99 Windstar - Head Gasket??

[Mom2boyzz]

Hi Guys...

So... it's looking like I've got a blown head gasket...

Symptoms

• Losing coolant like mad (4L Sunday night, empty today), this has happened 3 times now
• Bad gas mileage
• Temperature guage fluctuating up to [hot] then back down.. but has never actually maxed out
• More often than not no heat in the cabin

When checking it on Sunday, it seemed ok, but today after a long drive home from work out of town (1hr), the oil is super-high and a little bit milky.

So... my questions...
Is this my head gasket? It may be an obvious answers to some of you, but I guess I'm trying to rule out the obvious.

How much $$ am I looking at in repair bills... It's got 174,500 KM on it.

Is it worth fixing?

And, lastly... most importantly at least for me right now.. I have to travel all this week out of town for work... about 45-1hr drive each way. Will I make it?
What can I do, if anything to prolong the life of this thing before I can afford to get it into the mechanic?

Thanks again!
Lyndsay

[12Ounce]

If you have water in the oil ... the outcome is not good unless you make repairs immediately. On the '99, there are two more likely, than headgaskets, paths for water to migrate to the oil ... the front cover ... and the lower intake manifold. Only the lower intake manifold is "easy" to repair.

If you are depending on someone else for repairs ... I would suggest trading instead of repairing.

[Mom2boyzz]

Thanks 12Ounce...

I was just speaking to a tech @ Ford... and now am even more confused.
He said if that much coolant was getting into the oil it would be REALLY milky & the van would be running like crap, knocking & chugging etc.

The van is running absolutely fine. No sounds, knocks, chugs etc. I was driving highway speeds on my way home yesterday, no problems. The only thing that made us realize there may be a problem is the temperature guage rising...but it never maxes out at hot, it always goes back down to normal.

The oil level is high, but not super milky like he said it would be. There is not a mess on any parts of the engine (he said if there was that much antifreeze in the oil, the engine would be a mess) (12L + in 10 days)

I guess Im just hoping to get an idea of whats going on asap, as I can't even get it to the mechanic for another week.

Any help is always appreciated!

[Freakzilla69]

The fluctuating temperature gauge sounds like you might have a bad thermostat that is slow to open.

That doesn't explain the loss of coolant though.

I believe If you were burning coolant you'd have white smoke coming out the exhaust, if you were burning oil you'd have black smoke coming out the exhaust. Is it smoking at all?

Might it be possible that the coolant is getting too hot and leaking out of the coolant reservoir before the thermostat opens?

[12Ounce]

If the engine is running fine, that pretty well eliminates head gasket issues. It also minimizes the chance of it being intake manifold ... but not completely. It means if coolant is entering the combustion chamber ... it is a small stream that does not sniff out the combustion.

That leaves the front cover as a likely leaker ... and the intake manifold as a unlikely, but possible, leaker.

Whatever the cause, the water in the crankcase is playing havoc on all crank and cam bearing surfaces ... and will eventually lead to catastrophe.