moroney@jon.DEC (Mike Moroney) (10/02/85)
Is the fluid water or radiator fluid? If it's radiator fluid, I have bad news for your friend. It's either a cracked engine block, cracked cylinder head, or (if you are "lucky") a blown head gasket. Either way it's many $$$'s. I had it happen on a 1973 Ford LTD and it turned out to be a cracked block. Good bye car. If the car isn't worth investing major engine work into, you may want to try some stuff that you add to your radiator that's supposed to stop this kind of leak. I don't know if it works or not, but if it does, it's cheaper than a new car. Also a motor from a junkyard might be cheaper than tearing the engine apart and confirming this. -Mike Moroney ...decwrl!rhea!jon!moroney
tmorris@convex.UUCP (10/03/85)
A far cheaper method to test it is to use an exhaust detector on it.
This handy gadget uses a fluid that changes color upon contact with exhaust
gases . The radiator cap is opened with the engine running , and a rubber
bulb on the detector squeezed as it is held over the open radiator. The
steam and fumes from the radiator are bubbled thru the fluid and if exhaust
gas is encountered , it will change color . If the head , block or head
gasket are the point leaking , you can bet there will be exhaust in the
coolant , as the pressure on the exhaust in the cylinder will exceed the
pressure on the coolant by at least 10:1 during the firing of the cylinder.
Also , many times a leaking intake manifold gasket will pass coolant,
and quite a few are misdiagnosed as a head gasket or head. The sad part is
that the poor guy replaces the head or gasket on that side , an of course
he pulls the intake off to do the repair.So when it goes back together it's
fixed by the new gaskets , but it could have been fixed a lot simpler.
Finally , as the pollution controls , especially the catalytic
converters get better , the hydrocarbon fuel will be more fully broken down
to it's less harmful byproducts , carbon dioxide and water. Thats why newer
cars pour so much water out the tailpipe!
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ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (10/10/85)
In article <640@decwrl.UUCP> moroney@jon.DEC (Mike Moroney) writes: > >Is the fluid water or radiator fluid? If it's radiator fluid, I have bad news >for your friend. It's either a cracked engine block, cracked cylinder head, or >(if you are "lucky") a blown head gasket. Either way it's many $$$'s. **** Wellllll, a blown head gasket isn't really all that bad. I had water in the oil in my '70 Ford Econoline (302 V8) which turned out to be a head gasket, and I replaced both for a total parts cost of about $25. Of course, it's a dirty, dirty job. Come to think of it, I don't think the $25 accounts for new coolant... Make it less than $50 all told. I'm not exactly a sterling mechanic, either. This was the first time I'd taken a gas powered car engine apart. (This stipulation because I'd previously had the head off the bunny diesel.) The most important thing to remember when replacing the head gasket is to get the mating surfaces *clean*. If you look at the block and say 'That's clean enough', it's not clean enough. You have to get an engine back together and find out the new gasket leaks to really appreciate this point. But if it's the gasket, do it *now*! That water may be doing irrrepariable damage while you're trying to decide what to do about it. [BTW: How many *new* cars do you think would go 180K miles without having the engine opened? Heh.] -- -- Ron Christian (Watkins-Johnson Co. San Jose, Calif.) {pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix,vecpyr,certes,isi}!wjvax!ron Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: "If you are seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it."