Protokiller

I have a 98 Mustang V6 with coolant that will come out of the tailpipe.

The car's radiator will not stay full and I have to add fluid to it.

The first 3 months I owned the car it presumably had no coolant and never overheated... strange... at least according to the gauge.. Pepboys told me when I had my oil changed I had no fluid in the rad.

My understanding is that it could be cracked heads, cracked engine block, or a cracked head gasket.

I have no coolant in my oil and only a little bit of coolant coming out of the left exhaust (modded dual exhaust) and when I rub my finger on it it seems greenish which is how I know it's coolant.

Wouldn't white smoke come out of my exhaust if the head was cracked or another similar problem was present? At the same time it is odd no coolant is in the oil and no white smoke is present but the coolant is obviously getting into the tailpipe by some defect.

If anyone knows what this could be, or have heard of this problem or seen it on another Stang I would appreciate it.

jthorn9

You don't have to have white smoke for there to be coolant. If it's a slow or minor leak it won't produce enough steam to turn into white smoke, but over time will accumulate into the green you see. You really should take the car to a professional shop and let them look it over. You won't truely know where the problem is till you tear it down, but you also don't wanna be shooting darts in the dark assuming it's one thing when it's something totally different.

Protokiller

That is what I was afraid of... having to pay the big bucks to have a Pro look at it.

Being a broke college student looking for a summer job I really can't do anything now.. if I do land a job I would like to get it fixed.

Even if it dies on me soon I at least got over half a year out of this car and only paid $1200 for it so I guess I got my moneys worth already.

I hope it hangs on long enough to be fixed as it already has 278K miles on it (only about 4k from me/my family) and this thing seems to be a workhorse trying to hang on and I do like this car but simply can't afford to have work done to it right now.

Thank you for your response and I hope others will offer insight as well.

jthorn9

Well obviously it's not a good idea to be running the car. Depending on the failure point it's only going to get worse over time and could completely ruin the motor. However if you have to drive the car, drive it like a grand maw and never over stress it.

There are also some radiator leak fix additives that can be added into the radiator system to help seal up some minor leaks. Yes these fixes can also damage the water pump, and only buys some time, it may be what you need for the time being.

Best bet, and cheapest repair route, would be to buy a used 99-04 V6 engine, then buy a cheap motor puller (Harbor Freight is perfect here) and swap the motor out yourself. Then bring the old motor to a scrap yard and get a few bucks for it and sell the motor puller on craigslist for a few bucks if you're never gonna use it again.

Protokiller

Would a 99-04 engine hook right up to a 98 Mustang? I have always thought the engines were different. Would the engine play nice with the tranny etc?

I have read many reviews of the head gasket liquid type repairs from various vendors and have seen it not work enough or completely clog and ruin the radiator etc. that I am hesitant to put any in given the car seems to run exceptionally well despite the coolant somehow getting in the exhaust.

I understand this is a serious problem but those liquid sealants are quite scary with all the horror stories I've read of people who's car would run and after trying one of those products would overheat before they could leave the driveway.

My heater works really well in this car and there is no oil mixing with the coolant as far as I can tell.. I think until I can either do the engine swap you suggested or have this engine rebuilt I will continue to baby the car and add coolant regularly.

BabyGT

Engine is the same block in both generations it's just different heads and intake, it will bolt up just the same to your transmission. Will be a big bump in ponies too.

jthorn9

96-04s are all basically the same setup. You will need a few odd parts from a 99-04 to make it work in a 96-98. It would also be a good idea to get a 99-04 ECU as the 99-04s are programed to run slightly larger injectors that the 96-98 ecu is not set for.