blown the funk up....

[littleindianboy]

So, yeah, back in February I hit a snag. I was driving home from work when I looked down and noticed my check engine light was on. I turned off the radio and I could hear how sick it sounded. When I pushed on the gas I heard a clicking, somewhat similar to the CV joints, but it wasn't them, it was under the hood, and only when I put my foot down. I then noticed the temp gauge was pegged. I pulled off the highway (luckily at was at the exit to the Circuit City where I work) and truned into my shopping center. Before I could get around to the back to show one of the guys I work with in the install bay what was up with my car, it died. I pulled over and opened the hood. Lots of smoke. I pushed it to the shop and left it there overnight. The next day it started right up, but overheated quickly, like within a half of a mile. Yesterday I finally put a new battery in it and filled the radiator with water, since it had leaked all the coolant out. It started up fine and it drives fine, but I don't want to take it too far, cuz when I stop there is smoke coming out from around the headers. Also, it dies when I put it in drive if I don't have the gas pushed down. I know that's alot of info, but can anyone PLEASE help me!

[mykel78]

Sounds like my old 81 626 coupe, when it blew its head. I think a compression test may be in order. Have you looked to see if any water is coming out anywhere when it's running and warm? An easy little test is to pull the plugs and crank the engine. It will turn fast, as there's no compression, but if water jets out of the holes - bad news. May save the cost of a compression test. Oh, and don't take it very far at all, in fact-I'd suggest you don't...
Best of luck to ya!

[littleindianboy]

Right, so what if there's not any water coming out? And what's the deal with the smoke coming from the headers?

[mykel78]

No water when plugs are pulled may mean your head gasket is ok, but this is by no means a foolproof test. Where precisely is the smoke coming from? I'm guessing it's actually steam if you're losing coolant. I don't know how much a compression test is, but I recommend you get it done. If you are using only water, you will overheat, and you are corroding the cooling system. You need a 50/50 mix of coolant and water, for best efficiency. You may have just run low on coolant causing it to overheat, but the coolant had to go somewhere, check for any leaks - anywhere. But, if you have to hit the gas just to keep it running, you probly have other damage. Check your plug wire boots, they can break down and melt when the engine overheats, causing your spark to not get to the plugs right, that would make it die - like when you put it in gear, you're putting a load on the engine, and thats when spark is most likely to misfire. Yeah, lots of things could be happening I'm just trying to point out what I've seen before... good luck

[littleindianboy]

So, I got my water pump replaced and that took care of the overheating problem. I have to replace the valve cover gasket and the plugs and wires now. Is the gasket a hard job?

[mykel78]

Cool! just the water pump?? awesome, I hope that takes care of it for real...
I don't know what year your car is, but my 94 is an easy job. I think the 92/3 should be just as easy. However, take care to remove all old gasket material, this was a PITA but didn't take me too long. But I changed the gasket at 200,000+ miles, after an overheating incident, and the rubber had vulcanized. I had to go to Mazda for my gasket, O'Reilly and AZ tried to give me the wrong one (the SOHC 92-93, was the only one in their systems). Good luck, and good times...