Cracked Head/Block or Blown Gasket?
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TECH Junkie
iTrader: (32)
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 3,179
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From: Southside Chicago
Cracked Head/Block or Blown Gasket? I have an issue with my 96 3.8L Daily Driver. My car was slightly overheating a week before but if I made a sharp left, the needle would go right back to normal operating temperature. I was going to get the car looked at but one night the car overheated badly. It hit redline, pulled over and it died on me.
The coolant level was sometimes slightly low leading up to this but when I checked out the coolant, there was nothing in there. Not a drop! There was no leak underneath. I bought some coolant and it would fill but afterwhile the coolant would run low.
Next day, my pops moved the car because street cleaning. He said when he turned it on the car ran like crap and smoke came out the back end. He lifted up the hood and gave me a call. I came down and there was a large leak of a dark brown liquid mixture of oil and coolant. There was a mixture of this in the air induction system too.
Oh, and the oil was pretty high on the dipstick and, . . . it was the same dark brown oil/coolant mixture.
The coolant level was sometimes slightly low leading up to this but when I checked out the coolant, there was nothing in there. Not a drop! There was no leak underneath. I bought some coolant and it would fill but afterwhile the coolant would run low.
Next day, my pops moved the car because street cleaning. He said when he turned it on the car ran like crap and smoke came out the back end. He lifted up the hood and gave me a call. I came down and there was a large leak of a dark brown liquid mixture of oil and coolant. There was a mixture of this in the air induction system too.
Oh, and the oil was pretty high on the dipstick and, . . . it was the same dark brown oil/coolant mixture.
Sounds like either a head gasket or cracked head for water to get into the oil on a V6. A friend of mine had a similar problem and it was pumping water into the crankcase ! For a ride with 150K on the clock, she dumped it.. I took the oil filler cap off and it looked like a choo choo train + it was a rolling ash tray ..
