Many years ago while traveling north on I93 in NH…this Econoline van passed me doing about 90. All of a sudden I see this gush of spray coming from behind the truck. As I passed the spray I got the distinct smell of antifreeze. About 10 miles down the road I see the van pulled over and his hood. I pulled over…His engine was toast. What happened is he just replaced the radiator along with all the hoses on his van the day before. And looks like he forgot to tighten down the lower radiator hose. So it came off and all the fluid just poured out at once. Took just 10 miles to destroy the engine.
Check the fuses before replacing the fan!
Emily, did the mechanic say how he determined that the head gasket is leaking? That’s an expensive repair, and I’d want to make sure his diagnosis was correct before dropping that kind of $$. Did he do a leakdown (pressure) test on the cooling system? Or did he do a borescope inspection and see coolant inside one of the cylinders? Ask him these questions and post his response back here.
PS…you could also ask him if he would try retorquing the head bolts first, instead of pulling the head and replacing thr head gasket. If the gasket is leaking, just retorquing the bolts might fix the leak, and it’s a relatively quick, inexpensive process. If it works, it saves you a lot of $$. If not, then you could go ahead and have the head pulled and the gasket replaced.
Well i have a simiular problem… After getting my thermostat replaced in a 2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue , i went and poured the coolant in and it came straight back out… from under the car somewhere… And i mean straight OUT…
Can some1 answer this 4 me…?
Sure, you have a leak. Too easy? I think we need a little more information.
Why were you adding coolant if someone else changed the thermostat? Didn’t they re-fill the coolant?
Yep, SIX YEARS LATER, same answer. You have a leak. Could be radiator, hose, etc. You won’t know until you crawl under it and see where its coming from or you’ll have to tow it to a shop so they can fix it.
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ok, also it was squirting from under the car to the top were my serp belt is at, could that cause problems with my pulleys? ija
Sure, it can cause problems with your pulleys. The overheating will lock up the engine waaay before the pulleys get harmed, though.
If you aren’t going to fix it yourself, have it towed to a mechanic and tell them you have a leak. Sounds like it won’t be hard to find.