WTF??? Overheating! no heat! Problems!

[88GTMustang]

compression test

Well guys, i managed to do a compression test today and these are my results

passenger side all between 155 each give or take a few notches

drivers side 170 170 and the back one bye fire wall 160

That seem normal? what can be concluded?

BTW - when i shut my car off i heard a bunch of bubbling in the radiator for like 30 seconds and then heard it again like 15 mins later for 5 seconds? is that normal?

 

[Highlord8]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all 6 cylynders are supposed to be within 5 of each other. If you're getting 155 on your passenger side and 170 on your drivers side save for the back cylynder being 160... I hate to say it but it's starting to sound like a head gasket to me. Isn't the back cylynder on bank 2 the one that people keep complaining about fouled plugs when the gasket goes? I'd pull the plug out and look for oil.

 

[88GTMustang]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all 6 cylynders are supposed to be within 5 of each other. If you're getting 155 on your passenger side and 170 on your drivers side save for the back cylynder being 160... I hate to say it but it's starting to sound like a head gasket to me. Isn't the back cylynder on bank 2 the one that people keep complaining about fouled plugs when the gasket goes? I'd pull the plug out and look for oil.

I thought they all had too be within 15 of each other? can some one clear this up?

BTW when i pulled the plugs out they were all dry and whitesh

 

[epurdy2005]

.

Everybody is stuck on this blown head gasket but i don't think thats it. My car is doing the exact same thing as his and its not a head gasket. Its happened to me two times and i have now replaced the thermostat but I don't think that did very much but my radiator too has a small leak. I keep adding coolant to the radiator and that hole above the thermostat and that does it everytime and it does ok for a couple of weeks. its been a week now and doin ok
Evan

 

[Grand Tourismo]

face it, as much as you don't want to here it is the head gasket, its not blown yet thats why some times the car will be fine, but its going, ford used a sh it HG on all there 3.8's from 95 and down, mustang cougar T bird , taurs i'm shore im missed some, replace the rad and I garente it will get worse, by doing this it will close the system and create pressure, and will cause the problame to get worse,( had the same thing hole in rad) just get a manual and 100 bucks worth of parts from ford,and about 200 to send the heads out and have them tested and milled, and give your self a week to take it apart and put it back together, if its done right you will be very happy with the results, I just did mine last week, very happy so far

Those numbers are not very consistant I would, most def say HG.

Ford knows they have a bad HG in the 3.8's that why they put a limit to 7 years so they don't have to fix them, they know dam well they go after the 7th year dam bastards.

the only way to tell is pull the heads if the gaskets ok does not mean any thing look at your valves and pistons they tell the story, if they are fouled and rough you had water in that clyn, or get a scope with a camara on the end of it pull the plugs and take a look, It would be like doing an endoscopi on you car, you know were they take a tube and shove it down your throat to take a look around. By the way they use the same tube for both ends

 

[SteedSam]

I'm not sure what it is. I had the exact same problem and got the head gasket changed (it was shot) and now my car is acting the same as it did. I dropped a couple grand into it to fix it and now the coolant is still low. So was the oil. I'm quite angry and a mechanic at a local Ford dealership told me that once the coolent leaks in the oil pan, chances are your engine is dead regardless if you fix the headgasket. I would bring it back to the shop for the warranty, but the shop closed down. If I was to go back in time, I would of dropped at 2000+ 3.8L in it.

 

[Grand Tourismo]

thats your problame you brought the car to a shop to have it done if you would have done it your self or had ford do it, it would have worked, but if colant did get in the oil odds are you need piston seals

 

[97v6Silver]

or your an idiots? you prolly got a vacum leaky somewheres

 

[mustang50v8]

since yours is a 95 the FIRST thing you need to do is take it to a ford dealer and see what they will do for you. when this happened to my car a couple years ago ford told me that thay did an unwritten recall and if you had a problem thay would fix it but if you never had a problem thay wernt gonna tell you about it. so anyway i got my car fixed for free from the ford dealer because of the recall.

im not sure if they are still doing it free cause its been so long, but its worth a shot right

 

[Grand Tourismo]

if its a 95 the extended waranty on the Head gaskets is up its for 7 years or i think 75,000 mile which ever comes first so the years kill it get the picture, ford screwd us once again ahahahaha got to love ford

 

[88GTMustang]

Well Actually My car is the 95 and this is the second engine that is in it..... im guessing that the the lady i bought it from had a newer engine put in it because of the headgasket on the first one. but i got the reciept for it and it has some punney little warrenty on it llike 1 year or 10k miles i think

 

[mustang50v8]

i hate to say this but things are not looking good for you then, it could get pricey to fix unless you do it yourself. gaskets are cheap....real cheap.....labor is expensive, and time is your enemy.

