Standard Maintenance or Huge Head Ache

[stangerdrew0716]

Hey guys...quick question...

i have a 95 V6, standard shift tranny. I'm well aware of the head gasket issue on my model V6. But does this effect ALL of them, or just random ones... the reason for my question is because my car was running kinda funky...doggish...and cold air when i wanted heat...so i checked my oil, and my coolant...both were needed i added the coolant, and oil...that was about 2 or so weeks ago and it's been running fine, plenty of heat when needed, no noises, not doggish anymore. When i checked my oil, I did look for the signs that i've read about w/ a blown head gasket. I read look for coolant in the oil...it should be like milkyish. And I never have white smoke coming from my tail pipe.

My questions is, can that poor performance be chalked up to necessary maintence, or do those first symptoms i mentioned only occur with blown gaskets. I checked with the previous owner of my car (not original), and she said she never had the gasket replaced, was unsure if the owner before her did or not. I also check Ford's website, and Intellichoice, put in my VIN, and found no recalls on the head gasket....

someone...help...before its too late...

 

[Chythar]

I had my head gasket go on my 94 several years back, before the "recall". First off, there never was a recall on the head gaskets. Ford extended the warranty on the head gasket ONLY, to 7 years / 100,000 miles. If you already had it fail, they would reimburse you. I got about 3/4 of my cost repaid - they didn't pay for the damage caused by the head gasket, just the replacement of the head gasket and the labor.

Ford eventually released an updated head gasket kit that was stronger than the first. I've heard of people having SEVERAL head gasket failures before the "warranty extension", so if you haven't had a problem you're lucky. I believe all 94-95 V6 stangs were covered. If you haven't had a problem by now, you're probably going to be fine.

We're even luckier, because the warranty was for Mustangs only, even though Ford used the exact same engine on several other cars.

As to how it fails, it depends on where it fails. You've already checked for coolant in the oil, and coolant in the exhaust. You can also have exhaust venting into the coolant, which is what I had. Symptoms are similar to what you had, though more drastic. My temperature spiked very rapidly (due to the hot exhaust in the coolant), and would not cool off while running. To check for exhaust in the coolant, start the car and take off the radiator cap. If you see bubbles and/or smell exhaust from the coolant, you most likely have a leaky head gasket.

I've heard of other failures; oil spraying out through the head gasket, an exhaust leak thru the gasket, and...well...BOOM. But those are unlikely.

It's more likely that you just have a leaky coolant system, and lost too much coolant. The heater gets its heat from the warm coolant - if there isn't enough coolant, no heat. Especially since the heat came back after you filled up the coolant. This hppened to me as well, not a month after I bought the car used. It turned out my radiator was only 2/3 full, and the petcock was a bit loose. I filled it up and the problem went away.

What bothers me is the sluggish/doggish reaction from the car. That will happen as the car approaches an overheating condition; the car is cutting down on power in a desperate attempt to cool itself down. You shouldn't notice this until the temperature guage is all the way to the right, close to or over the "L" of "NORMAL". Did you notice the temperature guage rise up at all?

 

[GTA_V6_Mustang]

omg...

ok well i had that same problem and it ended up being the head gasket, now i didnt realize that it was with all V6 Mustangs of that year i thought it was just my ****ty luck and i ended up barely paying to get it fixed now, u just told me that i can take it to ford and they would reimburse me for at least 3/4 of the ammount that i paid to get it fixed?

 

[Chythar]

ok well i had that same problem and it ended up being the head gasket, now i didnt realize that it was with all V6 Mustangs of that year i thought it was just my ****ty luck and i ended up barely paying to get it fixed now, u just told me that i can take it to ford and they would reimburse me for at least 3/4 of the ammount that i paid to get it fixed?

If you had the repair done within the warranty period, then you can bring the receipt to a Ford dealership and have them review it. Remember, the warranty was extended to 7 years / 100,000 miles. Remember, this means "whichever comes first". It's definitely been longer than 7 years since 1994 - it's been 10. If you had the head gasket done in or earlier than 2001, then you're most likely good. Mine went in 1998, I believe. I brought my receipts to my local Ford dealership, they reviewed them and sent me a check.