2002 Ford Taurus SW overheated once and mechanic says I need a new motor? Is this possible?

Asked by maria_p1967 Nov 21, 2015 at 08:00 PM about the Ford Taurus

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I recently purchased a 2002 Ford Taurus SW.  It passed inspection and drove like a dream.  I drive all highway miles and do not push it hard.  All of a sudden my MPH started dropping so I pulled over immediately.  When I stopped, smoke came running out of the hood.  I put a bunch of water in it, but it kept leaking right back out.  I had it towed to a mechanic and he informs me that I need a new motor ($2400.00).  He tried telling me that there was a rusty spot on the corner of my motor that blew threw and there was no other way to fix the problem.  I just find this hard to believe because it was just recently inspected, It drove like a dream, its never overheated in the past and the check engine light never came on.  Wouldn't they have found the rust on the motor during the inspection?  Does this sound common to you?  What else could this be?  Thank you in advance.

2 Answers

223,695

I have never heard of a motor rusting threw, it would be uncommon. No they would not have seen or caught that during an inspection either. To me it sounds like you blew a head gasket. Depending on how hot it got and for how long would determine if it is fixable or not. So to verify the head gasket, just do a compression test on all the cylinders. You find one or two low, then it would be a head gasket. The head would have to be inspected for cracks also. Where the coolant is coming out, does it look like a seam between two parts? Does the coolant run out of a metal part of the engine, or at a seam?

That would be very unusual but not impossible. The real issue is your motor was fried due to lack of coolant. Having a hole rusted in it really does not matter at this point.

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