1992 Ford Escort HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!

KAYLEEBEAR88

MEMBER
1992 FORD ESCORT

1992 Ford Escort 4 cyl

I bought a 92 ford escort lx about a month ago. The woman I bought it off of told me there were no problems with the car. I wish I were a mechanic!
within a month, I have replaced the brakes, the spark plugs, the spark plug wires, the belt tensioner and the belt.
this is my problem:
i was driving home on the interstate and happened to notice my car's temp was almost on the L in normal, so I turned the heat on. Afterwards, it went down to the O in normal, and was running fine. Then thats when it messed up.
i know nothing about cars, but this is what I can gather: I go to start the car, and it doesnt start. I hear the starter turning over, but as far as anything else, thats it. The radio comes on and so does the air. But theres more.
i go to put water in the radiator, and it pours out, clearly there is a leak, but where? When I dont have water in it, it smokes from the engine. The oil leaks as well, but we cant tell where from. The heat never gets hot, it stays cold.
when I pulled off the interstate, and I popped the hood, smoke was rolling out of the area where the spark plug wires are plugged into the engine.
what could possibly be wrong with my car now?

1 Reply

ZACKMAN

MECHANIC
4,202 POSTS

You have two separate problems: Not starting and overheating. Let's tackle one problem at at time. Let's do the overheating problem first. Why: Because, if you can't start the car, you won't overheat. And from the sound of it, you overheat every time the car is running.

If the water pours out the minute you put it in the radiator, obviously you have a leak somewhere. I can't tell you where as I can't see the car. You have to tell me then I tell you how to fix it. The best way to check is by raising the front of the car. Have some pour water into the radiator, and you (or someone else) look under the car and see where it is leaking from. It is quite possible that your radiator cracked, hose busted, something.

And of course if you don't have any water in the radiator, you don't have any water in the engine. Then the engine will overheat if it doesn't have any coolant to remove the heat away from the engine. That is why you see smoke coming out of the engine bay. Overheating may damage the internal parts of your engine which will create more and major problems in the future.

Also, without enough coolant (not water), you will not get enough heat from your heater inside the vehicle.