OT: 93 Ford Taurus overheating problem

[PcRider]

HI guys,

Sorry for the off topic post, Ive been pulling my hair out over this stupid car. Its a 93 ford taurus with a 3.8 liter v-6 fuel injected motor.

It had a little drip from the water pump area so I just put water in it for about a year. Recently it suddenly started overheating. So the first thing I did was replace the water pump. Turns out the leak was coming from the gasket on the pump, not the weep hole. Replaced it anyway since I already had it off.

That didn't help at all. So I got a new thermostat, and that didn't help either. I checked the new thermostat in a pan of water with a thermometer in it, it opens at 190 like it should. Each time I do something I replace the antifreeze with new antifreeze.

I try a second thermostat, just cuz I don't know what else to do. While I have it out I pull the upper and lower hoses loose from the radiator and block, and flush out the radiator and the block before putting the new thermostat back in. There is slight back pressure on the radiator when I flush it out, no back pressure at all when I flush the block.

I now have the radiator out, and I'm taking it to the radiator shop to have it flushed and cleaned by the pro's.

Throughout all this overheating I've noticed that the heater inside the car never gets warm at all. It just blows cold air like the motor isn't even turned on. Even though the engine is busy boiling over.

Is there anything in there that would cause the coolant to not flow so that the heater wouldn't even get warm?

Any help apreciated PcRider

 

[Bob]

GOOGLE "Ford 3.8 head gasket problems".

" In a letter Nov. 24 to Ford Chairman William Clay Ford Jr., the Center for Auto Safety demanded that the company warrant the gaskets for 120,000 miles on all cars equipped with the 3.8-liter engine from model years 1988 to 1995. The group says it alone has received more than 115 complaints about head-gasket failures on the 3.8-liter, an engine used on hundreds of thousands of Ford vehicles.

"Ford continues to lead all auto makers in covering up defects and exposing consumers to safety risks and expensive repairs in order to limit financial exposure for remedying defects," the letter charged."

 

[PcRider]

Bob:
I googled it, whats that got to do with it? Overheating may, or may not cause head gasket failure, but I don't see anything relating head gasket failure to causing overheating.

 

[Bob]

You wrote:

"I don't see anything relating head gasket failure to causing overheating."

I'm guessing you must be new to the whole IC engine thing?

The Ford 3.8's are KNOWN for headgasket failure which allows combustion products to bubble into the cooling system causing all sorts of problems, including overheating, loss of coolant, heater not working, and complete engine failure.

 

[PcRider]

Bob:
Yes I am new to the IC engine thing, I don't even know what IC stands for.

How would you test to see if the head gaskets have failed? I have replaced the head gaskets about 4 years ago. I followed the torque specs closely, and have had no problems since. At that time the failure was obvious, because I was driving along when POOF it just started blowing white smoke and stinking like antifreeze burning.

I don't see any white smoke this time. Overheating is causing it to boil water out the overflow on the radiator, but I see no evidence that its coming out the exaust, or anywhere else that it shouldn't.

Thanks PcRider

 

[Clelle]

I am not too familiar with ford cars but every time I have had an overheating problem with my vehicles and all looked good but the heater did not work the heater core ended up being plugged and caused the coolant to not circulate properly.... not saying that it is a for sure but something worth looking into

 

[jbolton0]

IC stands for internal combustion...if you are new to this you should probably leave the repair work to a professional.

 

[Dunk]

The guys have given you some good possibilities.

We now know that your heater core is clogged, so that would stand to reason that your radiator may be cloged too.

Most places like Autozone sell new radiators fairly reasonably priced these days.

A blown or leaky head gasket can be a problem in many different ways. When just leaky, it can allow the high pressure from combustion to leak into the much lower pressure cooling system, and force the coolant out of it.

 

[Bob]

If there isn't a head gasket problem, a gob of sealant or part of the old gasket could have gotten into the system when you changed the gasket and stopped up circulation to the heater core. Either a loose gob, or could there be a hole in the gasket plugged with silicone, for example?

Does it (like many Fords) have a vacuum-operated heater valve... something could have happened there, water passage plugged or no vacuum to it's diaphragm. (Some heater valves OPEN when vacuum is applied, some close... I don't know which you might have.)

Also, certain vehicles may need to have the heater core bled of air after the cooling system is opened up, perhaps by loosening a heater hose. (DISCLAIMER... HOT burn danger, etc, etc!)

