just got an 88 turbocoupe

[orangecapri]

Hi guys, usually im on the v8 side of the forums for my Capri, but I just picked up an 88 turbocoupe and im really liking it. It runs, but it not to great. Im pretty sure its the headgasket, I put new plugs and wires on it, but I noticed its bubbling coolant out past the cap, and if I leave the cap off, and try to bleed the system of air, it just pukes all the coolant out all over the place. The temp gauge doesnt work, so i dont know how hot it is. Im going to get a leak down tester and a compression tester tommorrow from work and test it hopefully Wednesday morning and find out for sure before I take it apart. Best part about the car is I only paid $200 and its in really good shape. Let me know what you guys think if you have any opinions on the problem since Im new to these 4cyl cars. There is no coolant in the oil, its just pukes it out the cap.

 

[16vstang]

Man You suck 200 Bucks!!!! JK good find!! Hope you get her up and running soon.
Best of luck,
Nick

 

[Red_LX]

Yeah sounds to me like the head gasket blew into a coolant passage, or the head could be cracked. My old Mustang did the same thing, if you took the radiator cap off while the engine was running and revved the engine, it would shoot coolant out of the radiator. I'm fairly sure it has a cracked head. Also the coolant would get all brown and nasty after a fairly short time, and it was always losing coolant.

 

[Stinger]

Don't even bother with the leakdown, just pull the head, it blew a hg. It only takes a little over an hour (maybe 2 hours for your first time). The headgasket is only 10-18 bux depending one your location.

Just a tip, leave the lower intake manifold, fuel rail, etc. on the head. Just remove the throttle body, valve cover, exhaust manifold bolts, timing belt, alternator, and head bolts. Then just pull it off (with two guys or a cherry picker).

Also, you may want to turn the engine to TDC before you yank it off, alot of new people have trouble getting the timing all lined up correctly.

 

[orangecapri]

Hey stinger I think thats what im going to do. I pulled the codes on it and all that came up was an egr code, i took it off and cleaned it out and checked it and put it back on didnt change anything. I put a new fuel filter on it and didnt change anything. I did a leakdown test and found just two leaky hoses, one at the heater core and the other at the thermostat. The coolant does look kinda nasty, not really brown but more of a white. Im not really new. Ive had my 5.0 capri for 5 years and have worked on numerous other cars. Thanks for the info. By the way your not to far away from where I live. I live about half way in between Hutchinson and Great Bend.

 

[Ourobos]

Give a $300 for it