Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting I think my engine is toast, can someone confirm?

It all started today. Started the car up, had some knock (which was previously posted about here, but it was too slow to be a bearing, so it was assumed I had carbon buildup) which had gone away since my intake manifold cleaning, but suddenly came back today.

I drove the car home, a CEL comes on. I had to make a trip over to my parents, so I head over there, and maybe then I'd head down to Traverse City (an hour away) to get that CEL checked. Well on my way to my parents house the car developed a second, faster knock. This freaked me out, because in searching for my other knock problem, I've heard that a faster knock, or ticking sound, that continued with high revs was rod knock, and thats bad. So on my 6 mile drive, I stopped to check oil, that checks out. A little dirty since I'm due for an oil change (been 4k miles) but levels were right in the middle of the xxxx range on the dipstick. I continue, with the faster ticking noise is getting louder, to the point I can hear it at highway speeds. A car turns in front of me, so I slow down, then try to accelerate back up. I can't. Well, I can, but its VERY slow. I have no power, and the engine is starting to vibrate and sound like its trying to crap a watermelon out the tailpipe. Bad. By the time I reach my parents house, I can barely get it up the driveway. Once I do, my CEL is now flashing at me at a steady on-off-on-off rate. I turn the car off, and sit in a moment of silence.

This couldn't come at a worse time. The engine has always ran perfect and strong until today. I've taken no fast corners or hard driving in the last week or so, with my previous driving habits being an occasional sprint on the highway, and about a bi-annual trip down the twistiest of roads, M-119.


My only other symptom that I've been trying to address has been the high-idle that I've been getting this past week(won't drop below 1500 RPM's until I come to a complete stop, and then it settles down to about 1000 RPM and idles really rough, shaking my steering wheel and dash, but smooths out above 1200 RPMs).

Can someone tell me what they think is going on with my baby?

I had the same cel chit. solid light, then I got a loud knok which I equated to a rod. then I got the blinking, and thats all she wrote. spun bearing. good luck

You realize you may also just have bad plugs/wires/coil pack, CEL blinking = misfiring.

A bad coil, wire or plug can defiantly cause the symptoms you describe. If you keep driving it you will break something though. You need to find someone you can trust with the correct diag equipment to go through your motor. I would start with the PCM and ignition system then move to vacuum and compression tests.

I wouldnâ??t drive it until you fix it.

jeff

Looks like my 2.5L morphed into a FIVE valve motor!




And this is what a broken valve (or two in my case) does to a piston:




I sure am glad I ordered in new heads (thanks Keyser!) to go with my new 3L

Oh, and so now we know what all that knocking and ticking was

Holy [censored]!

Poor engine...

Tip: get a Zetec!!!


I would:
Run a compression test (Remove ALL spark plugs, test 1 cyl at a time)
Run Cranking Vacuum test
Idle Vacuum test
Exaust Vacuum test (Where you snap the throttle while engine is on, needle should jump all the way to 0 or something like that)
Do an oil change, run a magnet though the old oil, see if you have any metal shavings... (hope not though)
Id also take the valve cover off and inspect everything on it

So he should re-assemble the engine so that he can perform a compression test to provide partial information about what what he has better information from an engine tear down?

He knows what is wrong. It dropped two valves in one cylinder. How is a compression test going to tell him anything more?

I'd like to be the first to officially confirm your suspicions . . . . It's TOAST !
That's a heartbreaker, Thanks for the pics & good luck with it.

Welp, 3L installed, almost. Its in there, now to hook everything up and get this animal back on the road.