Hello everyone, I am new to the form and this is my first time posting. I just picked up a 2000 for Mustang Gt with the 4.6 SOHC with the 5speed manual. I’ve spent a lot of time putting the car back to what I think isn’t thrown together. Last night I went for a test drive and all was going well for about 50 miles then it started to over heat.(keep in mind it’s only 35*F here when it happened) so I turned the heat on high and it seemed to cool back down. (According to temp gauge) then I decided to head for home when it lost power and to the point I pushed in the clutch and it died. So I pulled over and opened the hood when I found coolant all over. I just did brand new thermostat, rad hoses, and coolant flush. While the previous owner did aluminum radiator and cheap E-fans that didn’t come on when it was hot. All the coolant was gone from the bottle all over the ground. So i pulled the oil cap and it had some smoke come out and it’s milky colored. Another thing to add is that it idles funky light a slight miss. So here’s my questions...

1) do you think I blew the head gasket? Compression test will happen after work tonight

2) is there anything else I should check to confirm head gaskets bad?

3) the car has long tube headers and if it needs head gaskets can I pull them out with the cylinder head?

4) there is a plug at the top left of engine bay by e fan wiring, it’s not plugged into anything and I can’t find anything about it online. Maybe it has to do with controlling the fans?

I really appreciate any advice you guys have for me as I’m at a lose right now and think I got ripped off on this but. Thanks!

 

Update on the matter... compression test results and oil sample pictures. Compression test done on cold engine.

 

Cheap and easy way to test for a bad head gasket is to rent a block tester. Post a pic of the plug you're talking about. What work was just done to the car and why?

 

Thank you for the reply. I will work on finding a block tester and get a picture of the plug after work tonight. As far as the work done to the car it was in a front end crash from what I was told.

 

Well here’s what I found. With the front end of the car elevated with a jack and the car running(to try and let air bubbles out) heater controls on and no coolant caps on the car will come up to temp and then after about 30 minutes starts to overflow the coolant reservoir. Witch makes me lean that i have a blown head gasket or cracked head. Also here’s a picture of that plug. Thanks