gregish18@hotmail.com

hi all,
I just acquired an 88 taurus 3.0 which was running good when I bought
it. Now I am having some problems with it.

First off when i would drive it for a while the coolant tank would
bubble over and smoke. The car wouldnt overheat though. After a while
it did start to overheat and i noticed that most of the cooling system
was empty. I am not sure how much coolant was in it but the coolant
seems to disappear. I flushed the radiator and also replaced the
thermostat and the top hose and it stopped overheating but it still was
losing coolant. A few days ago when i drove it a little while it
wouldnt start and i havent gotten it started since. The engine will
crank but it won't turn over.

Would these two problems be related? another thing it does is it doesnt
have a lot of power in low gears and kind of sputters.

Thanks in advance for your help

Greg

tom

sounds like a blown head gasket. and yes, both events are most likely
related
<gregish18@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1117882011.733631.264930@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> hi all,
> I just acquired an 88 taurus 3.0 which was running good when I bought
> it. Now I am having some problems with it.
>
> First off when i would drive it for a while the coolant tank would
> bubble over and smoke. The car wouldnt overheat though. After a while
> it did start to overheat and i noticed that most of the cooling system
> was empty. I am not sure how much coolant was in it but the coolant
> seems to disappear. I flushed the radiator and also replaced the
> thermostat and the top hose and it stopped overheating but it still was
> losing coolant. A few days ago when i drove it a little while it
> wouldnt start and i havent gotten it started since. The engine will
> crank but it won't turn over.
>
> Would these two problems be related? another thing it does is it doesnt
> have a lot of power in low gears and kind of sputters.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help
>
> Greg
>

Jeff

"tom" <tjctransport@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:tBgoe.4602$So7.2519@fe10.lga...
> sounds like a blown head gasket. and yes, both events are most likely
> related

I would bet there is a blown head gasket. If you can return the car, do so.

You're looking at a pretty expensive repair. If you oil looks milky, you are
in big trouble.

Jeff

> <gregish18@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1117882011.733631.264930@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
>> hi all,
>> I just acquired an 88 taurus 3.0 which was running good when I bought
>> it. Now I am having some problems with it.
>>
>> First off when i would drive it for a while the coolant tank would
>> bubble over and smoke. The car wouldnt overheat though. After a while
>> it did start to overheat and i noticed that most of the cooling system
>> was empty. I am not sure how much coolant was in it but the coolant
>> seems to disappear. I flushed the radiator and also replaced the
>> thermostat and the top hose and it stopped overheating but it still was
>> losing coolant. A few days ago when i drove it a little while it
>> wouldnt start and i havent gotten it started since. The engine will
>> crank but it won't turn over.
>>
>> Would these two problems be related? another thing it does is it doesnt
>> have a lot of power in low gears and kind of sputters.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your help
>>
>> Greg
>>
>
>

c palmer

3.0's are a dime a dozen, they are a dependable engine for the most
part.

if the engine has bought the farm that you have, you might want to
consider a swap out instead of tearing the heads down.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc

gregish18@hotmail.com

how difficult of a repair is it? would i be able to do it myself? i've
done other repairs myself and would be willing to try or i could just
swap the engine out with another from a junkyard? the car only cost 300
bucks but i'd like to get it running again

thanks
greg

c palmer

hi greg - i don't know what part of the country you're in, but i'm
quitting the car business. health problems. i just took an 88 taurus
w/ good 3.0 and tranny (bad fuel pump) to the u-pull lot.

it used to cost as high as 1100 - 1200 to get the heads done. one guy
had them done on his 3.8 for 750 and thought he got a bargain. gaskets
will run over 60 bucks and how good are you with your hands and do you
have the tools.

around here, if you go to a u-pull - a- part yard, the price for a
engine runs around 99 to 129 dollars.

as you can tell, there are a lot of variables and you're going to have
to weigh everything and then take a course of action.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc

gregish18@hotmail.com

i'm in utah... I could probably get an engin for about $150. Would a
head gasket repair or an engine swap be less expensive? I think i can
do the head gasket myself but i dont have the tools to do an engine
swap.

c palmer

i'm in utah... I could probably get an engin for about $150. Would a
head gasket repair or an engine swap be less expensive? I think i can do
the head gasket myself but i dont have the tools to do an engine swap.
========
this is one of those things you have to weigh all the facts.

changing out the engine will involve at least a cherry picker. it is
going to be a lot of nut and bolt operations.

tearing the heads down is only the tip of the ice burg. while they are
off, you will need to see if they are true and haven't warped. then,
you may have a valve problem. any kind of machine work will easily
surpass the complete engine price.

i guess, as a suggestion, since you have nothing to lose, would be to
tear down the heads, if they are in bad shape, could find other heads
or do the engine swap from there. at least, it's a plan.....

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc

BOB URZ

gregish18@hotmail.com wrote:

> i'm in utah... I could probably get an engin for about $150. Would a
> head gasket repair or an engine swap be less expensive? I think i can
> do the head gasket myself but i dont have the tools to do an engine
> swap.

If your a moderately equipped DIY with no cherry picker or lift to
drop the sub frame, i would opt to replace the head gaskets.
The price of the engine is irrelevant if you don't have the proper tools
or facilities to do it. call some local machine shops to see what it
would cost to do your heads and face them. They may even have
ready to go heads on the shelf with yours as a core. if you do this,
put on a new water pump while your at it. If your real lucky, the exhaust
manifold bolts will come off and not snap off......

Before you do anything, you better take a good look at all the systems
and body on the car and think long and hard if its really worth it.

Bob


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James Goforth

I recently had to replace both heads on my V6 and the cost with
exchange (reconditioned) heads and gasket set was around $700.00--and
that was with me doing all the work myself.
This was for a different engine than you're talking about but I don't
think the costs could be that much different.
I might add that the job is fairly involved and not something that
you're going to hammer out in a few hours. You have to be careful and
methodical, and there's a lot of things that can go wrong, break, etc.
Depends on how proficient you are at this whether it's worth it.