Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Big problem

I was driving along going around 65-70 down highway and all of the sudden the car starts slowing down and smoke starts coming out of the hood. I pull over and as soon as I do the car shuts off, I notice there is coolant sprayed all over tranny and there is steam coming out of the head, I take the oil cap off and alot off steam comes out. So, I get it towed to the body shop I work at. First off, I find the leak, it's coming from the thermostat bypass hose, a 4 inch 3/4 hose takes care of that. So, I fill it up with coolant and try to crank it, nothing! Mechanic says it has no compression. I take all the spark plugs off and look in, and there is a crap load of water in there!! The mechanic tells me to stand back and he cranks it, a huge blast of water gets pushed out of the combustion chamber. I'm still in the process of tearing it down but do you guys think it could just be a blown head gasket? Our mechanic really hasn't time to look at since we're really busy at work so that's why I wanna see what you guys think. When the car had shut off I looked over at the temp gauge and it read on the "A" on normal, I don't think it overheated so hopefully the head won't be damaged or warped. The car never showed any symptoms that anything was wrong with it, I had just changed the oil with royal purple like a month or so ago...all that good oil to waste now! If anyone can relate to this experience or can offer any advice, I could use it. I looked in to a replacement engine...I found 2 right off the bat with my first phone call. One was 750 and it had 90K and the other had 103K for 500, both with 6 mo. warranty. My car currently has like 136K so I guess either would be better, huh? Thanks for any help.

If I were you I would not fix it. For that much money you can get another one and make more parting this car out.

Well, I finally finished pulling the head off yesterday. The #1 and 4 cylinders had about 2 inches of coolant on top of them. I completely dissasembled the head except for the valves and springs. I dropped it off at a machine shop to have it pressure checked and possibly get machined, they will also be doing a valve job. Hopefully this will take care of the problem. The head gasket didn't appear to be blown although there was signs where the coolant passed into the combustion chamber leading me to believe that he head was warped. This repair is getting pricey, the head gasket set cost me 187.00 from O'reilly and getting the head done is going to cost me almost 200. Hopefully this will fix the problem. I post an update once I get the head back and on the vehicle.

Check the cylinder walls for cracks. Rotate the engine to put the piston at bottom dead center and give each one a good look.

jeff

I did check the cylinder walls, they all seemed ok except the #4 which had some marks running vertical, the mechanic said it was from the piston rings expanding and scratching the wall when it gets hot, he said it should be ok but that i should probably get rid of it soon

Well, I finally got around to coming back on here. Just here to give an update...My car is fixed and it's running good. I'm proud to say that I did the whole job by myself without the assistance of the mechanic here at the shop I work at. It's the first time i've ever done a head gasket/big job like this. Everything turned out good, got the timing set with no problem, which is what I was worried about, thanks to my trusty old haynes manual. Total cost was around 460 for parts. Out of curiousity, does anyone know how much a shop would normally charge to do a head gasket? I just wanted to know how much money I saved by doing it myself. Thanks