overheating

I just took my 1998 Contour into the shop to have the torque convertor seal replaced, it was leaking. My wife drove the car away from the shop and then called me back at the shop and said it did not have the power that it usually did.So we told her to bring it back.Then we test drove it and it started overheating badly,like I have never seen before. I left it there at the shop and the guy put in a new thermostat in hopes that it would help. But no dice the next day he ran it and again the temp guage showed hot.But he put his heat reading lasor on it and did not seem like it was hot. Tomorrow he is going to test the cooling system for exhaust fumes, head gasker,etc. Any ideas anyone?

if its a V6, almost definetely the waterpump.

Do you have the I4 or V6?

You were right one the money it was the water pump, thank you