Overheating problems

[bbjornson]

Hi, I own a 94 taurus wagon with the 3.0 V6. I have been recently having overheating problems.

This is what is happening so far:

1. It takes about 20 seconds to start the car, and it won't always start the first time. I have to give it lots of gas during start-up.

2. Lots of smoke/steam comes from my tail pipe after initial start-up. This continues for a couple minutes.

3. I have to keep refilling my coolant system.

4. My heater blows out cold air, NOT hot air. But my radiator-to engine coolant hose is very hot after engine shut-down.


I think my engine may be using coolant as part of the fuel, is this possible?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[TaurusKing]

Overheating the engine is not a good thing, you may now have a blown head- gasket.. Find a garage, dealer or otherwise, that can do a leakdown test to determine if the headgasket is shot.. I wouldn't recommend driving it until it's fixed. one way or another.. if there's no discernible leak you can find, most likely coolant is getting into your engine, eventually you might trash the whole kit and caboodle, antifreeze is not good for crank bearings, check your oil, hopefully it's not milky looking.. btw, the 3.0 is a hardy engine, not many blown gasket problems, most all due to overheat...

[bbjornson]

My oil is actually perfectly clean. Could a blown intake manifold gasket also be causing this problem? Thanks

[TaurusKing]

Symptoms you're describing are those of a blown HEAD gasket, coolant leaks into the combustion chamber,, smell your exhaust, if coolant is burning off, it'll have the unmistakable sweet smell of antifreeze,, the engine may crank over hard due to coolant in the engine, my son's 3.8, the notorious motor, had that issue,, in my experience alone, leaky intake manifold gaskets create vacuum and egr issues, among others.

[bbjornson]

Does replacing a head gasket require serious machinery/tools? Could I do it while keeping the engine intact? Is it worth replacing? I am on a very small budget, and I can't afford to have a shop do it.

[TaurusKing]

If yopu could do it yourself, certainly you'll save a bunch of $$$, it'll only cost you your time.. There's probably quite a bit of work to do to get the heads off, you'll need a good set of quality tools.. Get yourself some type of Ford book, or reasonable facsimile thereof, so you can determine if you can tackle it... I still recommend a quality mechanic doing a leakdown test to confirm that the head gasket is bad,, I don't believe the price of the test is major,, call your local Ford dealer to get their price on it. As far as whether or not it's worth doing, that depends on how you view your car..

[bbjornson]

I will attempt to do it myself if it requires just a few tools. If one head gasket is blown, is it a given that the other side is blown too? Will a compression tester help me find out which gasket is blown?

[mwt878991]

Hold on a minute there Mr. Wizard.

You should do a cylinder compression and leak down test before you tear your engine apart.

Although it sounds like you may very well have blown a head gasket you should confirm that before you spend HOURS tearing it apart and putting it back togethe.

Also if it is a blown head gasket you need to take you heads to a qualified machine shop and have them checked for warpage and cracks.


Mike

[C. Cleve]

Hi, If you really LIKE this tarus, I would suggest you bite the bullet and pay to have the job done, After the head gasket problem is confirmed, Keep in mind that the cost of these repairs far overshadows the vehicles value even if it is a nice car...Good Luck....Clay..

[bbjornson]

That's the problem. I don't really like it and I want to sell it soon, but I don't have the money to sell it, and I need it for school right now. We'll see.

[fubard]

You could try a sealing product such as "irontite" .I've used it to seal small leaks around the water pump housing gasket and it worked ( at least until I sold it) . There's also other products available that may at least help in the short term until you can do a proper repair on it.

good luck

[C. Cleve]

Hi, IF you are serious about useing a sealing product, TRY a product known as GM (general motors block seal) and follow the directions to THE LETTER, I have heard and seen good respose from this product..See Ya, Clay...

[seasonalskier2006]

Originally Posted by fubard

You could try a sealing product such as "irontite" .I've used it to seal small leaks around the water pump housing gasket and it worked ( at least until I sold it) . There's also other products available that may at least help in the short term until you can do a proper repair on it.

good luck

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!!!!!! Any buyer will see this and instantly will dismiss your car. Any mechanic will easily see this and tell the buyer to not buy this because it was not properly maintained. It is a lose, lose situation, you will be stuck with the car, and when you do get it fixed for real you will have to pay extra to get it all machined to get the sealing shit off the heads and block!!!!!! Also a way to see if the headgasket is blown, when the engine is COLD take the radiator cap off and then start the car, take a flashlight and shine it in the radiator, if you see bubbles after a while then it is a blown headgasket, and be smart when doing this, the car must be completly cold and if it is about to overflow, turn off the car! Never touch the fluid no matter what, if it overflows it will burn your hand/whatever it touches. Hope this helped, any questions just pm me. PS: i would also consiter not doing it yourself, because i broght my baby (in my pic [not me the car!]) in to the previous master mechanic for ford motor company and it took him 4-5 DAYS to do this job. And he has a shop, and all the top of the line tools. Not exactally a do it your self job. Just trying to help ya, hope this all works out for you, and by the way, check your tranny fluid after the job and be sure the fluid is still good for fear that it might go as well (did on mine and it could happen to yours also)

Sorry for the bad news,
Kenny

[fragmore]

Blown head gasket or a clogged kanutter valve.