i need some help and advice fro you guys...last night i raced an 86 thunderbird on the way home and sadly enough as it is, i nearly lost to him (the rear tires were about 10" wide tho so im guessing it had some powah). but when i drove my car again last night i noticed a hissing sound coming from the rear area of the engine and i noticed stem coming from the engine as i always do from my leaking oil. however, it never hissed before. well today on the way home from school i noticed that the steam that was leaking from the car smelled like coolant instead of oil. and when i looked at my gauge, my temperature needle was above the damn gauge housing...like, waaaaaay overheated. i managed to get it home without and problems, and it was bone dry, so i added water to cool it down. now my question is, doesnt htis mean my head gasket is blown? all of a sudden all my coolant is gone in 1 day and it overheats, along with a hissing from the head gasket area? im not getting any white smoke from my exhaust though, so i think its in the process of blowing out the gasket. so what should i do? keep adding coolant and water and drive it lightly until i can afford a rebuild in 3-5 months, or have it torn down and replace the head gasket for about $600 only to have it done again in 5-6 months when i replace the bottom end? also, what should i do in addition to adding more water? what ratio of coolant to water should i add, any coolant recommendations, and should i do a complete flush and refill with water wetter? whatever the case, how much is the system flush and refill gonna cost me

any input is appreciated...i want to actually make it to NOPI this year (ive been screwed 2 years so far, 99 and 2000 because of engine failure.

or could it be the water pump? if the pump failed would it still leak coolant (i mean, i would think there would be no coolant pressure to make it leak out but i could be wrong) someone explain.

Do a compression test. That will tell you if its the headgasket. And if you have to rebuild it sell some of that expensive "bling bling" stuff you have on the car. It wount do you any good with a blown engine anyway. You can always get that stuff you sell later on but atleast your car will be running and fast.

all i can say is do a compression test, and a leak down test...



Michael 99gs
HRC Stage 2
http://www.dreamwater.net/purplebeast

sell the bling bling for a new engine? what the hell would be the point of evenreplacing the engine if i had to drive it around on 14's or 16's? the looks come before the speed, but since im having engine problems that prevent me from drving it in the first place, i need to do the compression test. last time i tested i had 180 in the first 3 and like 140 in #4

If you dont have an engine the looks will only be where the car is parked. Your neighbors will se the looks but thats it. An engine is much more important than looks. Without it no one will see the looks. And theres nothing wrong with 16's when your car is running 12's.

I agree with the others about doing the compression and or leakdown test. Not to be an ass, but you should not have driven the car after you knew of the problem, it might just turn out to be one of the heater hoses is blown(which run behind the engine) I doubt it, but it would suck to roast your engine over a $10 hose. Also, after the engine was screaming hot, the worst thing to do would be to put cool water in it to cool it down, kind of like putting a hot frying pan it the sink will warp it. I hope you got lucky and it's something small. Again, I am not trying to be an ass. Good luck.

well, a water pump isn't gonna make it leak in the back, you could have a blown head gasket, and if ur lucky thats all it is, but the head is probobly warped too considering you ran it hot for a while. Then you could have a cracked block, but that is worst-case scenario. So do a comp. and leak-down test like everyone else said, and u'll proboly have to end up shaving the head, and that'll fuck with your timing. But good luck and surely you have the "emergency car fund" everyone else here has! :) (yeah, right)




stock 95rs=backroad rally champion

ouch your compression looks like mine a year ago and look at me now 145 130 130 140. Maybe its my headgasket but oh well might as well rebuild it, it deserves it :)

Well you can always say screw it and slam the fuckin' thing through the ground and put some radical shit on it and make it a total show car that you have to push around. Then shine the engine bay up real nice, and nobody will notice.





Jon

1997 Eclipse RS

14.49@99mph 7/27/02

MODS: 8.8:1 JE Pistons / Eagle rods / Stage 1 Hahn turbocharger / Melling Oil Pump / Autometer 5" tach / 2 JL 12" W0 subwoofers / JL Audio 500/1 amp / Clarion 230w amp / short shifter mod / GReddy EVO exhaust / custom 2 1/2" downpipe / no cat con / CM Stage 1 / 30lb Mustang injectors / TurboXS MBC / 1G SMIC

well i didnt put the cold water in it until several hours after it was turned off, but heres an update, i filled it up with water this morning and started to drive it to work...well it overheated again in about 4 minutes so i assume this means the water pump is failed? if it was a leaking pipe, all that water wouldnt have leaked out fast enough to make it overheat in 4 minutes (especially at 6 am when it is still fairly cool outside), and it wouldnt have leaked out of the head gasket either, so im thinking its probably one of the hoses or the thermostat (would the thermostat cause overheating if it was broken?). and what can i do besides the compression test to check the hoses, (without towing it to a shop of course).
ps-what would a compression test revel? i mean if the gasket is blown i would just see bad compression in another cylinder, but if the the water pump is busted, that wont show up in a compression test will it?

no comp will not change if your water pump is busted. Go check your exhaust and see if there is water in your muffler It'll be there if you head gasket is shot real bad.



stock 95rs=backroad rally champion

yeah ive noticed LESS white smoke recently to be honest. so what im concluding is this:
1)there is a whistling noise coming from the rear of the motor that is either a busted hose (white smoke is coming out the engine bay) or it is a small gap in the head gasket.on second inspection though, the whistling noise was actually more of a ticking, which high-velocity gases are known to do, but also may mean i have something on my top end like the valves or rocker arms ticking. and,
2)my car is overheating. so because there is no white smoke i assume my HG is fine, otherwise i wouldnt have lost 2 gallons of water in 4 minutes. also, it overheated immediately, so my water pump or thermostat is shot. (am i correct in thinking that if the thermostat is shot that no water would make its way to the block?)
im hoping its just a busted hose and thermostat at worst. id rather save for a rebuild than pay for it later...thanks for the help, and after your final replies ill keep everyone updated on the comp test (if i do one)

I had my thermostat go once, and it failed open, but I'm not sure if this is always the case. It was winter and I was in Chigago so I could not get any heat, that sucked, I did the old cardboard in front of the radiator trick till I got her home.

Get underneath it while it is running(only for a minute or two) and look up to try and see where the coolant is leaking out of, It is not hard to see up behind the engine while under the car(I've spent plenty of time here myself) just have a good bright shoplight handy. Good luck.

IMO, park it and fix the headgasket. Sell bling if you have to.l

My neigbors think I'm an idiot for driving a POS banged-up rusting car when I have a 99 eclipse sitting in the garage. I have significantly less chix asking for rides too lately, it's weird.... Damn... I need to fix my car dammit hehe

that happened to me before lindsay. What happened was the lower water hose popped off. water was getting on the exhaust pipe and steaming up the engine bay and the car was overheating. That's all it is...

oh.. I'm not talking about the one on the bottom of the radiator. there's another hose behind the head right under the intake.. it's a smaller one.

yeah thats the heater hose, i had that problem . i was racing my friends 93 rx7 and beat him, but at the end my heater hose blew off coolant everywhere and i lost control for a second and spun out. at about 90 mph that was quite fun!!!