Hi Everyone,

I'm a new owner of a 98 talon that needs a lot of work to get it up to speed. I am roommates with Fallen4ng31 so he is helping me out as much as he can. First thing i need to get done is figure out why its overheating. I Have changed the thermostat so that wasnt the problem. im thinking of checking the water pump next but im not sure, f4llen4ng31 thinks its the head gasket, however i would appreciate any input from the community.


Thanks everyone!

welcome to the forums, How long does it take to overheat from starting the car and do you have to refill the coolent every once and a while?

Compression test. first dry and then wet. fallen should know how.

Hey thanks for your reply,
It takes about 5 to 10 miles at 55mph to bury the thermostat needle. I have replaced the temp. sensor and coolant temp sending unit. also checked the hoses and flushed the radiator. i bought this car from some moron lady that let it sit for 3 years! I've been keeping an eye on the coolant level and i top it off regularly so yeah i guess its loosing coolant. sorry for my limited knowledge at the moment but i am learning =)


Thanks again!

TheOv3rmind

I'd feel pretty confident in guessing that the stock crappy headgasket is gone but still do the tests to make sure before you go ripping the head off. another quick thing to check is just run it up past normal operating temp and just see if the upper hose is hot to double check the T-stat. I have seen them go bad shortly after installation.

Yep the upper hose is getting hot. We were thinking it was the head gasket too. but im not sure if its possible to get to it without pulling the motor. i will have to do some research, however if it is possible not to pull motor i would appreciate if someone would let me know.

Thanks again!

I'm in the process of swapping my head, it can be done without removing the engine (but it makes it easier) you just have to strip the timing side of the engine and make sure to release the brackets holding the intake manifold to the engine block (those have caught many a 2GNT'er unaware)

since you are looking at just changing the headgasket you can just do it the quick way and disconnect only the things you need to get the head off and out of the way, or you can take your time and rebuild the head.

Thank you very much sir!



-Bill