96_escort_si Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Hi guys, this is my first post on here so please be nice! lol! I have a 1998 S Escort 1.6 SI with the zetec-E engine. I was travelling up the M1 the other day, in the middle of the heat wave, and my car started to lose power. The accelerator made no difference. When i released the accelerator and depressed it again i just got a small knocking sound from the engine bay. I looked at the temperature gauge and that had climbed quite high too, almost 3/4 of the way towards the red. So i decided to pull over to the hard shoulder and stop. There was no smoke or steam coming from either end of the car. I got the car recovered and the recovery man had to put 5 litres of water into the cooling system and it still wasn't full. When we got it back to a garage, the mechanics had a look over it and phoned me saying that the head gasket had gone because there was water in the spark plugs. However, we towed the car back to my house because they were going to charge ridiculous money to fix it. When i inspected under the bonnet looking for the tell-tale signs of gasket failure (the mayo residue under the oil filler, sludge in the coolant tank and dis-coloured oil from the dipstick) i couldn't find any! Any help on this would be really useful as i am a mechanicing newbie and am going to have to sort this one out myself as i cant afford to get a garage to sort it! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASHMAN Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Hi guys, this is my first post on here so please be nice! lol!I have a 1998 S Escort 1.6 SI with the zetec-E engine. I was travelling up the M1 the other day, in the middle of the heat wave, and my car started to lose power. The accelerator made no difference. When i released the accelerator and depressed it again i just got a small knocking sound from the engine bay. I looked at the temperature gauge and that had climbed quite high too, almost 3/4 of the way towards the red. So i decided to pull over to the hard shoulder and stop. There was no smoke or steam coming from either end of the car. I got the car recovered and the recovery man had to put 5 litres of water into the cooling system and it still wasn't full. When we got it back to a garage, the mechanics had a look over it and phoned me saying that the head gasket had gone because there was water in the spark plugs. However, we towed the car back to my house because they were going to charge ridiculous money to fix it. When i inspected under the bonnet looking for the tell-tale signs of gasket failure (the mayo residue under the oil filler, sludge in the coolant tank and dis-coloured oil from the dipstick) i couldn't find any! Any help on this would be really useful as i am a mechanicing newbie and am going to have to sort this one out myself as i cant afford to get a garage to sort it! Thanks! Any drips from water pump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 nope! put water in yesterday and none of it has dripped out! checked the oil against my brothers corsa's and it is the same colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtimike Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 thermostat mate £9 i done one last week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 cheers! im definitely going to drain and clean out the cleaning system tomorrow and i will probs replace the thermostat while im at it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 12, 2009 Author Share Posted July 12, 2009 thermostat mate £9 i done one last week Just thought i'd let you know that i checked the car's thermostat after ordering a new one and discovered that the only part that was left of it was the visible part when you take the housing off, everything that actually makes it a thermostat is missing! i will post some pics of what i mean soon. But the new one is now in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mintalkin Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 how long have you owned the car ? i have come across this before when a car has had its thermostat knocked out to cover up a head gasket problem, so the new owner would not suspect anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 how long have you owned the car ? i have come across this before when a car has had its thermostat knocked out to cover up a head gasket problem, so the new owner would not suspect anything. I've had the car just over a month! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mintalkin Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 when the system is flushed, refilled up and running i wolud definatley keep a check on the level as you might have been a victim of the same scam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 when the system is flushed, refilled up and running i wolud definatley keep a check on the level as you might have been a victim of the same scam. Do you reckon the head gasket could have gone? what sort of damage could the lack of thermostat cause? I'll post a pic of what came out of the housing! The one on the right is the one that came out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mintalkin Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 the lack of thermostat will not do any physical damage, only keep the temp down. it does look like it was knocked out, the big question is why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukm3evo Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 When the Head gasket went on my Son's 1.6, there was no sign of oil in ther water or vice versa. This would only occur if the gasket is blowing between the cylinder, a water jacket and oil return holes. In my example it had gone between the water jacket and number 4 cylinder so the cylinder was pressuraising the water system. Sorry to say that it sounds like a head gasket to me, not a horrendous job except timing it up afterwards is a bit of a !Removed!! - Word of advice though, skim the head before refitting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 damn! im hopefully getting a mobile mechanic to do a compression test to confirm either way if the gasket is blown or not, hopefully it wont have gone but it did get very hot so it may well have :( . Is there any other way of telling if the gasket is gone without taking anything off the engine? Also, just a quick question. Is there a gasket on the rocker cover? i would like to take it off to give it a clean if its possible to do so easily! