I've got a 95 mercury cougar with a mod motor and its totally busted. I'm trying to figure out what in the world happened to it before I just buy a new motor and hope everything works out OK.
About 2 weeks ago I noticed that my car was losing coolant. So I decided to take it to the shop and get it checked out. They found the radiator to be leaky, and wanted almost $500 to replace it. I had them show me where it was leaking, and then took my car back after paying them for the diagnosis. Did it myself for $300 including the radiator, new hoses, thermostat, and coolant.
After I got done swapping it out I filled the coolant tank back up and drove it around. Acceleration started getting worse and worse. So I pull over and check the ATF which was fine. Coolant was also at an acceptable level. Check the oil, and it looks like a milkshake.
So now I know I'm in deep. I take it back to the shop. They say its either the head gasket or the heads. They pull the heads and send them to the machine shop, which turns up no problems. The gaskets were fine. But somehow a whole crapload of coolant managed to get into the crankcase, several quarts at least. They check the water return and oil filter housing and find that those gaskets are in great shape too. So the only thing thats left is the block.
But this seems very unlikely. This is a stock motor with 80k on it. It made 210 from the factory and never saw any boost, nor any temps below 30 degrees for more than 6-8 hours and nothing below 10deg (I live in FL).
I was just wondering if any of you guys had any idea how in the world all that coolant could have made it into the crankcase. I'm probably going to get a rebuilt shortblock or longblock 4.6 from Jasper motors since they have a 3 year 75k parts and labor warranty, but I really want to know what the crap happened to my car before I sink several thousand into it.
Thanks.
About 2 weeks ago I noticed that my car was losing coolant. So I decided to take it to the shop and get it checked out. They found the radiator to be leaky, and wanted almost $500 to replace it. I had them show me where it was leaking, and then took my car back after paying them for the diagnosis. Did it myself for $300 including the radiator, new hoses, thermostat, and coolant.
After I got done swapping it out I filled the coolant tank back up and drove it around. Acceleration started getting worse and worse. So I pull over and check the ATF which was fine. Coolant was also at an acceptable level. Check the oil, and it looks like a milkshake.
So now I know I'm in deep. I take it back to the shop. They say its either the head gasket or the heads. They pull the heads and send them to the machine shop, which turns up no problems. The gaskets were fine. But somehow a whole crapload of coolant managed to get into the crankcase, several quarts at least. They check the water return and oil filter housing and find that those gaskets are in great shape too. So the only thing thats left is the block.
But this seems very unlikely. This is a stock motor with 80k on it. It made 210 from the factory and never saw any boost, nor any temps below 30 degrees for more than 6-8 hours and nothing below 10deg (I live in FL).
I was just wondering if any of you guys had any idea how in the world all that coolant could have made it into the crankcase. I'm probably going to get a rebuilt shortblock or longblock 4.6 from Jasper motors since they have a 3 year 75k parts and labor warranty, but I really want to know what the crap happened to my car before I sink several thousand into it.
Thanks.