My ED has problems! Big Promlems! - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

cArSiK · 05-29-2003, 02:01

OK , it all started yesterday afternoon when i was coming home from work , i could smell coolant. I pull over at the nearest servo and opened the bonnet to find coolant pissing out all over my engine bay. There was a pin sized hole(well many pins) in the lower part of the thermostat housing. I had no coolant left in the tank however the temp guage appeared "normal".

I filled it up with water and nursed it home. By the time i got home it had developed a missfire and was running like shit.

Thismorning i patched the hole in the lower thermostat housing up (until i can get the new part) and go to start it , it kicks over after a while of cranking. When it gets going it runs like crap at idle(and yea there was quite a bit of water coming out of the exhaust) but ran as smooth as normal at about 2000RPM+...

Another thing that freaked me out was that when it was running i could smell sompthing burning - bad. And a litte smoke from the engine bay , i look underneath the car and the cat is glowing RED hot. I turned the car off straight away.

About an Hour later i go to start it again and nothing , wont start. But whats even stranger is that every 5 seconds the starter gets stuck and stops turning like the engine builds up to much compression or sompthing.

Ive ran out of ideas , Im hoping its not a Head hasket but its looking that way. Could the missfire be caused by the coolant that was pissing out on the dizzy? The engine is still getting spark as far as i know. Any other ideas?

Sorry bout the long post guys.

Thanks
James

Ps its a manual I6 with 160Kms

NZ · 05-29-2003, 02:11

Man that sounds sick!!

How far did you drive with no coolant? I recently got my oil pump fixed and they broke the lower housing while they did it but wasnt noticed. It took about 3km of driving for the coolant to dissapear. The temp guage will read normal when theres no water as its actually measuring the temp of the air.

cArSiK · 05-29-2003, 02:18

Yes , it is a SiK (no pun intended) little puppy.
Not that far , 3-4kms max with no coolant.....

mongrelEB · 05-29-2003, 02:39

Is there water in the oil? (it goes white)
Sounds like a head gasket tho....
Dunno about the starter problem, I've not seen that before. Does anybody know if the ED starter relay cuts out after 5 seconds??

cArSiK · 05-29-2003, 02:40

no water in the oil....the oil is as black as usual..

sbcarden · 05-29-2003, 02:44

Head Gasket is gone, possibly warped/cracked head. When the starter stalls or slows down, thats most likely because a truck load of water has filled 1 or more cylinders and you are getting a hydrostatically locked cylinder (water can't be compressed like air can). The water eventually passes out through the valves (water from the exhaust) and the engine will turn over. When this is happening you could bend or break a con rod (very bad esspecially if the engine was running - rod through the block). My advise is don't try to start it. If it will be a while before you can fix it (more than a few days) I would drain the coolant and pull the spark plugs and crank the engine over till there is no more water in the cylinders, then spray a whole lot of WD-40 or CRC into the cylinders to ward of rust.

Sorry for the bad news......

carazy · 05-29-2003, 03:37

yeah if water is comming out the exhaust your car has definantly cracked/warped the head or head gasket.
Unless you have CFI in which case it could simply be the manifold water jacket.
I doubt it though.

AU1SIXA · 05-29-2003, 03:38

I think he also has a blocked cat he said it was glowing really red and know it wont turn over. Its eaither you have a head gasket gone and in some big trouble but i would unbolt cat and see if its blocked up aswell.

Steve B

Aussiblue · 05-29-2003, 04:28

Was the engine running while you filled it with water? Had you let the motor cool right down before putting the water in? If not I suggest the cold water on the red hot head may well have cracked the head. The coolant will have filled the cylinders and the cat.

Fallon · 05-29-2003, 04:32

i agree with Aussiblue. If u had no coolant and poured cold water into the radiator then the sudden temp change to the head can cause probs