 

[cobra232]

most likely it`s a headgasket being it`s a 95. but take it to a radiator shop and have them pressurecheck the radiator. i changed a head and head gasket on a VW diesel because of a bad radiator. better to replace the rad than get into a head gasket job. also chances are if the engine has been replaced on the car it probably has the upgraded head gaskets in it. i still think it`s the gaskets but have the radiator checked first just to be safe. oh and have them check the waterpump also the vanes may be loose on the pump shaft and you may not notice it. this would cause the overheating and lack of heat

 

[88GTMustang]

most likely it`s a headgasket being it`s a 95. but take it to a radiator shop and have them pressurecheck the radiator. i changed a head and head gasket on a VW diesel because of a bad radiator. better to replace the rad than get into a head gasket job. also chances are if the engine has been replaced on the car it probably has the upgraded head gaskets in it. i still think it`s the gaskets but have the radiator checked first just to be safe. oh and have them check the waterpump also the vanes may be loose on the pump shaft and you may not notice it. this would cause the overheating and lack of heat

Is checking the pressure something i can do or do i have to take it in?about how much $$ does that run?
oh and BTW its not the water pump cause i replaced that and it still happens

 

[Onimere]

Check this out I have a 94 and replaced my head gasket in 2000, i had the engine completely rebuilt. in december of 03, my heater core started dumping coolant on me so I tossed some sealant in it and it fixed it but for a while the car was registering just fine for the temp but the cooling fan would keep kicking on. Do you guys think the head gasket needs replaced again? Or could it be a new issue?

 

[88GTMustang]

Well Well Well guys, you were right! Yesterday i was on my way to the airport to pick up my dad, anyways TEMP Gauge starded over heating, blah blah blah, the started pouring out white smoke! got off at next exit, car stalled before i even stopped. Bought a gallon of coolant dumped it in, waited a bit, started it, WHITE smoke everywhere, actually water in gas form white steam if you will, (thats what my dad said cuz its getting burnt up correct me if hes wrong) Tried to drive it back home, NASTY noise coming from the valves, (ewwww). So basically im in for new gaskets and a head job. Approx, how much $$$ for the heads to get redone? And gaskets are like 50$ correct? I will be replaceing the gaskets by myself but im going to have to have the heads machined. is it possible i could of damanged anything else and if it is what could i check for to see if its messed up??
BTW thanks for all of your responses!

 

[epurdy2005]

Man i was hoping his wasn't a head gasket. Because at the begining of march my car started doing that same thing. We'd add some coolant and do some stuff and then it would go away for about 2 weeks. Then it started doing it again so i replaced the thermostat and put some more coolant in. Now it has been about a month and it just started doing it slowly again today. Taking too long to get heat and then not getting heat at all and (then just about to overheat and then go back down and get heat. )THe last part is what it did today. So is mine a head gasket too? I'v done an oil change about a week ago and everything was ok. But i noticed the drips from my exhaust didn't go away this morning and there still on the cement in the garage. Does that mean theres coolant in it? And also if it is head gasket should I do something now before it gets worse......thanks
Evan

 

[88GTMustang]

Man i was hoping his wasn't a head gasket. Because at the begining of march my car started doing that same thing. We'd add some coolant and do some stuff and then it would go away for about 2 weeks. Then it started doing it again so i replaced the thermostat and put some more coolant in. Now it has been about a month and it just started doing it slowly again today. Taking too long to get heat and then not getting heat at all and (then just about to overheat and then go back down and get heat. )THe last part is what it did today. So is mine a head gasket too? I'v done an oil change about a week ago and everything was ok. But i noticed the drips from my exhaust didn't go away this morning and there still on the cement in the garage. Does that mean theres coolant in it? And also if it is head gasket should I do something now before it gets worse......thanks
Evan

Sadly enough your is MOST likely the HG. Same exact symptoms i had before my totally blew out. It would probably be better to get it fixed sooner caues i let my $hit go for a while, ruiened my flowmaster mufflers (rusted them out) Just started ripping my car apart today so ill keep ya updated.

Damn now i got 2 stangs in my garage that are in peices!lol