douglasnc
Member
- Joined
- November 25, 2010
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- GREENSBORO,NC
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 99 XLT
Hi all, Im suspecting I might have a blown head gasket,but i'm in denial as I don't want to tear this engine down.Was hoping it was only a bad intake gasket but all I read here points to the heads.Engine is the 4.0sohc with 145,000.Found radiator to be leaking and low on coolant. Gauge never showed hot.replaced radiator,but ended up with a single coil instead of the double coil that was on it.Was told the double coil was for the towing package and wasn't needed for regular driving.Anyway, thats all I could find at the time so I tried it.Thought all was fine for a few minutes, but then coolant started leaking from the fill cap.I had the old one ,so I put it on with the same results. Once warmed up it quit leaking but the temp gauge wasn't riseing and had no heat at the vents.Reving the engine some the heat gauge shot up to near hot then droped back to center point on gauge where it droped and rose some in the mid point.Heat would only blow warm when engine was reved some.Air pressure seems present in the radiator as it bubbles and tends to want to flow out with cap off. Short test drives (7 miles round trip) show temps no heigher than mid way on gauge. But i'm loosing some coolant when I drive it.I seems to run great and no coolant is in crankcase so far.Saw some white smoke but it was cold and i figured it was just that the air temp. was so cold...Can't smell coolant in exhaust and dont see steam when the day is warm..Can a compresson tester help me figure out if it;s the head gasket or the intake gasket.Would hate to go that far into the engine if I didn't have to. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance...