BigBadStang
01-07-2009, 10:46 PM
Someone needs to help me figure this damn thing out before I burn it to the ground.
95 Mustang 3.8L Auto
History...
I had been nursing the car along for a while with a seeping radiator sealed with aluma seal. In November it was seeping again, and seemed to take spells where it would run a tad warm, so I decided to replace all the hoses and the radiator, and flush it out. After doing this, and filling it with new coolant, it would still take spells of running warm (up to the "L" of NORMAL on the guage) and the guage reading erratic. The guage would go up, then it would stop blowing hot air and blow cold air, then as soon as the guage would drop it would blow heat again. This shit would continue the entire time I drove it. OK, I thought it's acting like it's low on coolant or has air trapped in it, so I removed the vent plug and the radiator cap and check the coolant, it was a tad low, topped it off with about 10-15 ounces...not nearly enough to make it do what it was doing.
Problem persisted, so I though I would change thermostat and radiator cap. Bought new T-stat and cap, started filling it up with coolant, and the damn water pump was leaking from the back/bottom weep hole. Bought a new (not reman) water pump and put it on. With the vent plug out, I SLOWLY filled the radiator with coolant, started it up, let the t-stat open and close 5 or 6 times, and everything seemed fine. Let it cool down, and checked coolant level. I topped it off with maybe a cup or two and put the cap back on and took it for a drive. All seemed fine...blowing hot air, guage not going up and down wildly...alright! Fixed...I thought...
Started it up to go to work the next night, and same old bullshit, but I figured out if I took it out of overdrive and kept the RPM's above 2500, it would continue to blow heat, and the guage wouldn't move around nearly as much. But if I drove the car on the highway, under 2500 RPM's it would run warm on the guage, and it would start to pump coolant out of the overflow tank and drench the engine.
Must be a head gasket me thinks. I bust out the pressure tester, and check the cap first. It is fine and doesn't pop off until 18-19 PSI, just like it's rated. Next, I hook it up and pump the cooling system just below the recommended max pressure of 28 PSI and go back inside and wait an hour. I go back out, and the pressure hasn't dropped at all...zero...zip. So, the next step is to start it up and let it run to see if the guage on the tester pulses or rises. I do this, and nothing, needle never moves.
So thinking it still may have air in it somewhere, I take the vent plug out, and leave the radiator cap on and I use a long funnel, and thread the end of it and screw it in where the vent plug goes. Then fill it up with coolant, and it slowly goes down. Doing this, I get almost a whole gallon of coolant in it! This has to be the fix I thought. I started it up, and it warmed up slowly, and was blowing warm air, and as it ran longer and warmed up more the heat increased. WOOT WOOT!! It's fixed! Let it run for about 30 minutes holding the RPM's at various places and all is good!
I need to take it for a test drive to make sure. I fire it up, and head out of the sub division. By the time I get to the main road (1 mile) it starts blowing cool air with the temp knob turned all the way up. I get on the main road and the heat returns. I get on the 129 highway and my goal is to go to Cinci-Dayton Rd. and back (about 7 miles each way). After about 4 miles, the guage starts it's bullshit again, and the heat subsides some. I turn OD off and the RPM's rise above 2500 and the guage settles back down and the heat returns. I make the flip at Cin-Day Rd. and while sitting for a red light, the guage creeps up, and the heat turns to cold air. I go up the ramp and back on the highway, OD still off, and the guage goes past the "L" on NORMAL almost to the red line "H" and stays there...no heat either. Then I see smoke rolling out from behind me and I can smell anti-freeze. I pull over to look at it, and the overflow tank has overflowed drenching the engine causing the smoke. I am so pissed now that I drive it home...commanding it to "blow the fuck up, you sorry bitch!!". Well it didn't but all the way back home the guage stayed put just under the red line "H". I look at it when I get home and it had puked more coolant out of the overflow tank, and the shit was dripping off of everything under the hood. Having had enough of this car, and this bullshit problem, I closed the hood and walked away.
I have done everything I know to do, and it still hasn't changed a thing, and frankly, I'm sick of fucking with it. I don't know what else it could be, unless it has a cracked head or a seeping head gasket that only rears it's head when the engine gets good and warm, because it doesn't show up on the pressure tester.
Any ideas...please help if you can. I know this post is wordy, and long, but I wanted to give the jist of things.
