Is my head gasket toast?

[Longston]

I have a '92 Aerostar with the 3.0L V6. I've had it since 1997. Up until recently, it's run like a Swiss watch, but it started running rough, stalling at idle, and the last time I drove it, it wanted to over heat (never got over the A on NORMAL) ran like crap, no power, shuddering under acceleration, and more stalling at idle, then wouldn't start right up without coaxing a lot.

A mechanic friend suggested that I may have blown a head gasket, but I'm not getting the classic steam out of the tailpipe. What do you all think?

And before you ask, no, I haven't had a chance to check the condition of the oil or the coolant to see if they've formed any close relationships.

Also, if it is a head gasket, have any of you ever used any of the "new" expensive sealers like Steel Seal? If so, do the actually work, and for how long?

I can't afford to do anything expensive, so if it's toast, I need to junk it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Why do you think that it has a bad head gasket? You might not have enough coolant or the thermostat or fan clutch could be defective. There could be a coolant leak from one of the hoses.

 

[Longston]

Just Because...

Welcome to this forum! Why do you think that it has a bad head gasket? You might not have enough coolant or the thermostat or fan clutch could be defective. There could be a coolant leak from one of the hoses.

Because when it's full of water, and the temp is low it still has the symptoms I mentioned...

I have a '92 Aerostar with the 3.0L V6. I've had it since 1997. Up until recently, it's run like a Swiss watch, but it started running rough, stalling at idle, and the last time I drove it, it wanted to over heat (never got over the A on NORMAL) ran like crap, no power, shuddering under acceleration, and more stalling at idle, then wouldn't start right up without coaxing a lot.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Sometimes the temperature sending unit could be inaccurate, and show that it's not overheating when it's really running very hot. Do you have an IR thermal gun to check the actual temperature? A low coolant condition could also throw off the temperature reading while it's overheating.

 

[cosmictroll]

head gasket problem

I bought some stuff to fix my head gasket, but it says to drain the radiator, but I ca't find the drain plug to drain it. Anyone have a photo of where the drain plug on a 1996 ford aerostar is located?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! It's on the bottom corner of the radiator.

 

[Roger1960]

I have a '92 Aerostar with the 3.0L V6. I've had it since 1997. Up until recently, it's run like a Swiss watch, but it started running rough, stalling at idle, and the last time I drove it, it wanted to over heat (never got over the A on NORMAL) ran like crap, no power, shuddering under acceleration, and more stalling at idle, then wouldn't start right up without coaxing a lot.

A mechanic friend suggested that I may have blown a head gasket, but I'm not getting the classic steam out of the tailpipe. What do you all think?

And before you ask, no, I haven't had a chance to check the condition of the oil or the coolant to see if they've formed any close relationships.

Also, if it is a head gasket, have any of you ever used any of the "new" expensive sealers like Steel Seal? If so, do the actually work, and for how long?

I can't afford to do anything expensive, so if it's toast, I need to junk it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The 3.0 Vulcan engine is not prone to blowing head gaskets but it does happen. There are several ways to detect this. First take off the radiator cap and start the car. If you smell exhaust this suggests head gasket, they also have a tool that fastens to the radiator cap and you fill it with water and add some die, if the die changes color then it is detecting exhaust and you have a diagnosis.

One thing that does happen with the 3.0 is that the water pump impeller corrodes away gradually loosing pumping power. If that happens your van will gradually run hotter and hotter until something bad happens.

Unlike most water pump failures, this often happens without the water pump leaking or wobbling.

Go here http://www.ps2netdrivers.net/reviews/mercury.sable.1997/ and look to the bottom of the page. (it helps to see the pictures better if you download the PDF.

 

[speleopower]

look for oil in the coolant. If there is is it red in color? I thought I had a blown head gasket but found it was the radiator leaking transmission oil into the coolant. I cut the transmission lines and routed them direct to the trasmission cooler and replaced my radiator.
-Scott

 

[Todd W. White]

Mine May Be Bad Too...Any Suggestions?

Hi there!

My 1994 has a 3.0 in it and a few days ago, we started smelling antifreeze. I didn't see any drips, though, until yesterday.

Today, I saw a puddle under it on the parking lot outside my office at the small church I pastor. I had been to the store, and came back, smelled antifreeze, then looked and saw the puddle.

I pulled it over to the parsonage driveway, and by then I was getting a pretty hefty drip out of it - almost a stream.

I put it on the ramps, climbed under the passenger side, and saw the leak - the antifreeze was running down the tube that you fill the transmission with. I shut it off, put my big fan on to cool off the catalytic converter (the leak is right above it and slightly towards the engine.

After it cooled a bit, I got back under with a light and had my wife turn it on, and I looked to see exactly where did the A/F appear first.

The first place it showed up was at the rear corner of the head. It came down in a stream and just started pouring out of it pretty strong.

I shut it off and checked the oil - no antifreeze. Just oil.

I'm wondering if this is a head gasket or, perhaps, a freeze plug. The lower freeze plug - the one you can see when you're laying on the ground - has leaked some over the years, but is totally dry at this time.

Any thoughts before I pull the doghouse (waiting for it to cool off using the big fan) and start hunting?

Also - if it is the head gasket (or the freeze plug, for that matter), how hard it is to replace?

UPDATE!!!!

I pulled the doghouse and looked for the source of the leak - it's coming out of the freeze plug that's located on the back of the passenger side cylinder head. When I started the engine up and waited to see where it would start leaking, it began seeping out of the bottom of the inside of the plug. No leaking around it - just through it. I guess it just corroded enough internally to begin leaking through under pressure, and the hole finally got big enough to let enough antifreeze out so that it could be detected visually, not just by smell.

When my son gets here from work, we're going down to the parts house and get one. It looks like it won't be too hard to do, as we have good access to it through the doghouse opening.

I'll post back with the results tonight or in the morning.


FINAL UPDATE -

OK - it's fixed. It was the freeze plug, as mentioned above.

The worst part was getting the old plug out - I ended up punching a hole in it and used an old battery hold down ("J") bolt to get inside behind the plug, then attached visegrips to the bolt and tapped it with a hammer until it came out.

I cleaned the surfaces an sealed it with Hylomar sealer.

DONE!

 

[Raybz]

I have a '92 Aerostar with the 3.0L V6. I've had it since 1997. Up until recently, it's run like a Swiss watch, but it started running rough, stalling at idle, and the last time I drove it, it wanted to over heat (never got over the A on NORMAL) ran like crap, no power, shuddering under acceleration, and more stalling at idle, then wouldn't start right up without coaxing a lot.

A mechanic friend suggested that I may have blown a head gasket, but I'm not getting the classic steam out of the tailpipe. What do you all think?

And before you ask, no, I haven't had a chance to check the condition of the oil or the coolant to see if they've formed any close relationships.

Also, if it is a head gasket, have any of you ever used any of the "new" expensive sealers like Steel Seal? If so, do the actually work, and for how long?

I can't afford to do anything expensive, so if it's toast, I need to junk it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The head gasket can go bad between the cylinders and you'll never lose an ounce of coolant! If you have a compression tester I'd check that as well.