Trouble in '95 Escort 1.9 Land

My '95 Ford Escort (121k miles) broke down on the freeway the other day and I got it towed to my house for some investigative work. It hasn't been able to start.

Here's what happend. When driving on the freeway, the car began making a hallowed, metallic sound whenever I would give it some extra gas (usually when in a higher gear like 4th or 5th). This sound wasn't foreign to me, but it became much worse the other day when it broke down. When I got out of the car, white smoke was coming out from the exhaust pipe. I popped the hood luckily to find that the car wasn't on fire or something.

After I got the car towed, I noticed that a rich brown oil(?) had overflowed from one of the caps (next to the radiator cap on the left side, not sure what it's called). Since then, the car has sprung a leak in a couple of places. The leak could be from this area that overflowed.

It's been over a year since my last oil change, and the oil light would light up once in a while.

Anyway, I'm not sure what's up with this thing? Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance.

It looks like you dropped a valve seat from the head (usually the #4). This could have caused an interference between the piston and the valve. It could have broken the timing belt. Open the oil cap and look in there when the engine is being turned over. If you can see parts moving the timing belt isn't broken. I think this is the least of your problems now, though.

The hollow sound you heard was more than likely the valve seat coming between the piston and the head. The head is probably cracked because oil has gotten into your cooling system. This is the brown liquid coming out of the cooling system. The head is toast.

Chances are you have some damage to the piston and or cylinder. The piston has been beating the head with valve parts and seats. Others that have had this problem have had to replace the piston and put a sleeve into the cylinder. Chances are the engine is toast, too.

The oil light even coming on even for a second means the pressure has dropped enough to cause in itself some engine damage. Scuffed bearings and cylinder wall damage.

However, it can be fixed. Do you have somewhere where you can work on it? You could probably put a used engine in for less than $500 if you do the work yourself. Do you like the car? If so, fix er up.

Thanks for the comments.

Sounds like a lot of problems, which is what I suspected. The car is worth more to me than it would be to anyone else, so I'm considering fixing it up. Problem is, I'm a newbie when it comes to DIY car stuff. I've done basic maintenance like replacing the air filter, battery, but that's about it.

Is replacing an engine doable for someone like me? And where would I find a spare engine?

Thanks again.

Just get a Haynes manual and it will list the step by step process of pulling the engine and then step by step how to put the used one back in. To price a used engine go to Autoparthotline.com. There you can price a used engine from a boneyard near you. You can rent an engine lift from any bigger equipment rental. Good luck.