Steelcity
Member
Well at this point I am looking for confirmation of a bad head gasket(#2 cylinder) . Here is the story 3 days ago going to work 10 min from the house I loose heat , starts blowing cold air , then the temp gauge starts climbing so I pull off and limp home.Take a look at it and refilled with water and bled it and then noticed she was running on 5 cylinders I think ,bad miss the service engine light was not only on but flashing. I have been seeing steam coming from the rad for the last couple of weeks but not liquid and I said when the weather breaks I will address this issue. So yesterday I put in new radiator(not an easy job) and 2 new hoses , and new plugs and wires(again not and easy job). Here is a clue when I pulled #2 plug it was wet and nasty looking. So after changing parts and filling it up and after an hour or so bleeding I was ready to take it out on the open road and by the way it was not missing it was running smooth. After only about a 1/4 mile I again lost heat and she was starting to overheat again limp home. Opened the rad cap and it was a little low but I can see the top of the coolant and then proceeded to pull #2 and #4 plug for comparison and of course #4 was clean and looked brand new and #2 looked wet and corroded and rusty on the threads. So all that I have read tells me a bad head gasket? If so tell me there is something I can pour(snake oil) in the rad and it will stop the leak? At 170,000 miles I can't see it worth putting money in this? It looks like a big job and plus it's a van and not much room for the back side of the engine.
