02 Mercury Cougar Blowing Hoses

[ET16]

My friend's Cougar, which I used to own, is blowing radiator hoses (V6 2.5L). The shop he goes to changed the radiator, which didn't fix the problem, and now says he probably has a head gasket problem. My friend doesn't want to spend the money for a head gasket.

I wasn't aware of this engine having this kind of problem (Ford Duratec).

Any ideas or opinions?

 

[supton]

Might not be known for it, but any engine can pop a head gasket. I believe you can test for exhaust gases in the coolant.

 

[mk378]

Engine cold, take the radiator cap off (have the radiator full or mostly so) then start the engine and rev it. Stuff blowing out of the radiator is an obvious fail. If it only bubbles slowly it is probably still bad, but the gas tester can be used to confirm if the bubbles you see are CO2 from the cylinders, or just trapped air.

A variation of the no tools test is to again have the engine off an cold. Loosen the cap to release any pressure then put it back on. Squeeze one of the hoses before and after starting the engine. Pressure should not build up for some time (when the engine actually heats up). If you feel pressure immediately it is probably a head gasket leak.

 

[Nick1994]

Yup, you need one of these

 

[Cujet]

Guess: Cracked cylinder head.

Possibly due to overheating, which happened during unrelated coolant loss. An old hose, or plastic fitting leaked enough water to cause localized overheating.

 

[ET16]

I think the car maybe overheated a few years ago.

 

[ET16]

We're back at this. I read on a Cougar site that the Ford Duratec can have water pump issues where pieces of the pump impeller break off and lodge in the cooling system causing over pressure. Anyone hear of this?

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

We're back at this. I read on a Cougar site that the Ford Duratec can have water pump issues where pieces of the pump impeller break off and lodge in the cooling system causing over pressure. Anyone hear of this?

I really hope you don't have a cracked cylinder head or gasket.

If you have a cooling system issue, changing the water pump won't help you.. you may have gotten lucky but you need to check it out!

 

[PimTac]

He is still running this car?

 

[ET16]

It's been sitting parked for the last few months.

 

[mattd]

Take the water pump out and see if the impeller is intact. That will answer your question

 

[1uz_4me]

Take the water pump out and see if the impeller is intact. That will answer your question

Worth a shot, it happened to my foxbody. Car was overheating in minutes, so pulled the heads & the gaskets looked great. Aluminum heads had about 90k miles on em so I had em rebuilt. Leaning over the radiator support staring at the short block wondering what happened, I spun the water pump pulley out of boredom/frustration...you could hear part of the impellar bouncing around.

 

[zzyzzx]

If it's somehow not the water pump, it's the head gasket. Meaning that it's the head gasket. Probably a reasonable candidate for a DIY learning experience, although I recommend a 4 cylinder engine for your first.

 

[bcossa2020]

Don’t blown head gaskets also cause milky looking motor oil????

 

[GMBoy]

If it is a blown head gasket, and it sounds like it, the barsleak headgasket repair worked on a few vehicles I used it in. Every customer approves trying the additive 1st before the big repair. I have an SRX running around going on 3 yrs with the stuff.

 

[Chris142]

Don’t blown head gaskets also cause milky looking motor oil????

It does not happen over night. Takes a lot of coolant to make oil milky.

 

[javacontour]

We're back at this. I read on a Cougar site that the Ford Duratec can have water pump issues where pieces of the pump impeller break off and lodge in the cooling system causing over pressure. Anyone hear of this?

Corrected before the Cougar came out. Many of us Contour enthusiasts proactively replaced the WP with a plastic impeller with a metal impeller unit back in the day.

I think Ford revised the pump before 2000 or so when the new Cougar came out.

The revised pump had a white plastic impeller. The older style had black plastic and would either break or separate from the shaft. But as I said, that problem was resolved before the new Cougar came out. A 2002 might have a 20 year old pump in it...

 

[cbear]

If it's an automatic, I'm amazed the transmission is still working. Neat car, my wife had one when we got married. I became the designated mechanic.

 

[kebabaluba]

If the owner don`t want to spend money replacing possibly bad head gasket he might try head gasket sealer, there is a CrisFix video on the subject on Youtube.

 

[ET16]

If it's an automatic, I'm amazed the transmission is still working. Neat car, my wife had one when we got married. I became the designated mechanic.

Transmission was rebuilt about five years ago. Under-rated cars; bad turning radius, though. Imagine what they could have been with the Contour SVT engine!