2000 Taurus no gauges, engine loses power

artman1988 · 08-09-2009, 12:43 PM

This is kind of a lengthy post, but I wanted to be thorough. Please read the whole thing.

I have a 2000 ford taurus ses with the 3.0 dohc. Today (Sunday) I took the car out to drop off my daughter (20 min drive roundtrip). On my way back the I noticed the air conditioning started to get warm. Then all the gauges stopped working, no blinkers, no power windows or locks, the abs light came on, and the engine lost power. I was barely able to limp back home. When I got home, I opened the coolant overlow (you'll understand why in a later paragraph) and saw that coolant was spitting into the overflow (kind of like if you turn a faucet on and off multiple times really fast).

A little background.

We bought the car 3 years ago for our son and daughter to drive back and forth to school. 3 weeks after we bought it, the spark plug blew out of the #4 cylinder. The dealer fixed it after much threatening on our part. (They had done a tune up on it before we bought it.) A week later we found the rear springs were broken. The dealer refused to fix these. So we had it done.

Since the plug incident, every so often the car runs rough. Last year it would not pass the EPA test. The code was engine misfire. We took it to our mechanic who, after replacing plugs, oxygen sensors, vacuum hoses and I can't remember what else, was able to get a variance on the epa test. The #4 cylinder every so often is at 75% normal compression. He thinks a valve is out of round and turns every so often and doesn't seal right. He said the car is not worth it to tear the engine apart.

We also had all new brakes, rotors and drums put on the car.

The low coolant light comes on every so often, whether the car is warmed up or not. The engine light does also - ever since it threw the plug. Other than this, the car was running okay.

Last week my son, father in law (retired ASE mechanic) and I put new ready mount struts and sway bar links on the front of the car (broken spring). The car wouldn't start and we found the battery wouldn't hold a charge. Being under warranty, we got a free replacement.

Friday my son took the car to his girlfriends. He called me and said as he pulled in her drive the car started smoking. I drove out and found that the 3 way connecter for the upper radiator hose had broken.

We were able to track down the parts, replaced the connector and the upper radiator hose. We had some rust and crud in the hoses. We put in a gallon and a half of 50/50 mix of anti-freeze so we could get the car home. We planned on flushing the system in couple of days.

Which brings us the problem in the first paragraph. Normally, I wouldn't have driven the car, but all other vehicles were gone and I thought 20 minutes of in town driving would be okay.

I would appreciate any input as to what may be causing the current issue (and whether we should cut our losses and dump the car)

Thank you.

Skyhawk · 08-09-2009, 01:13 PM

How many miles are on this car? Has the engine ever been overheated? Has a compression test been done?

artman1988 · 08-09-2009, 01:21 PM

The car has 155,000 miles on it. Yes, it had a compression test last year. That is how we found out the #4 cylinder has 75% compression on and off.

I don't think the car has overheated. When the connector broke, the smoke was from the coolant dropping on the engine.

TheBobsHere · 08-09-2009, 01:37 PM

Has the head gasket ever been done? I ask this because as well as the loss of compression, if the coolant is leaking into the #4 you'd get the exact symptoms you described i.e. smoke coming out of the exhaust, coolant loss and even plugs shooting out of the engine.

TheBobsHere · 08-09-2009, 01:48 PM

Did the engine stop before or after the electrical system died? The overheating could be the result of driving with a dead cooling fan exacerbated by the problem I described above.

BroncoJoe19 · 08-09-2009, 07:11 PM

On my way back the I noticed the air conditioning started to get warm. Then all the gauges stopped working, no blinkers, no power windows or locks, the abs light came on, and the engine lost power. I was barely able to limp back home.

IMO, you have two issues going on.
1. overheating which may be a number of things
2. bad battery connections (not allowing the alternator to charge the battery) or a bad alternator, not charging the battery.

Your loss of power, the AC clutch disengaging (causing it to get warm), dash guages not working... and limping home, was because your battery was just about DEAD.

BTW... your fans may not have been working because the battery was dead, and that may be what caused it to overheat.

How is that for a guess????

Did your car start in the morning? OR did you have a dead battery?

artman1988 · 08-09-2009, 10:24 PM

To answer your questions:

Head gasket has not been done that I know of. The #4 cylinder issue has been going on for a year. Hasn't gotten any worse.

The battery is brand new. 2 days old. We cleaned all the battery cable connectors. Even cleaned the connectors to the mega fuse box at the front of the engine compartment.

The smoke my son described was not coming out of the exhaust, but from under the hood. I attribute the smoke to the fact that the upper radiator hose connector snapped and was blowing coolant onto the hot engine.

A few hours later I went back out to the car. I put the key in and turned it Without Starting it. All the gauges worked, the power windows worked, power locks.

I started the car and it ran fine. I ran it for a few minutes. Idled fine. I revved it a few times and it did have any of the symptoms I had when driving home - ie. push on the gas and no power, no acceleration.

I am thinking the car overheated. But can overheating cause the loss of engine power and all the electrical to stop working?

TheBobsHere · 08-10-2009, 04:30 AM

Yes and Yes. When engines get too hot moving parts with tight clearances (camshafts, crankshafts, pistons etc.) can swell and cause friction binding that can and will stop an engine in it's tracks, sometimes causing severe damage. Batteries can loose power and go completely dead if they get too hot as electrical resistance rises when hot and lowers when cold. The question still remains, did the engine overheat and quit before or after the the electrical system?

artman1988 · 08-10-2009, 07:22 AM

I don't know which happened first. The car started acting up at the same time I noticed that the A/C started blowing warm air.
It was then I realized the gauges, power windows and power locks didn't work.

The engine never quit. It just had no power. If I pushed on the gas it actually decelerated. If I let up I was able to go at a slow steady speed for a while. It just kept lurching like it was trying to go.

TheBobsHere · 08-10-2009, 01:50 PM

What was the in dash temp gauge saying before the meltdown, was it reading high? Does the gauge say the car runs really cool when the car runs normally? It is within the realm of possibilities the alternator caused this problem. But it could also be a combination of the temp sending unit and the radiator or water pump. We need more info to get going in the right direction.