for me

im driving on the highway and my girlfriend says she smells something burning. so i said its probably something the contour does sometimes cuz i used to get that in my previous one. 5 miles later im at her house and i see that the engine is on hot alllllllll the way so i pull into a parking space and i leave there.
i'm gonna go to the dealership tomorrow and they better fix the water pump or im gonna kick some ass, which brings me to the question,

how far can i drive on a broken water pump???
second day i have the car and this [censored] happens

That sucks!

I wouldn't recomend driving with a bad WP.

Mario, we'll take care of it tomorrow man. It's all good. If you drove that little and still had coolant in the engine, I wouldn't worry too much... The SVT will be up and ruinnig tomorrow afternoon... Then you can drive me home in it...

DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR WITH A BAD WATER PUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my god man please tell me that you havent been driving it? if you have, get ready to get yet another contour cause your engine will be F***ED.

i think it might rain tomorrow so i dont know how were gonna do it unless we pull the car into my girlfriends garage. hopefully i didn't blow the head gasket like mike did.

Arrrgh!

This totally sucks. Why couldn't it have gone out two weeks ago? I had three cars available... it wouldn't have been a problem to fix it.

Nuts.

Originally posted by Mario Opalka:
i hopefully i didn't blow the head gasket like mike did.

i really think that my bad water pump did lead to my blown head gasket. also, the fact that the head gasket did have 95K miles on it didnt help matters. how long did you drive it with the the temp needle pegged?

im not sure how long i drove on it but it was most likely about 5 miles. although it could have also been 5 blocks. im not sure but it still had some coolant left.
i went to look at the car and even though the car is cold it still shows the temp all the way past red. maybe it blew a sensor or something. i dont really know exactly how the contour engine works since milan told me that for some wierd reason it doesnt even have a thermostat.
when i went to look at it today the coolant was only sprayed over the left side of the engine. it might not even be the waterpump but im not sure.

Take it back to the dealer!

Originally posted by Mario Opalka:
i dont really know exactly how the contour engine works since milan told me that for some wierd reason it doesnt even have a thermostat.
when i went to look at it today the coolant was only sprayed over the left side of the engine. it might not even be the waterpump but im not sure.

??? The Duratec has a thermostat.

Left side, you mean the drivers side or passenger side? If it's the passenger side, is the cap on the expansion tank loose?

When you were looking at the car, was the engine bay "spotless" or did it have the normal amount of dust/dirt? I did not detail the car before I traded it. I ask because maybe the detailer loosened the cap on the expansion tank?

If it's the drivers side, and the coolant is all over the transmission, then it could be the waterpump.

The Duratec has a thermostat. Without one, the ECU would have no idea what temp your engine is running at, hence it couldn't supply the correct amount of coolant.

i guess they cleaned the engine cuz it is spotless.
the coolant is all over the passanger side and the waterpump doesnt seem to be leaking anywhere. could have been a hose or something but then again the temperature gauge shows the engine beyond the red area even when the car is off and cold.

Originally posted by Mario Opalka:
i guess they cleaned the engine cuz it is spotless.
the coolant is all over the passanger side and the waterpump doesnt seem to be leaking anywhere. could have been a hose or something but then again the temperature gauge shows the engine beyond the red area even when the car is off and cold.

That is too weird. I dunno what can be going on.

But if it's on the passenger side, it could have been as simple as leaving the pressure cap loose on the expansion tank.

Check all the fuses and electrical connections, if they steam cleaned it they usually blast high pressure hot water all over the place, they might have disconnected something or popped a fuse.

Does the gauge even move when you put the key in "run" without starting the car?

I gotta look under the hood of the '96 after I get home to see where else it could be coming from.

mario, the same exact thing happened to me when mine went. there was coolant sprayed all over the passanger side of the engine bay coming out of the overflow cap. the cap is not bad, it is your water pump. the water pumps failure lead to the coolant boiling over and spraying out of the overflow tank. i have 10 witnesses that saw this happen. then joe and i took the water pump apart and what do you know, it was all screwed up. the fins were crackd and they spun independent of the pulley.

Every car has a thermostat. I told Kevin that I thought that Marios's went, and he told me that some guy told him that it is computer controled on Duratecs... Didn't think that was possible. Anyhow, I passed on info which Kevin got from some idiot who thought he knew what he was taliking about... Now I feel stupid even telling Mario.

my trusty haines manual says that we do in fact have a thermostat on our duratecs, but it is his water pump that went bad so who cares.

Originally posted by Milan007:
Every car has a thermostat. I told Kevin that I thought that Marios's went, and he told me that some guy told him that it is computer controled on Duratecs... Didn't think that was possible. Anyhow, I passed on info which Kevin got from some idiot who thought he knew what he was taliking about... Now I feel stupid even telling Mario.

