1994 Ford Tempo Engine Hot and leaking

TOBIAKAZMER

MEMBER
1994 FORD TEMPO

Engine Cooling problem
1994 Ford Tempo 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 168k miles

I had this car get hot once before, so I had it towed home, then I filled the fluid to the radiator, and ran it till the overflow res was on the 'full hot' line.

Then the battery died.

New battery.

Started the car easily, ran it to warm it up and make sure everything's still working well, and it got almost to the hot line in about 15 min. I drove it a few blocks thinking maybe the thermostat stuck. When I turned on the heater, it blew cold for 20 seconds, and then got HOT, but then got progressively cooler, but the heat gauge didn't go down, it went up more when I turned up the heater fan.

When I parked the car, there was major fluid leakage on the back of the motor. Both upper and lower radiator hoses were hot. There are no holes in any of the hoses.

Could I have a crack in the block, or could I have a sticky thermostat and that builds up too much pressure? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

2 Replies

FIXITMR

MECHANIC
9,990 POSTS

Water pump and metal plumbing lines are on back of block. Any of these could be leaking. You need to get under there and find it.

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Sunday, February 7th, 2010 AT 9:39 PM

TOBIAKAZMER

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I found the problem, and the culprit was the core plug, also called the freeze plug, I guess at one time the car had too much water in the antifreeze mix, and it froze and broke the seal on the plug (mine was heated).

I bought the temporary expandable one to get me by, while I schedule the time in the future to install another heated one. The parts were very cheap, and since the seal was already broken on the plug, it was relatively easy to remove with needle nose pliers.

I did have to buy the expandable plug 3 times as I judged the size wrong, I think the only one that worked was 1 5/8", otherwise the neoprene plug just spins in place. Hope this helps for any others that have this problem.