Thanks for reading.
95 Mustang 3.8L Auto
History...
I had been nursing the car along for a while with a seeping radiator sealed with aluma seal. In November it was seeping again, and seemed to take spells where it would run a tad warm, so I decided to replace all the hoses and the radiator, and flush it out. After doing this, and filling it with new coolant, it would still take spells of running warm (up to the "L" of NORMAL on the guage) and the guage reading erratic. The guage would go up, then it would stop blowing hot air and blow cold air, then as soon as the guage would drop it would blow heat again. This shit would continue the entire time I drove it. OK, I thought it's acting like it's low on coolant or has air trapped in it, so I removed the vent plug and the radiator cap and check the coolant, it was a tad low, topped it off with about 10-15 ounces...not nearly enough to make it do what it was doing.
Problem persisted, so I though I would change thermostat and radiator cap. Bought new T-stat and cap, started filling it up with coolant, and the damn water pump was leaking from the back/bottom weep hole. Bought a new (not reman) water pump and put it on. With the vent plug out, I SLOWLY filled the radiator with coolant, started it up, let the t-stat open and close 5 or 6 times, and everything seemed fine. Let it cool down, and checked coolant level. I topped it off with maybe a cup or two and put the cap back on and took it for a drive. All seemed fine...blowing hot air, guage not going up and down wildly...alright! Fixed...I thought...
Started it up to go to work the next night, and same old bullshit, but I figured out if I took it out of overdrive and kept the RPM's above 2500, it would continue to blow heat, and the guage wouldn't move around nearly as much. But if I drove the car on the highway, under 2500 RPM's it would run warm on the guage, and it would start to pump coolant out of the overflow tank and drench the engine.
Must be a head gasket me thinks. I bust out the pressure tester, and check the cap first. It is fine and doesn't pop off until 18-19 PSI, just like it's rated. Next, I hook it up and pump the cooling system just below the recommended max pressure of 28 PSI and go back inside and wait an hour. I go back out, and the pressure hasn't dropped at all...zero...zip. So, the next step is to start it up and let it run to see if the guage on the tester pulses or rises. I do this, and nothing, needle never moves.
So thinking it still may have air in it somewhere, I take the vent plug out, and leave the radiator cap on and I use a long funnel, and thread the end of it and screw it in where the vent plug goes. Then fill it up with coolant, and it slowly goes down. Doing this, I get almost a whole gallon of coolant in it! This has to be the fix I thought. I started it up, and it warmed up slowly, and was blowing warm air, and as it ran longer and warmed up more the heat increased. WOOT WOOT!! It's fixed! Let it run for about 30 minutes holding the RPM's at various places and all is good!
I need to take it for a test drive to make sure. I fire it up, and head out of the sub division. By the time I get to the main road (1 mile) it starts blowing cool air with the temp knob turned all the way up. I get on the main road and the heat returns. I get on the 129 highway and my goal is to go to Cinci-Dayton Rd. and back (about 7 miles each way). After about 4 miles, the guage starts it's bullshit again, and the heat subsides some. I turn OD off and the RPM's rise above 2500 and the guage settles back down and the heat returns. I make the flip at Cin-Day Rd. and while sitting for a red light, the guage creeps up, and the heat turns to cold air. I go up the ramp and back on the highway, OD still off, and the guage goes past the "L" on NORMAL almost to the red line "H" and stays there...no heat either. Then I see smoke rolling out from behind me and I can smell anti-freeze. I pull over to look at it, and the overflow tank has overflowed drenching the engine causing the smoke. I am so pissed now that I drive it home...commanding it to "blow the fuck up, you sorry bitch!!". Well it didn't but all the way back home the guage stayed put just under the red line "H". I look at it when I get home and it had puked more coolant out of the overflow tank, and the shit was dripping off of everything under the hood. Having had enough of this car, and this bullshit problem, I closed the hood and walked away.
I have done everything I know to do, and it still hasn't changed a thing, and frankly, I'm sick of fucking with it. I don't know what else it could be, unless it has a cracked head or a seeping head gasket that only rears it's head when the engine gets good and warm, because it doesn't show up on the pressure tester.
Any ideas...please help if you can. I know this post is wordy, and long, but I wanted to give the jist of things.
Thanks for reading.