I wont mention who told me this.

"my trusty haines manual says that we do in fact have a thermostat on our duratecs, but it is his water pump that went bad so who cares. "

"I wont mention who told me this. "

yeah i [censored] said that so what ONE time i'm wrong never came across it in any parts books when ive looked for one , so big [censored] deal , and as for the trusty haynes manual which is supposed to cover 95 thru 98 show me in there were it metion anything but vacum secondaries ! that manual has many faults , tell you what ill take my car apart this weekend and take a [censored] picture of the thermostat just to make sure there is one , so i guess you better not ask for my advice cuz i might make your car blow up

at least i know not to drive around with a blow water pump

sorry just venting i'm done for now

Well, Mario called me, and left me a message that it was fixed. So, it's all good... Still feel bad I couldn't help Mario, but you know my situation...

Originally posted by I-Dom-In-8:

Originally posted by Milan007:
Every car has a thermostat. I told Kevin that I thought that Marios's went, and he told me that some guy told him that it is computer controled on Duratecs... Didn't think that was possible. Anyhow, I passed on info which Kevin got from some idiot who thought he knew what he was taliking about... Now I feel stupid even telling Mario.

I wont mention who told me this.

**cough** Joe **cough**

wait a sec! i was just out looking at my car and i dont see where the thermostat housing could be. the haines manual points to the area but i am not 100% sure that there is one there. hmmmmmmmmm, i am confused.

yup it was the waterpump but i also replaced the thermostat since i was already in there. when i popped the waterpump open the pastic impellar was in a million pieces. the fins were all cracked and i most likely have pieces flying around in there somewhere. if you haven't changed your waterpump yet and your around 60k miles my suggestion is DO IT NOW since you most likely have pieces of the impeller in the coolant. that plastic is actually pretty brittle.
theres only one more problem i have and thats the temp guage doesnt move at all and stays all the way past red. my guess its the water temp sensor but im not sure can someone tell if thats what it is or what else it could be??

Originally posted by Milan007:
Well, Mario called me, and left me a message that it was fixed. So, it's all good... Still feel bad I couldn't help Mario, but you know my situation...

Kewl.

Was it the waterpump or what?

Originally posted by Mario Opalka:
theres only one more problem i have and thats the temp guage doesnt move at all and stays all the way past red. my guess its the water temp sensor but im not sure can someone tell if thats what it is or what else it could be??

Well, I'm glad it's fixed.

I'm at work and can't access my shop manual, there is a way to test the temp gauge function.

Do you want the K&N that came with the car? Yours free, but it needs to be cleaned and oiled (I don't have the kit).

PM me and let me know...

Mario, I strongly urge you to flush the Cooling system man! Only way to have a good chance to get rid of whatever may be in your coolant. And besides, it is supposed to be changed every 50K...

you know i would have flushed it the other day but i couldnt find the plug that is usually on the radiator. Does anyone know where the plug is to drain the coolant?

I don't think the 'Tour has a drain plug. Disconnect the lower rad hose to drain it.

Did you get the temp gauge fixed? Looking at the testing flow chart isn't a lot of help. It talks about testing the gauge with a variable resistance tester.

The ECT (coolant temp sensor) should have high resistance when cold and low resistance when hot. If the gauge is full hot all the time, that would mean the ECT sensor wire is seeing little or no resistance, or is shorted to ground?

If you need, I can scan in the testing procedure and connector info from my '96 shop manual, I doubt the circuits have changed much for that particular application.

Originally posted by 2redtours:
I don't think the 'Tour has a drain plug. Disconnect the lower rad hose to drain it.

Yes it has a drain plug. On the passenger side of the radiator.

By flushing I mean doing the whole nine yards guys... Simply dumping the coolant won't get any pieces of the broken impellers out. Gotta use the hose method, or do it proffesionally....

Originally posted by TheContourGuy:
The Duratec has a thermostat. Without one, the ECU would have no idea what temp your engine is running at, hence it couldn't supply the correct amount of coolant.

the thermostat controlls the amount of coolant that flows through your motor, basically it opens when your motor is hot, closes after it cools, to help the motor warm up faster. this is why you have no heat in the winter for a few minutes.

the ecu gets its reading from the engine coolant temp sensor. (like 2redtours mentioned) but doesnt use this to control the coolant flow. instead, the ecu reads the coolant temp and advances or retards the timing, or leans or richens the fuel ratio, for (somewhat) optimum power and knock prevention.

chitown- be sure to watch the coolant level after all the work is done, if your car looses coolant, the overheating could've caused the head gasket to blow. this just happend to a friend of mine.

mark

Originally posted by mikey boy:

Originally posted by Mario Opalka:
i hopefully i didn't blow the head gasket like mike did.

i really think that my bad water pump did lead to my blown head gasket. also, the fact that the head gasket did have 95K miles on it didnt help matters. how long did you drive it with the the temp needle pegged?

thats what usually happens when the water pump goes out

So Mario, how is the car man? You never posted anything about it since you fixed it. Is it running fine?

