Villiska

That's a great idea. I could take out the heater core from the equation and if I still get the problem then it's likely the water pump correct? How hard of a job is it to disconnect the hoses? Do I have to pull the dashboard out for that too because if I do I may as well change the heater core itself by then right?

PNYXPRESS

The hoses clamp onto the heater core tubes under the hood. On the p/s. you will need a male-to-male connector first.

Villiska

Just got home from my friend's house which is about a 15 mile drive and my night is pretty much ruined. ***** were not touched, drove it easy and by the time I got onto the highway for 5 minutes (about 8 miles in) the car began to over heat. Pulled it over on the side of the highway and turned it to the on position, turned on the heat, it blew heat for 3 seconds then blew cold air even though the car was overheating and warm by then regardless if a sensor is messed up and it cooled off after 5-10 minutes and went back to the middle.

Drove it home and I was fine. However, this now interferes with my work commute which is about the same amount of miles. Since I didn't touch any *****, does that take the heater core out of the scenario? Does it sound like the water pump now? Wouldn't a blown head gasket be much worse with many other symptoms?

I mean apart from needing a fuel filter, adjusting my exhaust and needing a new radiator fan, this car has been great. This is scaring the hell out of me now.

Should I take it to a shop and get it tested or...I don't know.

Chromeshadow

I'd try PonyExpress's trick.
Water pumps usually fail by leaking, the internals don't usually wear out to the point they can't pump enough water.
BTW, cold air from the heater usually means low coolant. Still might have an air bubble

TfcCDR

It's time to take it to a radiator shop and let them take a look. AVOID PEP BOYS and similar places! You want to take it to someone who does cooling system work all day long, not just every third Tuesday (or to someone who works on lots of Mustangs). You're not going to pay them for what they do so much as for what they KNOW.

If it's something cheap to fix, it's worth doing, even though you're already planning to sell the car. If it's going to cost hundreds of dollars, I would consider what the sale price will be, and whether you would be able to get the money back out of it.

Maybe it's worth fixing just so that you can keep driving the car for that last couple of months, but this is the time to figure that out. You might just want to cut your losses and sell it as-is.

Villiska

I don't know of any radiator shops or anything like that. Honestly this is really depressing. I really don't have the money to take it to a shop and pay their prices or do any of that.

Villiska

The thing is, every time I've had it overheat on me it seems like it's under heavy conditions. 4 times to date. 2 on the highway going 70mph and twice when I turned on the heat in my car.

What's odd is that this happened to me very mildly before I changed my thermostat 2-3 months ago. I was driving back from getting lunch and it was cold so I turned on the heat and my car began overheating. Changed the thermostat and didn't have any issues until about a few days ago when it overheated on the way to work. Since then it's done it consistently almost every drive I do which is about 15 miles each.

Since I don't have to mess with the heat for it to happen now, that makes me think the heater core is out of the picture and after looking up symptoms of a bad head gasket, that doesn't seem likely either.

A gut feeling, and perhaps stubborn and ignorant feeling tells me it's the water pump or a required burping/flushing of the coolant system.

I don't know. I just really want to stay away from shops. The last time I went there they changed my tie rod ends and it costed me $550 and didn't fix the issue I went there for. The water pump & flush seems like something my friend and I could accomplish on Monday night and it seems affordable from what I can understand ($50-70 for the water pump and then enough coolant to do the flush so maybe another $30).

I really don't mean to be stubborn, I'm just praying this is a cheap fix and I can get 6 more months out of this damn car.

TfcCDR

Then you really, really REALLY don't have the money to pay a tow truck if it dies on the road.

Check your Yellow Pages for a radiator shop, then drive over. It may be something really simple and really cheap. It may not be. But making history of your engine isn't going to be any cheaper!

Villiska

Yeah, true. I'll look around on Monday and see what I can find. Maybe this will blow over and be a cheap job and things will be okay.

Thank you for all of the help.

Villiska

Okay, on Monday after work I'm going to bleed the cooling system with my friend because after reading a bunch of information on it and the symptoms of air bubbles in the coolant system, it sounds like my issue. Most common symptoms being cold air when the heat is on and overheating of the car. However, I haven't for the life of me been able to find a detailed guide on how to do this with my model. I have a 1999 mustang v6 with 202k miles on her. This is the best guide I could find, and I just want to make absolute sure that this is the efficient procedure I should follow.

http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/20.../flush_coolant

My friend knows his way around Ford trucks extremely well, and for all I know he knows how to do this, but for my own peace of mind I'd like to know as well just to be a guide if there's any differences or anything.

I apologize for complaining so much and again I deeply appreciate all of the help I've received from this forum since day one. It's taken an enormous amount of stress off my shoulders with this car. Thank you.