*Please Help Major Issues*
11-23-2010, 07:52 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: NC
Posts: 17
*Please Help Major Issues*
Ok so let me start by throwing out some info. that may be of use: 1996 Mustang GT 4.6L SOHC, 170,000 miles, 5 speed.
Ok now heres my problem hope you have time to read a little bit b/c it will take a min. to explain it all, ok my car recently started running hot, which it has before, and I replaced the radiator, fluids, and thermostat. This was about in July before Mustang Week, I made it through the whole week without a problem till the trip back it overheated once and then I pulled over topped it off with water and it was fine up until now, keep in mind I have been running water in it for quite sometime too, b/c the coolant just seemed to disappear, and so I diagnosed it about a year ago of having a partially blown head gasket, especially after I recently put in a new radiator, thermostat, and fluid and it was still disappearing but thought since it wasn't overheating I could get by.
Anyway these past couple days have been the worst its been like slowly watching the car go down which I know none of us like that feeling. But yesterday I got in it had been running fine, it hasn't dropped below freezing here so I wasn't worried about the water freezing or anything, I was driving it probably about 3 or 4 miles when it ran all the way hot I pulled over thought maybe I was low or out of coolant/water popped the hood the reservoir was boiling like crazy and spewing over the engine bay, so I let it cool undid the cap and was still boiling so I thought well I'm not out of coolant when it calmed down I topped it off with more water I had w/ me but noticed there was no coolant flowing through the upper hose, so it triggered in my mind ok, thermostat is obviously stuck closed, but thinking I could still make it to where I needed to be got back in and continued on it ran normal for about 70% of the way then again got hot but this time started blowing smoke out the back, into the car, and out of the hood. I pulled it over and smelled burning oil, and my engine was now smoking from the back part of the engine I was assuming from the valve cover gasket around the 3rd and 4th cylinder, checked the oil it was way down.
So from there I got a thermostat a quart of oil, drove the car again to where I could leave it about 15 miles away, but on the way back before I got there it started having this rattling really sounded bad, I thought maybe it had lost oil in the valve train somehow and the valves were ticking so parked it immediatly let it run for a sec. and each time I hit the throttle I could here that clicking/rattling but then it would die off, so I cut it off. When I got off work I cam back put in the thermostat while I was I checked the inside of the upper hose it was almost bone dry, so I put the new one in and ran it for about 20 min. the rattling when the throttle was hit went away, so I was pleased with that and the temperature stayed low, then it ran out of gas while sittin' there of course my luck, so I just let it sit for the night, finally got around to getting it some gas tonight fired it up and it was doing fine drove it about the same distance as yesterday it stayed at normal temperature and then didn't run all the way hot but heated up some and the smoking started again, then came some more gut wrenching rattling I mean it wasn't terrible but nobody like to hear sounds from the engine that you don't know or shouldn't be there, and it would make that sound everytime I started off a light or stop sign and everytime I would start at the beginning of a gear, so I parked it again and smoke was again coming from the back of the engine and in through the vents, this time the oil was good, reservoir was again boiling, and upper hose had no coolant flowing through it.
The car is now remaining parked until I can figure out what is going on. So I would appreciate any information or thought on any of the issues I have discussed here or any help or suggestions to what I can do. I know I made a mistake by driving it any after that first overheating but whats done is done I need help from here to see what I can do, what I may have damaged, or anything, I will appreciate replies thank you.
Ok now heres my problem hope you have time to read a little bit b/c it will take a min. to explain it all, ok my car recently started running hot, which it has before, and I replaced the radiator, fluids, and thermostat. This was about in July before Mustang Week, I made it through the whole week without a problem till the trip back it overheated once and then I pulled over topped it off with water and it was fine up until now, keep in mind I have been running water in it for quite sometime too, b/c the coolant just seemed to disappear, and so I diagnosed it about a year ago of having a partially blown head gasket, especially after I recently put in a new radiator, thermostat, and fluid and it was still disappearing but thought since it wasn't overheating I could get by.
