89 Town car loosing coolent, at witts end.

[chitownvic]

Where you located?

[gadget73]

Head gaskets almost never go bad on a 302 that isn't in a Mustang. If you overheated it bad enough to blow them, the motor is probably shot and has other very serious issues. If its actually burning coolant, its much more likely that the gasket at the throttle body between the EGR spacer and the intake is bad. Its also very hard to diagnose a bad head gasket unless its had a compression test, is showing signs of exhaust in the coolant, or showing signs of burning coolant. If someone just threw a dart at the list of problems on a board and said "head gaskets" because they want to charge you a shitload of money to change them, go elsewhere. At an absolute minimum, find out exactly how they determined they had failed.

water pump and thermostat gasket, I believe. Those fail, and its no big deal to change them. If the thermostat actually failed stuck shut, it may have popped the gaskets but if the temperature gauge works and you haven't been driving it around with the needle slammed in the corner, thats probably not what happened. Just something of note though, if the coolant level becomes extremely low, the temperature gauge drops because there isn't enough water in there for it to read.

[whitemgm]

Mine did not have milky oil either. It did not miss or have any white smoke or have any oil in the water. That is why it baffled me for so long. I pulled the heads, resurfaced them at my workplace, and put it all back together. It hasn't used a drop of water in 10,000 miles.

[jaywish]

Did you try the coolant pressure tester? That can diagnose a bad head gasket with a pulsation in pressure. Also determine the rate of leak.

[whitemgm]

Come to think of it, one of the local shops here in town just changed the head gaskets on a 90 CV just the other day, so it does happen. The engine was fine once they were changed.

[miamibob]

If the gasket, at the EGR spacer, was bad would it leak internally or externally?

[sly]

typically internally and go through the intake and never show up. I bypassed my egr spacer on my 88 (was already done on the Mark before I got it).

[miamibob]

typically internally and go through the intake and never show up. I bypassed my egr spacer on my 88 (was already done on the Mark before I got it).

How can you tell it is leaking there and how is it bypassed?

[sly]

I'm not sure about how to tell other than coolant smell in the exhaust, but bypassing is as simple as taking the long hose to the EGR spacer and moving it down to the lower intake manifold's nipple. I then took the short hose from the lower intake and looped it back to the EGR spacer on my 88. Then you can be sure that there's no air leak there as well as no coolant leak.

[merc91]

I had the problem also with a crack in the head that passed exhaust gas into the coolent system, pushing the coolent out the overflow tank. It would go through a gallon every 30min of driving.

Take off the rad cap and see if you can smell exhaust, if its there, you will smell it. Also check the plugs, 1 or more will be steam clened looking brand new if you have a leak pulling coolent into the cylinders allong the intake or head surfaces. It can certainly be hard to smell coolents sweetness in the exhaust.

I also have a weeping stock aluminum water pump that goes through a half a gallon a year but that wouldnt be where your losing it all or you would see it. If it aint leaking onto the ground when its parked, than its buringing it or pushing it out the overflow tank when driving

[whitemgm]

Yeah, I could definitely smell exhaust in my coolant when mine were bad. The biggest telltale sign was the bubbles in the radiator though.

[gadget73]

yeah, the radiator will percolate considerably with the engine running if the gasket is popped.

The EGR spacer can leak either direction. It usually shows up as a crusty line between the parts where the coolant seeps. If it leaks badly, you might actually see it spraying. I had that happen to me when I put the HO in the Towncar originally. It smelled like coolant out the back, and when I looked closer it was spraying both inside and outside of the spacer. It got enough coolant in the motor in 5 minutes of running that I had to pull and dry the plugs off to get it to start again. Its been bypassed ever since.

[over2tonsofFun]

Well, finally got a warm enough day to finish. So new water pump, thermostat, and hoses. She doesn't leak coolant anymore. I took her for a short ride tonight. Now I am getting a stuttering when accelerating from about a 20mph roll on up. doesn't do it from a dead dig. Any ideas? Maybe I'll start a new thread for the new problem.

Tim

[gadget73]

vacuum leak. there is a line running to the charcoal canister thats right in that area. Fair bet its turned to hollow rubber band by now and its now leaking after being breathed on.

[over2tonsofFun]

Well that may also explain the heat control. as it is not changing. can anyone show where this line is. I was unaware that it had a charcoal canister.
Thanks

Tim