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mintalkin Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 yes there shoud be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 That makes it slightly more difficult! oh well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Just spoke to a mechanic and he said to check the head gasket in my case i should refill the cooling system and start her up but leave the coolant expansion tank cap off to see if the water is indeed being pressurised by the cylinders as in the gasket having gone between cylinder and water jacket. Would doing this do any further damage if it has gone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96_escort_si Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 just thought i would post a quick update and ask a couple of questions. Just had a mechanic round and we have taken the top half of the engine off and the head gasket has indeed gone, pretty catastrophically as well. Its gone between a water jacket and cylinders 3 and 4 and also between cylinders 2 and 3. Also, the valves are leaking as because of the high temps the car had been running at. As a result, the head has to re-ground as well as a re-skim and also a whole new set of valves as only one of them is working correctly. the mechanic reckons the car was sold with the head gasket blown as the thermostat was sheared away (see previous posts). The break down occured exactly a month and a day after i had bought the car. It has been a further 3 and a half weeks since then. I bought the car from a dealership in leicester who apparently cover engine and gearbox for 3 months under warranty but only up to £250. However, we are unsure as to whether we got any sort of warranty with the car because we phoned the dealer who said i should have a warranty booklet if i have one, which we never got. They also said that the head gasket isn't covered on that warranty because it's 'wear and tear'. Do i have a case to go to the OFT or trading standards? because i reckon they sold me a car that was unfit for purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill07 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I wouldn't have thought you had a case. If you had took the car straight back then maybe they might have been able to help you, the garage you had the car recovered to probably cut the center out the stat to diagnose the problem and would have replaced it if you would have had the work carried out. some garages do it that way if they don't have proper equipment to diagnose properly, but it was pretty obvious it was the head gasket from your first post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman77 Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 One component often over looked is the thermostat it often sticks when that happens the temperature rise is rapid does not surprise me the mechanics tried you for a head gasket this is not uncommon,replace the thermostate its easy to do and cheap. see if over heating continues but to me it sounds like a thermostat problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisweaver Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 hi i have a problem with my ford escort 1.6 finess 99 model. i recently had a new water pump fitted and the timing kit done as my car was losing water really fast as i've had this done the car was still over heating so i fitted a new thermostate still the car over heats but the gage is actuly over the red now but the car dosen't seem to lose any power just the gage is really high but i have not got a clue what the problem could be i would be greatfull if anybody could help me cos seems like i'm gonna keep paying out on the motor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lublin Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 hi i have a problem with my ford escort 1.6 finess 99 model. i recently had a new water pump fitted and the timing kit done as my car was losing water really fast as i've had this done the car was still over heating so i fitted a new thermostate still the car over heats but the gage is actuly over the red now but the car dosen't seem to lose any power just the gage is really high but i have not got a clue what the problem could be i would be greatfull if anybody could help me cos seems like i'm gonna keep paying out on the motor hello. Does the the fan cut in? If it doesn't then it's either the fan not working or the gauge reading incorrectly. Try replacing the temp sensor which is below the top house where it connects to the head/thermostat housing, you didn't damage or trap the wire when you fitted the new thermostat, did you? The fan temperature sensor is on the hose which is at the top between the rad and the engine, this is not controlled by the computer on your car whereas the temp gauge and what it displays is. It could also be the fan relay or fan itself. The temp sensor is known to go faulty on Escorts so for the price, it's worth a try. When the engine is supposed to be overheating stop and lift the bonnet and listen if you can hear it boiling (I had problems with false reading on my Escort). If you want to be really sure about the temp you can either go to a Ford or other garage when it's hot and get them to use an infrared temp sensor on your engine thermostat housing, or buy one on eBay, which is what I did, as they are quite cheap. Who fitted the water pump, as I know the Mondao pump works in the other direction and I've heard a few people say that they are the same, but I'm not sure if it is possible to incorrectly fit a Mondao pump to an Escort. My car used top run anything up to 1/3 into the red section of the gauge, but was running at normal temp when tested with the infrared sensor. One thing I noticed about Escorts is, that after you had bled the cooling system if you drive it straight away it will run hot because of an airlock in the system, so I usually leave the bottle top off overnight (if possible) and in the morning the level has dropped, not by a large amount but after this it runs at normal temp- well this is with my Escort anyway, before others say otherwise :P If I remember anything else I'll post it but dinner calls now :)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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