Anyway these past couple days have been the worst its been like slowly watching the car go down which I know none of us like that feeling. But yesterday I got in it had been running fine, it hasn't dropped below freezing here so I wasn't worried about the water freezing or anything, I was driving it probably about 3 or 4 miles when it ran all the way hot I pulled over thought maybe I was low or out of coolant/water popped the hood the reservoir was boiling like crazy and spewing over the engine bay, so I let it cool undid the cap and was still boiling so I thought well I'm not out of coolant when it calmed down I topped it off with more water I had w/ me but noticed there was no coolant flowing through the upper hose, so it triggered in my mind ok, thermostat is obviously stuck closed, but thinking I could still make it to where I needed to be got back in and continued on it ran normal for about 70% of the way then again got hot but this time started blowing smoke out the back, into the car, and out of the hood. I pulled it over and smelled burning oil, and my engine was now smoking from the back part of the engine I was assuming from the valve cover gasket around the 3rd and 4th cylinder, checked the oil it was way down.
So from there I got a thermostat a quart of oil, drove the car again to where I could leave it about 15 miles away, but on the way back before I got there it started having this rattling really sounded bad, I thought maybe it had lost oil in the valve train somehow and the valves were ticking so parked it immediatly let it run for a sec. and each time I hit the throttle I could here that clicking/rattling but then it would die off, so I cut it off. When I got off work I cam back put in the thermostat while I was I checked the inside of the upper hose it was almost bone dry, so I put the new one in and ran it for about 20 min. the rattling when the throttle was hit went away, so I was pleased with that and the temperature stayed low, then it ran out of gas while sittin' there of course my luck, so I just let it sit for the night, finally got around to getting it some gas tonight fired it up and it was doing fine drove it about the same distance as yesterday it stayed at normal temperature and then didn't run all the way hot but heated up some and the smoking started again, then came some more gut wrenching rattling I mean it wasn't terrible but nobody like to hear sounds from the engine that you don't know or shouldn't be there, and it would make that sound everytime I started off a light or stop sign and everytime I would start at the beginning of a gear, so I parked it again and smoke was again coming from the back of the engine and in through the vents, this time the oil was good, reservoir was again boiling, and upper hose had no coolant flowing through it.
The car is now remaining parked until I can figure out what is going on. So I would appreciate any information or thought on any of the issues I have discussed here or any help or suggestions to what I can do. I know I made a mistake by driving it any after that first overheating but whats done is done I need help from here to see what I can do, what I may have damaged, or anything, I will appreciate replies thank you.
11-23-2010, 08:02 PM
#2
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: South FL
Posts: 8,540
Sounds like you have a lot going wrong for you.
With a known leaking head gasket, best choice would have been fixing it instead of driving it. Sounds like you have valve issues on top of the head issue you started with. Just a guess, but bent might be a word to describe it.
I would guess you also have an oil / water mix in either your oil pan or your coolant lines, which needs to be addressed as well.
Not driving it is a smart choice until you get it all figured out and addressed.
With a known leaking head gasket, best choice would have been fixing it instead of driving it. Sounds like you have valve issues on top of the head issue you started with. Just a guess, but bent might be a word to describe it.
I would guess you also have an oil / water mix in either your oil pan or your coolant lines, which needs to be addressed as well.
Not driving it is a smart choice until you get it all figured out and addressed.
11-23-2010, 11:34 PM
#3
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 1,956
Dude you need to give at least A LITTLE effort towards making your post readable for anybody to give a damn. The degree of run on sentences was incredibly annoying to read. Why are you CONTINUING to run your car with this kind of problem? Its not going to go away. STOP driving it and get it FIXED.
11-24-2010, 05:26 AM
#5
First off if you have a known blown headgasket and coolant is mixing with you're oil and you continued to drive it theres a good chance you can wash the bearings in the bottom end if the coolant content in the oilpan was of high volume. I think a irrelevant at this point but when you first had you're problem that should of been checked/replaced with the rad and the thermostat, a bad water pump would cause overheating and loss of coolant through leakeage from the weep hole which could of been the cause of overheating and in turn cause of the damage head and or head gasket. With 170k on the clock and the cost of labor to replace a head gasket if you can't do it yourself the best option for you may be to find a used engine with lower mileage.
11-24-2010, 08:02 AM
#6
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: NJ
Posts: 2,312
First off if you have a known blown headgasket and coolant is mixing with you're oil and you continued to drive it theres a good chance you can wash the bearings in the bottom end if the coolant content in the oilpan was of high volume. I think a irrelevant at this point but when you first had you're problem that should of been checked/replaced with the rad and the thermostat, a bad water pump would cause overheating and loss of coolant through leakeage from the weep hole which could of been the cause of overheating and in turn cause of the damage head and or head gasket. With 170k on the clock and the cost of labor to replace a head gasket if you can't do it yourself the best option for you may be to find a used engine with lower mileage.
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