I was out driving and the car started to pop w/ a slight stutter. Really didn't affect performance just kinda popped. Prob. opti, has about 35K on it or maybe the fuel pump 173K on it. Anyho, I'm watching the gauges on the way home expecting the worst. All of a sudden the temp pegs out and I'm blowing antifreeze out of the resv. tank. Get it cooled off, empty the tank to normal capacity, fill the rad.. Fire it up and start to drive home, the temp gauge starts to go up to red then to about normal, then back again. Did this about three times, then pegged at the red. opened the bleeder values, nothing but steam. I had to do this about five times to get home. Never losing any antifreeze after the first time. Just overheating, that cooled down to normal after I let the steam out. So I'm thinking cracked head or blown head gasket, forcing pressure into the system. Untill I turn on the heat, it blew cold, at 260 degrees. So I'm thinking stuck thermostat. Any ideas? Sorry about the length, thanks for your opinions.

 

Do you have any heavy white smoke, or a sweet smell coming out the exhaust? If so then it's a head gasket for sure, if not then check for a bad stat.

 

No smoke in the exhaust, no anti in the oil, no oil in the anti. ??

 

If the stat is stuck, can I just take out the stat to see, or will that hurt the engine?

 

Bad water pump
Bad thermostat
Bad hose (possible clog)

Does the upper radiator hose get hot at all? That would point to a bad thermostat or water pump. A bad hose would be a little harder to find.

Try not to let the temps get in the red if at all possible. It would suck if it wasn't a head gasket but the thing blew while in the process of trying to find the problem.

 

When you say hot, hot as in, the hose is hot = good to go. Or, it's hot, meaning bad. I knew the hose with the bleed screw by the alternator, was hot as F***. As soon as the check gauges lights came on, I would turn it off. As far as the temp gauge needle, when I say it went up and down, I mean a steady climb to hot, rapid drop to almost normal cool, repeat, untill it just pegged at hot. If a stat gets stuck, it can't go working, stuck, working, stuck can it? I'm kinda thinking by the way it was cooling, heating, cooling and then pegging, it might be the WP. I'm going to fill it up to normal, see if I can run it long enough to open the bleed screws and get the air out. Then jack it up to see if the WP is leaking. Hopefully I can do all this before it starts to overheat. On last thing, I heard that running your car without a stat is bad, is that true? Thanks for the help so far.

 

Well, it's offical, blow head gasket or cracked head. Blowing antifreeze smelling smoke out the exhaust. I don't know if that's the main problem or an associated problem becuase it got so hot. Didn't smoke at all last night. How much to fix a head gasket? My heads are stock but they are ported and 3 way'd. So I guess I'm screwed if they're cracked. Also, it sounds like number two piston (the one behind the alternator) is clanking. If I messed up the cylinder, is that big money to fix? Thanks.

 

Another way to see which side is bad pull the plugs and see if it's wet with water. Also don't do just one side it will be much better to do both as the same time. So you can do a valve job and check your heads out all together.

Edit: As for the price it will be much cheaper if you do it yourself. A basic valve job is about $350+ gaskets $50+other materials parts $50. If you have someone else do much more then that.

 

Thank you for the info.

 

It probably blew from the rapid temp fluctuations. Head gaskets will run you prob. 700-1000? for a good job.

And a bad cylinder wall = overbore = new pistons & rings... If it's clanking in there it probably means something is toast.

If all that is true you may just want to consider doing an entire new buildup. Those are some expensive fixes when done by a shop.