Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Zetec Missing/Coolant loss

Hoping someone can help me....'95 Contour GL with a Zetec....car was overheated....now it runs rough...missing on idle and acceleration....seems to get worse as it warms up...seems to be loosing coolant....nothing on the ground...

Had someone look at it and they said the plugs looked fine and didn't think it was a head gasket....don't trust his theory though...

Oil looks fine...seems like it may be pressurizing too much in the coolant reservoir though...also a lot of blowby when removing the oil cap....


Any troubleshooting i can do? what should I look for?

Thanks a lot,
John

Mine was losing coolent and had a lot of pressure in the reservoir also, it turned out to be the radiator cap. It was something like 12 bucks at autozone.

Welcome to CEG!

Symptoms of a blown head gasket can vary. Often, the coolant resivoir becomes pressurized less than a minute after a cold start. If so, do a compression test. If you cannot do that and want quick confirmation, put a container below the tailpipe and check the collected water for green color and coolant smell. Pull the plugs and use a good light to inspect the piston tops. Any cylinders exposed to coolant will be unusually clean and shiny.

Depending on the degree of overheating, the engine may need a head gasket, or it may be destroyed (bearings and cylinder walls). If you cannot replace the head gasket yourself and are in doubt about the condition of the engine, an oil analysis should tell you if the engine is worth the work.

Thanks for your replies...

I started it tonight and add some water....left the reservoir cap off while it warmed up and noticed it was kicking some of the water back out...like the level raised....also could feel bubbles in the reservoir when i stuck my fingers in it...

Haven't checked the plugs yet...definitely not running well after it warms up....feels real rough at idle in gear...the oil itself and under the cap looks fine...someone did pull the plugs and said they looked ok...but not sure if I trust him...i wasn't there....i took it to the dealer for a diagnosis...guess I'll see what they say...

Already took it to another dealer and they were a joke...said I'd 1st have to change the timing belt and plugs and wires before they could diagnosis it...guess they heard the timing belt hitting the shroud(pretty common on these right?) Anyways, they wanted "only" $900 to do that!!!

Thanks,
John

you stated you added WATER??? and you felt the bubbles... with just plain water you gonna get the water bubbling up and evaporating... you need a 50-50 mix of water and antifreeze to stop the bubbling... plain water will boil at
212 deg. F.. but with the 50-50 mix it will go up to 265 or higher before boiling away....

Dealer finally diagnosed it as a headgasket....1st they said I need a timing belt/plugs/wires etc...before they could diagnose...and that the reservoir was leaking...which it's not...so they said they would run a longer pressure test to verify....said it was leaking coolant into a cylinder(S)....

Is there any way to differentiate between a head gasket and a cracked head without pulling the head?? What should I expect as a reasonable rate for a head gasket job?

Thanks a lot,
John