She was driving on dual carraigeway, saw engine management light come on, thought nothing of it Failed to notice the temp gauge was as high as it could get , and drove it another 8-10miles before stopping, when the car was making "whuring noises"

Plugs 1,2,4 are CLEAN and plug 3 is quite sooty. All the water has gone

When you turn it over it sounds like no compression, so sounds like headgaskets gone, but could have warped the head or cracked it as it got so hot?

Doesn't appear to be water in the oil when you pull dipstick out

I'm thinking there may have been a seperate water leak, before the head gasket let go??

Any ideas/opinions/what to do first before taking it to bits would be great

It was parked on drive last night, coolant dripping down the side of the block, and down the sump, couldn't see where from, but hopefully head gasket and not head/block; however this was nearly 2hrs after it was stopped, and had been recovered home.

Plus the car never actually died itself, was still running till she turned it off

Also worth mentioning oil must have sprayed out the breather pipe off the rocker cover, as this made some steam as it went over the inlet manifold.

Cheers

 

Women.........I really dont understand why they dont understand when they see a needle going into the red or a red light come on they completely ignore it!!!!

Sounds like headgasket at the very least mate!!! Whip the head of it & go from there!!

 

I know mate, when I said to her, did you not notice the temp gauge "No just look at the fuel gauge" She may have just learnt the hard way

 

Sounds like a water way has leaked to the outside of the block, almost certainly the head gasket.

I'd get the head off and examine the head to see if its warped, then you'll know where you stand on repairs.

 

Cheers guys, I'm just wondering if anyone else thinks it may have lost water first, i,e core plug etc?

I know I'll have to take the head off at least!!

 

Anymore?

 

If I'm thinking about the right engine, the 2 coolant pipes connect to a square plastic piece, which then bolts to the front of the block. Its very common to leak from there.

Sound like its lost its coolant somehow, overheated and warped the head. Would it not be cheaper and less faffing about to bang a new engine in there? Should be able to pick one up for 150 quid.

 

you looked at the water pump yet!

 

I'm at work most of the day, I had thought water pump as this was replaced under warranty when it was new too.

Yes mate it does have those plastic connectors on the block for the coolant, I've always been dubious about them

It is a phase2 so would need a phase2 engine!

 

Seen a few of these engines break the impeller wheel of the pump,plastic impeller same as audi and vw which are very common.

 

when you say phase 2, do you mean the mk5 zetec s with the black rocker cover? My old 1.6 focus (same engine) had the early type with the silver rocker cover, and when that went pop i fitted one with the black rocker cover, they are identical engines.

 

Water pump could of gone as said, they leak from there if it goes to shít.

Heater control valve tends to go, if it does, chances are it'll over heat.

Thing with these engines, they are basically throw away engines, so you can't buy crank/bearings anything like that from Ford, they'll just sell you a new engine.

Quite hard to get for decent money now due to all the kit cars using them.

 

Yes its the one with the black rocker cover!

Dan, not what I wnated to hear

You must have a couple of spare engine lying around?

If you can swap about the silver tops with the black tops then that is deffo an option!

 

Dan,

Anyway to test the heater valve?

 

QUOTE Failed to notice the temp gauge was as high as it could get.


how do you know that? if she didn't notice it how do you know it was high? If water had leaked out then the gauge should not be reading anything as there would no no water for it to take a temperature from.

 

I have considered that, and it must have been measuring air/metal temp..

Cos when she finally did pull over it was that hot, and stayed like it for 45mins/1hr before finally cooling down

 

shes more than likely cooked the death outof it doubt head will be warped but you will have to remove and reseat all the valves, good test is when the head is off pour water down the inlets and see if leaks out of the valves, i dont a zetec the other month had no compression atall as had been cooked, all the valves leaked like fook lol

 

I was thinking of doing the valve stem oil seals etc if everything is stil ok with it except HG....

Cheers for the tip mate

 

Sounds like it was leaking water from the thermostat housing if it was dripping down the side of the block. Mine did this and then it started overheating really bad, although your mum may have done more damage if she continued to drive it. I just got a new thermostat + housing from fords, put some new coolant in and everything was fine again.

 

Cheers Jimbo

 

its should start once cool, if not just get a new engine

 

I've had no end of grief with Natalie's Zetec s

I've looked on the Zetec S site for this problem and it seems the cars are prone to overheating and they can't fix it.

Standing still its fine, but it overheats if the heater control is not on hot when driving if the heater is on cold at 50+mph temp starts rising.

Tested the H/G, changed the water pump, thermostat and rad it still does it

I'm going to change the heater valve which I've changed before and the engine fan as when it starts getting hot if you turn the internal fans on the temp goes back down.

Fucking hate that car

 

I would suggest not only checking the head to see if it is warped but check the block too as I think these have an alloy block as well if i remember correctly.

 

The heater valves can cause all manner of funny problems with the cooling systems.

A tell tale sign is if the the heaters work with it set to cold and if its cold when set to hot.

That hapeens quite often.

 

Sounds like the HCV is ok then, cos the heaters worked correctly AFAIK (may have died yesterday though??)

Ally block, I hope you're joking!

Where is this heater valve?

Dan, thats propper shit luck!!

 

Loads of cars have ally blocks........even the SR20's in pulsars etc would take alot to warp one through over heating i would think!

 

Didn't know that!

Well I just put some water in it, tried to start it, you can just see the fumes coming out the header tank And it won't start, still just sounds like no compression

 

Taken plugs out, cranked it, and got a nice water feature

Hopefully its blown a big chunk of the gasket, hence why its leaking down the front of the block too, and hope it aint warped the head

 

Sorry to hear this James... whip that head off and all will become clear!!!

 

I know Paul,

Just got no enthuisasm for it today As I'm sure you well know, it is just all crammed in there!!

 

Right -!

the temp gauge WILL show a reading, water in or not, It takes it from the sensor in the top of the head, if there's no water to cool down, it'll be red hot! So it will take a reading.

You can buy a HCV from ford which will cure the overheating

http://www.fordpartsuk.com/shop/c/fi...ter_valve_278/

That is the one I've got and it's sorted..

you can swap black and silver top engines around no problems.

And yes, it's an all ally engine.

And stop being soft! You'll have the head off it within 30mins!

 

Cheers for that Dan

Only spent a couple of mins on it today, took the rocker cover off and you can smeel it straight away, the engine just stinks!! Whereabouts does that heater control valve go??

I'll line the engine up to TDC, put it in gear and whip the cams and head off in the week hopefully, depends how much I'm working though!

Is it best to put it to TDC or half way so all the pistons are only half way up the bores?

 

there were faulty hcv made by ford, so make sure its not one of those that you guys have tried, im not sure of the part no's of the top of my head but can find out, not that it will fix the h/g though but may sort the above problem

 

the 96 part number is the original one that works......i may have one somewhere.....

 

If someone can find out about the part nos that would be fantastic

Cheers so far everyone

 

What can I use to lock the cams in place, as I went to put a bar in the rear of the cams and they are too far recessed into the head to put a bar straight through the back; unlike the last Zetec HG I done