2001 Taurus overheating

Hello all:

Just had a call from the wife who had just got to work with a "hot" car. What she told me was that she noticed that the air was not cooling properly, and then the therm needle creeped up to hot. I am not sure how long she drove in this condition, but also mentioned that the oil light came on????
She opened the hood and saw steam on the driver side. Unfortunately this is all I have to go on at this point. She will check the coolent level, and oil once the car cools down and we will go from there.

The car has @ 130,000 miles.

Any thing to specifically look for....gosh I hope she did not blow the head:eek:

Thanks,

Nick

I am not sure how long she drove in this condition, but also mentioned that the oil light came on???? Hopefully she didn't drive it but a couple minutes because the longer it runs the hotter it gets.

Sounds like it may have run low on coolant, don't know why the oil light came on but that means the oil pressure dropped below acceptable level plus being hot thins out the oil. Wait until it cools off to refill it with coolant and as it warms up and the thermostat opens you may have to refill the reservoir a few times and open the heater control to wide open hot so the heater core fills. Make darn sure it is full before you drive it on the highway and it would be a good idea to take a 5 gal can of fresh water just in case. At the slighest hint of the temp gage moving towards hot stop immediately. Check the oil and make sure it's at the proper level. Buy a new coolant reservior cap because the rubber washer inside gets old and won't hold pressure. They're cheap.

"gosh I hope she did not blow the head (gasket)." Take this as Gospel: The number one cause of blown head gaskets is overheating and the longer you run it while hot the chances of blowing a head gasket increase. You said, when she got to work. If I were you I'd fill the coolant and oil then don't take it on the highway but drive it around town close to a garage so if it overheats again you won't be on the road and have to pay a towing fee.

You must have a garage where you take it for service and/or repair so call them and tell them what happened and see what they say. Our Tauri are famous for wearing out water pump blades and maybe yours are worn so badly they aren't circulating sufficent to coolant to keep it cool. You will find a lot of info on overheating from reading through this recent thread. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=733129

I wouldn't drive it any more than absolutely necessary until it is repaired because continuing to drive it can cause the problem to compound from a relatively easy fix to a very costly one.

CAUTION: Never take the reservoir cap off when the engine is hot or overheated because you could be seriously burned or scalded by super heated steam. Before you think about doing anything under the hood let it cool off by itself at its own pace. Treat a hot or overheated engine like you would a Rattlesnake and leave it alone until it cools off.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Huney!

I did talk to my wife again, and she had checked the oil (no problem), and the reservoir was completly empty. She went out and bought some antifreeze and is going to fill the reservoir. Should it be filled through the reservoir only, or directly into the radiator also?

Thanks again,

Nick

OK to put it in the reservoir and it will mix itself. Shouldn't exceed a 40% anti freeze 60% water ratio this time of year. Fill the reservoir and crank it and let it idle then keep filling the reservior as the coolant level drops, probably take five or ten minutes for the thermostat to open and until it does you can continue to add coolant. There's a mark on the side of the reservoir showing the level it should be. Not a bad idea to get in and race it up a few times as it warms up and make sure it pushes out all the air, and leave the heater on wide open like winter time heat.

Oil - Glad to hear it wasn't real low. Since it got that hot might not be a bad idea to have the oil & filter changed soon. Intense heat like that can break down oil and it loses some of its lubricating properties, and we need all those properties we can get. :wink:

I have office in home and will be in and out so I'll check back here frequently to see if you need anything else. Again, I'd be leary about having her put it on the road home without driving it around town for a half hour or so before she hits the Interstate or highway speeds. It starts heating up pull it over and let you come get her and deal with it tomorrow. Replacing head gasket or cracked head is pretty expensive and let's not aggrivate an already "iffy" situation.

Hey Huney....its Nick again:uhoh:

Ok...here is the update.

The car immediatley started to overheat, and we had it towed (covered by AAA) to the dealership. They ran diagnostics ($59.95) and discovered a cracked upper hose mount. They said that the cost to replace this "assembly" with hose would cost @ $600. The part had to be ordered at a cost of $270:runaround: We called NAPA, and they quoted a price for the part with hose @ $50.

Now, is this a pretty simple job that I can handle?? What exactly am I dealing with to replace this mount? I have done minor jobs on my vehicles over the years, so I feel fairly confident in my mechanical abilities.

