My car is dead... May 30, 2006, 01:55:10 PM It was bound to happen sooner or laterI had to take it for its emissions test this morning and the car ran beautifully the entire way down. It should have, I spent most of the day Sunday cleaning and checking everything to be sure it was safe for the trip to Carlisle.Anyway, after waiting in line at the emissions place for about 20 minutes, a heater hose blew. I patched it, replaced the antifreeze that I lost and decided to leave. They gave me an extension on my test btw.So about 10 miles from home, the patch gave way and I started spewing coolant again. I pulled over, patched it one more time and headed on my way.I got within 3 miles of my house and the motor started clanking really badly, then the car lost power and the radiator blew. The motor seized and I drifted onto the side of the road. So it appears my motor is gone (I have no desire to see for sure but by the way it sounded and since now it won't turn I will only assume)Now the dilemma sets in. Keep the good stuff and junk the car, or try to keep the car and fix it over the next year or so. I already have two cars that don't run holding up the driveway and now this third is the icing on the cake. I don't know. Oh well, so much for Carlisle and Cat Jam. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #1 – May 30, 2006, 02:07:22 PM new motor and aluminum radiator, maybe even a 351 and get the heads checked and save them, along with any other goodies u might have. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #2 – May 30, 2006, 02:48:23 PM that sucks. I had a heater hose start to leak on the way to a car show Friday night. It was a pin hole but it was leaking because of the pressure. I got home ok but I lost about 1/4 of the coolant in the radiator. Cars ok though. It would suck for you to junk the car after you've put so much work into it. If you can try to save it. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #3 – May 30, 2006, 03:29:14 PM ...and were you watching the temp gauge during all of this, Fred? Was it fluctuating at all? It's very possible the engine is okay...I hope so. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #4 – May 30, 2006, 04:36:52 PM My 5.0 ran on no antifreeze for about thirty miles, engine got hot and my dummy light came on. I don't have a temp gauge being it's an 84, but i do remember it knocking. So maybe that's some hope that it's alright. Mine was fine after i put more fluid in it. Keep the car though. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #5 – May 30, 2006, 05:02:30 PM Actually I was watching the temp guage. It was at two bars. Perfectly normal. I kept the antifreeze levels up to the marks. I know it didn't run without any. I knew to keep an eye on it since I knew I had a trouble spot in a hose.My only guess is there was a clog somewhere that caused the radiator to blow. But I don't understand how that wouldn't affect the temp. I no sooner saw the smoke billowing from under the hood and the motor seized.I'd hope the motor is okay, but it was making an awful lot of noise and I did have some black smoke blowing out the exhaust.See, I heard some light detonation under light throttle just before all of this and I saw my check engine light come on. I figured something was up but it was nothing I haven't experienced before. I moved a lot of stuff around to patch the heater hose and I figured I knocked something loose. I probably should have stopped but I didn't. I just wanted to limp it home. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #6 – May 30, 2006, 05:06:58 PM You're definitely welcome to hitch a ride with me to CJ if your Cougar can't come... Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #8 – May 30, 2006, 10:08:58 PM QuoteActually I was watching the temp guage. It was at two bars. Perfectly normal.Your cars normal operating temp was 2 bars on the digital dash guage? Mine always ends up at 4 bars when it's up to operating temp. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #9 – May 30, 2006, 10:56:17 PM I'm wondering if a HG blew? That would pressurize the cooling system, causing the weak link to blow. Fixing the weak link would expose another weak link. Eventually the HG would get so bad that it would hydrolock the engine, which almost certainly would bend a rod and quite possibly twist the crank (so I suppose in the end it doesn't really matter...) Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #10 – May 30, 2006, 11:28:11 PM Quote from: Thunder ChickenI'm wondering if a HG blew? That would pressurize the cooling system, causing the weak link to blow. Fixing the weak link would expose another weak link. Eventually the HG would get so bad that it would hydrolock the engine, which almost certainly would bend a rod and quite possibly twist the crank (so I suppose in the end it doesn't really matter...)Exactly what I've been thinking. The weak link would be the hose that blew while sitting still. It blew again because of my lousy patch job. This time I fixed it and I was certain it wouldn't let loose again which lead to the radiator problem.I would kind of be surprised if it was a head gasket. They are Trick Flow gaskets and are not quite two years/ 15,000 miles old. But then again the car sure was making noise like the gasket blew. My pass side gasket blew 3 years ago so I'm very familiar with the ill results. It wasn't this bad though. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #11 – May 31, 2006, 01:07:14 AM Sounds like a head gasket to me too...I wonder how the hell it blew?It can't be as bad as a simple coolant leak, I once drove my thunderbird 35 miles home with a busted radiator, and drove the same distance with my Tempo when the water pump went out (and it was leaking so bad that #1 when you added water you could look under the car and see it running down into the ground and #2 I had to stop 3 times to add water). Something was definitely pressurizing your coolant system. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #12 – May 31, 2006, 09:10:29 AM Well, I've been thinking about it more and you all are probably right. It probably was the headgasket.Quick history lesson. Not too long after I put the HO in the original headgasket blew. It only caused the motor to 'rattle' at high rpms. Ever since I replaced the gasket, I've heard a hissing sound like a huge vacuum leak but could not find where it was coming from.Now the hissing noise was coming from the pass side of the motor where the gasket blew so maybe my block was a little warped.When I was sitting still idling yesterday, I heard a loud bang and then I started leaking coolant. I thought the bang was the hose popping but maybe it was infact the headgasket giving way. I remember too when I pulled the car out of line it ran pretty rough as well.After I patched the coolant leak, refreshed the coolant supply and started the car, it sounded like it had no oil in it for about 5 seconds. It cleared up and I went on my way and then I noticed that the motor rattled on acceleration. It sounded at first like it did when the gasket blew years ago but got much worse very quickly. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #13 – May 31, 2006, 06:06:13 PM Oh Fred, I'm sorry to hear it bud. Kinda gives you second thoughts about your car doesn't it? If I had a car as nice as yours I would fix it. I'm sending you a PM Fred. Quote Selected
My car is dead... Reply #14 – May 31, 2006, 06:22:09 PM Quote from: CougarSEKinda gives you second thoughts about your car doesn't it? I'm sending you a PM Fred.That it does Claude, that it does.PM responded. Quote Selected
Topic: My car is dead... (Read 3034 times)
previous topic - next topic
