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Blown V8 head gasket (or possible cracked head)? New/rebuilt engine?

Hi all,

My apologies in advance for the long post . . . .

It's been tough week for my bride's V8 wagon. Last Friday she was about 200 mi into a trip to her mom's place when she noticed the temp starting to climb. She got it off the highway, but noticed a significant loss of power. Fortunately her mom was able to come get her, though she had to leave the car in Raleigh NC.

I got down there the next day and checked the car out . . . it lost very little coolant (less than a pint)--mostly through what looked like a small crack in the side of the coolant reservoir. At the time I thought the overheating was due to the long climb towards Raleigh on a 100-degree day in heavy traffic.

I replaced the reservoir and topped off the coolant; the car started right up and ran well for the first 40 miles or so--then the temp started to climb, so I got off the road and shut it down. I ended up towing it home to VA.

Other than the overheating and loss of power, symptoms are few--no coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant--but the coolant (which was only a couple of weeks old) has become kind of brownish-cloudy. I had recently replaced the coolant, pump, thermostat, and had the radiator "rodded out."

A couple of friends suggested that there's a problem with a head gasket (or one of the heads) allowing the exhaust to push the coolant out of the head and overheat the engine. I guess the exhaust pressure could also explain the cracked reservoir, although I would have thought the pressure cap would have relieved that . . . .

The engine has about 169K on it, so I figure even if it's only a blown head gasket, I should probably do a valve job and other necessary top-end work. I guess my question is, if I do the top end, will it then "blow" oil past the rings? Should I start saving for a rebuild/new engine? (inquiring minds want to know).

Oh, one last question--anybody have any experience with Nissan's Murano? If I can't get this ironed out soon, I'm in for a new vehicle for my bride, and that's what she likes (so far) . . . at least I inherent the wagon!

Any suggestions or insights would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Steve A-








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    You didn't say which engine it is. If it is a 5.0L Ford, it is possible to have a coolant leak from the intake manifold gasket. When I first built my car, I had an inaccurate torque wrench, and ended up undertorqueing the intake manifold gasket bolts. I ended up with a crankcase full of coolant. Thinking it was a head gasket, I pulled the heads off, but the head gaskets were fine.



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    I have a few HG experiences with the Volvo redblock engines, and usually, it is like you said, I would see the coolant "chugging" out of the pressure cap, and that is where I would have coolant loss from.

    A good test would be to test for exhaust gasses in your coolant. Maybe a compression test could show something.

    When you lose power, does the engine run rough?

    Does it overheat at highway speeds?

    How do you know the shop did a good job with the radiator?

    -I'm no expert by any means, but I hope these ideas help.

    Greg
    --
    My new homepage - as of 5/7/05



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