If you would be so kind as to let me know what you think, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

Nick

Nick, and Huney1

If you run the engine while filling the reservoir tank only, and the radiator is low, you could oner heat your engine!!! Collant will never get into the radiator by running the car and adding fluid to the reservoir. If the radiator is low it should be filled first with the car idleing and the engine cool or cold. Leave the cap off till the engine warms and the thermostat opens, turn heater to hot, refill the radiator to full as needed, put on the radiator cap and then refill the reservoir tank to the proper level.

When the engine gets hot it forces coolant into the reservoir, as the engine cools, it draws the coolant back into the radiator.

What are they calling an upper hose mount?

Ron

On the 2001 Taurus, there is no radiator pressure cap, just the pressure cap on the degas bottle. The only way to fill the cooling system is through the cap on the degas/reservoir tank.

Not sure what the upper hose mount is. Is this the 12V engine or the 24V engine? If the 24V DOHC, then they may be referring to the radiator hose and tube assembly. Or, could they be referring to the thermostat housing?

-Rod

Rod. He PM'ed me and I told him I never head of a hose "mount". T'stat housing is all I could think of that cracked but that couldn't cost over ten bucks for a Vulcan but I don't know about a Duratec or what it entails to put it on. I put a new t'stat in my Vulcan and took me 15 minutes. No way I could believe $600. to fix it. Maybe he has the Duratec and maybe it's a whole lot more diffucult than my Vulcan. :dunno:

The Ford Focus VTec engines had issues with cracked t'stat housing but never heard of it being a common thing on a Taurus. Maybe someone tightened the bolts on his to much.

If it is a Duratec and the part is that much, I'd go to a salvage yard and get one 'prolly be half price or less.

"If you run the engine while filling the reservoir tank only, and the radiator is low, you could oner heat your engine!!!"
Mine must work different. I flushed & changed the coolant in mine and refilled it exactly how I told him and it never ran hot or even extra warm. The t'stat had to be closed when I filled the reservior and the coolant slowly went down and I kept filling it until it stayed full. Cranked up and continued to fill it as the water pump circulated the water through the engine & heater core got some bubbles out of the reservoir pushing air out of the system. Let it idle until the t'stat opened and filled to correct level, put the cap on and away we went.

I've flushed and changed coolant in a LOT of vehicle engines including tugboat diesels and generator plants with heat exchangers and that's the way we always did it without a problem. :dunno: So I dun'no, . . . maybe we got lucky.

Thanks to all for taking the time to respond.
It is the Duratec engine (24V)

I just got off the phone with the service guy at the Ford dealership. I was hoping for a better description of the problem, and this is what I got:

It is the upper hose that is leaking but......the part that has to be ordered is the upper radiator hose assembly. When I questioned exactly what this assembly is, he said, "I did not see it, so I don't know what it looks like.

Our plan is to have it towed back to our house where I can have a look, and hopfully take care of it myself. With that said, what would be the best way to "diagnose" the problem for myself.....fill it up and run it till I see the leak??

If I do indeed only have to replace the hose, are there any tips or problem areas that I should be aware of...any specifics would be helpful. Is there a T that splits the hose and this may be the "assembly" that he speaks of??

Thanks again,
Have a great day!!

Nick

Nick, I think you're doing the right thing and can save some money. I don't have the Duratec so I can't tell you what the hose assy looks like. I searched the web and I can't find a picture so the best thing I know is look at yours or go to the parts store and look at it. As for finding the leak, just fill it with water and take a flashlight and look it over real good or take a dry paper towel and wipe all over the hose assy and you should find it easy enough. BUT, doesn't really matter where it's leaking and it has to be replaced.

Salvage yards, aka junk yards, might have a used one and their computer network system is pretty slick and if there's one available they can find it. If it's all that expensive I wouldn't hesitate to get a price from a salvage yard.

If you have a race track or racing shop near by then go there and ask them if they know a good mechanic who would be interested in replacing the hose assy for you. Pretty basic mechanic work and I'd look at paying about $20. an hour. Paint and body shops also a good place to look for a side job mechanic.

If you do it yourself, when you're putting it back together do not get overzealous with the bolts and nuts because if you strip one or break one off then you have major compound problem there. Just tighten it, don't try and wring it off.