 

[TheOldHokie]

(quoted from post at 11:09:35 05/21/09) HI guys,

Sorry for the off topic post, Ive been pulling my hair out over this stupid car. Its a 93 ford taurus with a 3.8 liter v-6 fuel injected motor.

It had a little drip from the water pump area so I just put water in it for about a year. Recently it suddenly started overheating. So the first thing I did was replace the water pump. Turns out the leak was coming from the gasket on the pump, not the weep hole. Replaced it anyway since I already had it off.

That didn't help at all. So I got a new thermostat, and that didn't help either. I checked the new thermostat in a pan of water with a thermometer in it, it opens at 190 like it should. Each time I do something I replace the antifreeze with new antifreeze.

I try a second thermostat, just cuz I don't know what else to do. While I have it out I pull the upper and lower hoses loose from the radiator and block, and flush out the radiator and the block before putting the new thermostat back in. There is slight back pressure on the radiator when I flush it out, no back pressure at all when I flush the block.

I now have the radiator out, and I'm taking it to the radiator shop to have it flushed and cleaned by the pro's.

Throughout all this overheating I've noticed that the heater inside the car never gets warm at all. It just blows cold air like the motor isn't even turned on. Even though the engine is busy boiling over.

Is there anything in there that would cause the coolant to not flow so that the heater wouldn't even get warm?

Any help apreciated PcRider

The likely cause of the heater not working is a plugged heater core. If so that also suggests the radiator may be clogged as well. I'd also be suspicious of the operation of the electric fans if so equipped. Does it overheat at road speed or just when sitting still? Are they running when the car gets overtemp?

I've had to replace two plugged heater cores in the last year (a 93 Dakota and a 99 Dakota). Royal PITA and big bucks for labor if you have to pay to have it done. The 99 was actually a little easier - the whole dash assembly is designed to be removed as a unit making it easier to get to the heater box. Still took two solid days of work to do each one.

TOH

 

[PcRider]

I haven't ruled out the possibility that head gaskets could cause overheating. I am still looking for a test that would tell me if this is the problem, or not, before taking on the major job of replacing them again.

The heater is only a symptom of the real problem. We don't "know" that it has any problem at all. In fact we know that the heater has nothing to do with cooling the engine at all. You don't run your heater in the summer time do you?

As for the radiator, I plan to have it checked as mentioned in my first post.

I've been thinking about what Bob said about the head gaskets. If cylinder pressure is leaking into the coolant system then it will have high pressure on it as soon as it is started, even without water in it, well before it even gets warm. I should be able to block off the hoses and read this with a pressure guage to see if there is pressure there.

I'll give that a try while the radiator is at the shop. Today however I have a ton of work to do, so it will have to wait until tommorow.

If anyone has a better idea I would apreciate it.

Thanks in advance, PcRider

 

[Bob]

Stop by an auto parts store and get a test kit or strips (sort of like Litmus paper) that detects the presence of combustion products in the coolant.

 

[DanH01]

Keep the head gasket in mind but a simple check could solve your problem. First ensure that your fans work, wired correctly and that the large relay mounted above the radiator passes a continuity check. That large relay transfers power to a number of different components including the fans. Take the heater hoses and join them together. Run the engine. My guess is that it will purr along like nothing ever happened. This will show that the heater core is plugged. And if you"re losing fluid then it is probably being turned to steam and going out the blow by hose. Keep getting the engine this hot and not only will it blow the gasket but it will warp the heads as well. Could also throw a rod. and seize the motor. Seen it, done it, learned painful lesson. Like the others said chances are the Rad was also plugged.

 

[DanH01]

Nearly forgot. If you change the radiator and the heater core and you still don"t get any heat or defroster check and make sure that the AC pump works. It has something to do with what they call the Integrated Cabin Climate Control or something like that. Not sure why they did it that way but your AC pump has to work to get the heater to work. Had that problem with a family member"s 92 Taurus.

 

[ZANE]

A good radiator shop should have an exhaust gas indicator device to check for exhaust gases getting into the cooling system. It is a little site glass that is filled with a chemical and then it is put on top of the radiator in place of the radiator cap and the engine started and placedd under a load. If there is a cracked head or blown head gasket the liquid in the sight glass with change color.

Zane

 

[Anonymous-0]

New thermostat in backward?Heater cores do get air bound.Why are you throwing out good antifreeze?