cliffnotes: Car's using alot of water and pining at low rpm's. No leaks have been found and car still has good power overall.
So what might I be dealing with here? It seems as though I'm adding water once a month (or more). I havn't noticed any leaks but it has to be going somewhere. Also, it looks as though I'm not getting much use out of my resevoir. I can't remember which brand I used, but I still have orangish coolant in my resevoir that I put in a long time ago. I checked my oil as recently as last month and saw no signs of antifreeze or water. Last oil change was a couple months ago and it looked fine (aside from being "dirty") then too. The car is still running strong and only runs warmer when I get low on water. Otherwise it maintains good temperature (well below dead center on the factory guage), heater's working fine as well.
One other thing. Lately when driving at slow speeds my car will ping unless I go down a gear. This was never an issue up until a few months ago. However, the car doesn't detonate at all in any other situation. Even when I'm going all out.
This is a high mileage, daily driver/racer with just under 300k on the odometer. The engine was overhauled (rings, bearings,etc) when the heads and cam went in but I've gone some 130k since then. Again, the car stronger now than it's ever been but I'm worried that it's going to die on me soon. Not quite ready (financially) to be buying a new block right now unless I find a lower-mileage donor 5.0 motor.
So what might I be dealing with here? It seems as though I'm adding water once a month (or more). I havn't noticed any leaks but it has to be going somewhere. Also, it looks as though I'm not getting much use out of my resevoir. I can't remember which brand I used, but I still have orangish coolant in my resevoir that I put in a long time ago. I checked my oil as recently as last month and saw no signs of antifreeze or water. Last oil change was a couple months ago and it looked fine (aside from being "dirty") then too. The car is still running strong and only runs warmer when I get low on water. Otherwise it maintains good temperature (well below dead center on the factory guage), heater's working fine as well.
One other thing. Lately when driving at slow speeds my car will ping unless I go down a gear. This was never an issue up until a few months ago. However, the car doesn't detonate at all in any other situation. Even when I'm going all out.
This is a high mileage, daily driver/racer with just under 300k on the odometer. The engine was overhauled (rings, bearings,etc) when the heads and cam went in but I've gone some 130k since then. Again, the car stronger now than it's ever been but I'm worried that it's going to die on me soon. Not quite ready (financially) to be buying a new block right now unless I find a lower-mileage donor 5.0 motor.