1993 Ford Tempo over heating and dying

KORNOFJESUS

MEMBER
1993 FORD TEMPO
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
122,000 MILES

My boyfriend has a 1993 Ford Tempo that was donated to him in 2005 or 2006. It has been sitting in his drive way untouched and not taken care of for at least 3 years. We just recently started trying to fix it and make it a working car for driving. The oil was replaced and there is a new filter. There is new transmission fluid and filter. There is also a new battery and the thermostat is still good. There is a new thermostat housing sensor and we have drained the old antifreeze and coolant from the car and flushed it. The car will start but it is over heating in 20 mins top, starting from completely cool on the temp gauge. We replaced every thing but the battery, oil, transmission fluid and filter, since we found out that it was over heating. We do know that the Fan will not turn on. It will spin if you push it with your hand (so its not stuck), but it wont spin on its on. The heater works so we were told its not the water pump. The car also started dying after we flushed the coolant system and wired the fan to start when the car starts.
Questions:

1. Why is it still over heating?

2. If its the fan, how can we possibly fix this?

3. Why is it now dying?

please help us fix our car!

3 Replies

FIXITMR

MECHANIC
9,990 POSTS

Why do you say the thermostat is good? Take it out and run car again and see if it still overheats! Do you actually drive car? How does it perform before overheat? Does water bottle boil and bubble? These cars are notorious for bad head gaskets. You should have driven car first before changing anything. You could have a warped head from previous owner badly overheating car. Does any liquid drip from tailpipe before/after warmup?

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Thursday, July 16th, 2009 AT 10:21 AM

KORNOFJESUS

MEMBER
2 POSTS

We took the thermostat out and boiled it in hot water and it opened with no problem. Yes the car still over heats with no thermostat in, and yes we have driven the car before we changed everything. We knew it was over heating after we changed the oil, oil filter, trany fluid and its filter, and put in a new battery. We drove the car a couple blocks and the deluded antifreeze and coolant was boiling and spewing out of the cap, partialy because it was over filled, but we drained it and flushed it and put new deluded antifreeze and coolant in it at the correct level with the correct amount and it still is over heating. It drives great and performs really well, even when it is over heating minus the steam and boiling antifreeze. We cheacked the head gasket and it is fine. The car did not over heat from the privious owner, this occured after it had been sitting untouched for at least 3 years. No liquid drips from the tailpipe at all and there are no leaks from under the car either. We do know that the fan does not work and we have replaced the motor and the water temp sensor and still no movement; we also do know that it is not stuck because it moves when pushed with a hand.

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Saturday, July 18th, 2009 AT 6:17 PM

FIXITMR

MECHANIC
9,990 POSTS

Have you checked radiator for dirtiness? Does the car have air? Is the air evaporator(radiator)dirty? I assume when you say cap it is water bottle cap not radiator. When car is starting to overheat is the bottom and top radiator hose the same temp. Hot to the touch? Is the water pump belt tight and turning the pump at the proper speed? I've seen a frozen idler pulley on tempos that kept the pump rpm low because of drag on belt. Or it just could be worn or to loose? I've seen fords with rotted away impellers in the pump slowing down flow. When does car quit/die?

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Sunday, July 19th, 2009 AT 2:29 AM