Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance OVERHEATING (blown head gasket???)

1996 contour GL 2.0

Replaced heater hose
drained the cooling system
replaced cooling temp sensor
water pump is good

my car is having overheating problem, It having hard time starting, and when it does lots of white smoke comming out of the exhaust pipe, my system runs cool for like 15 mins of driving where then it starts to reach red peak. My heater works first 15 minutes and then when car starts to over heat it dies (NO HEAT) .
did anyone had to go through this b4 or something similar? let me know please its my second day tryin gto figure out whast the problem. Now im beginning to think its the blown head gasket and leaking antifreeze or it just burns it out through exhaust pipe. thanks guys

Sounds like a head gasket. How is your oil looking?

White smoke means that water is getting into your engine. I had a similar problem w/ the smoke and hard start. I had a warped head gasket not a blown one (originally thought it was.) It cost 5 Franklins to repair and I'm in the process of getting my money back from Ford that caused my engine to over-work itself and causing it to over-heat and thus warping the gasket. The best thing to do is find the problem and fix it or take it strait to a repair shop.

my oil looks fine it has about 800 miles untill i need to change it and it looks like its fine you know dark and thick. only thing is i think its over filled bc my level if higher that it shown on the stick. other than that its all good

if the head gasket is hte problem
would you recomend replacing whole engine or just replacing or head gasket
considering that engine is like 150 bucks at the pick a part.
would labor cost alot
im paying 25 bucks an hour

Have your current engine checked. It is an iron block so I don't expect any warpage or other really serious damage. A new head gasket & you should be fine, but get it carefully looked at first. That inspection will tell you for sure if you need a new engine, and GET PICTURES of the damage. Don't just take some guys word for it, check it out yourself & get input from others.

he imed me last night on aim asking what the problems where i forgot the list of things i told him to check he had said he had done those. then i said well take it to the shop and have it checked out. then his reply was boy that tells me alot you sure know lot about these cars and told me i wasnt tellin him anything. i said either take it to the shop and have it checked out or fix it yourself or either junk the sob i try to help but if thats gonna be his reply back to me or a thanks to me i dont care what he does.

dude i apreciate all the help youve given me and youve all been helpful.
But when i ask a question and you reply with
"take it to the shop or junk it"
then im thinking to my self" why would i AIM you? So i can get the answet that my little brother know to.
Sorry dude but i thought that this website was for people to troubleshoot you and share common problems and how htey fixed it, and not which shop they took their car to.
Youve all been great help honestly guys i really apreciate all of you
My problem still lives on!!!

um no i told you to take it to the shop then your like that tells me alot you sure know lot about these cars then i said either take it to the shop or junk it. lets drop it here.