Originally posted by Milan007:
So Mario, how is the car man? You never posted anything about it since you fixed it. Is it running fine?

sorry about that, the car seems to be doing fine for now,i went to the track on tuesday, i couldnt get better than 15.7 with a crappy 2.4 60' time. although im still not sure if the head gasket is ok or not. i cant tell the temp yet cuz i didnt fix that sensor so i dont know if its overheating or not.
hey mike can you tell me the signs of a blown head gasket?

Mario man, if the car was overheating, you would be able to tell... Trust me. Have you checked your Coolant levels since you put it in? Check your Oil for Coolant too... Check the exaust for snow white smoke, though if you saw this the gasket it severly [censored].

If the level is the same, than I would say that it's OK. Gotta fix that sensor man. Do you know where it is? It is not that expensive...

Originally posted by Chi-TowNSVT:

Originally posted by Milan007:
So Mario, how is the car man? You never posted anything about it since you fixed it. Is it running fine?

sorry about that, the car seems to be doing fine for now,i went to the track on tuesday, i couldnt get better than 15.7 with a crappy 2.4 60' time

i get 15.2 with 2.5 60ft times

damn your launch sux you gotta work on that

if i could get traction id launch harder ...
don't break YOUR tranny launching harder

Originally posted by HisSvt:
don't break YOUR tranny launching harder

memorys of the longest time I ever spent at route 66...

Originally posted by Chi-TowNSVT:

Originally posted by Milan007:
So Mario, how is the car man? You never posted anything about it since you fixed it. Is it running fine?

sorry about that, the car seems to be doing fine for now,i went to the track on tuesday, i couldnt get better than 15.7 with a crappy 2.4 60' time. although im still not sure if the head gasket is ok or not. i cant tell the temp yet cuz i didnt fix that sensor so i dont know if its overheating or not.
hey mike can you tell me the signs of a blown head gasket?

it was pretty humid tueday... what was your 1/8mile. you should really launch your car hard because of the torque you have... dumping you clutch wont help your 60ft either...

Originally posted by HisSvt:

Originally posted by Chi-TowNSVT:

Originally posted by Milan007:
So Mario, how is the car man? You never posted anything about it since you fixed it. Is it running fine?

sorry about that, the car seems to be doing fine for now,i went to the track on tuesday, i couldnt get better than 15.7 with a crappy 2.4 60' time

i get 15.2 with 2.5 60ft times

not bad man.... but i do better

Originally posted by svtnos:

Originally posted by HisSvt:

Originally posted by Chi-TowNSVT:

Originally posted by Milan007:
So Mario, how is the car man? You never posted anything about it since you fixed it. Is it running fine?

sorry about that, the car seems to be doing fine for now,i went to the track on tuesday, i couldnt get better than 15.7 with a crappy 2.4 60' time

i get 15.2 with 2.5 60ft times

not bad man.... but i do better

Really Ron? Let see some slips!!!! lol

Originally posted by HisSvt:
if i could get traction id launch harder ...
don't break YOUR tranny launching harder

i launch at 3000rpm with a slip of the clutch and i never had a worst 60' than 2.4 with your lsd you should easily be getting 2.2s maybe even 2.1s.

Originally posted by Chi-TowNSVT:

Originally posted by HisSvt:
if i could get traction id launch harder ...
don't break YOUR tranny launching harder

i launch at 3000rpm with a slip of the clutch and i never had a worst 60' than 2.4 with your lsd you should easily be getting 2.2s maybe even 2.1s.

AGAIN TRACTION lsd or not i smoke up the tires if i launch to hard and that is launch at never higher than 2000 rpm , mario driving yours like that , kiss your clutch goodbye , i should do better when i get some new tires and change my suspension i am getting to much rear squat these days so im losing traction

i told a focus guy once i lauched by sliping the clutch at around 5000. he didnt belive me! i think my best 60' was a 1.9 but you know why that is.

mark

I definatelly do not recommend launching at more than 2500rpm. Even that is a bit too high. Our trans is simply not made to take the punishment. Also remember that one little, tini-vinnie gear in your diff....

rookies... i dont launch the car... i used to a long time ago.. thats why back then i was only cutting 2.4s/2.5s.... pretty confident it will go lower now

This is some crazy [censored] man.

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