I have a 96 Contour that just started tunning hot,I,ve replaced waterpump,timing belt,drive belt,thermostat,temp sensor,cooling work good, flushed cooling 3 times,has interminnet heat,starts fine,smooth idle,the upper hose gets really hard and coolant tank is really hot ,alot of pressure on hose and tank,it seems that when the thermostat opens the motor lays down alittle and can see very very little steam from the tail pipe,don,t know what else to check,please help any replys would be greatly excepted

 

Check compression and consider a cylinder leak down test. This is to find out whether the head gasket is bad.

 

Too bad I did not see this before. I have a 96 GL Contour which is a winner for us with only 68K on it. Has the V-6 strong engine also.

I had same problem. Ford used plastic vanes on the water pump, they fall off and no circulation to speak of. Get new water pump.

 

Yes, but the guy replaced the water pump and still had a overheating problem.

 

I did a Compression check 180,125,130,185,i think it might be blowing between # 2 and #3 cylinder and see bubbles in the coolant tank.

 

Yes, indeed!