[WayneB]

Last night my "check Engine" light came on flashing. The engine started misfiring. I drove the car about 4 more miles and parked it. It sat for about 3 hours. When I went to restart the engine, it would not start, seems like the the engine turned over until it came to a bad cylinder and got stuck there (just a guess). I'm assuming that I have a bad head gasket which allowed anti-freeze into the cylinder, which in turn won't compress.

Has anyope had similar symptoms? If so, what was the outcome. At this point I'm almost hoping it's just a head gasket, not a blown engine.

Thank you

waybro@aol.com

[5.0 in a 66]

Originally Posted by WayneB

I'm assuming that I have a bad head gasket which allowed anti-freeze into the cylinder, which in turn won't compress.

Has anyope had similar symptoms? If so, what was the outcome. At this point I'm almost hoping it's just a head gasket, not a blown engine.

It's entirely possible that a lot of coolant got in the cylinders, bent the valves and ruined the engine (along with other possible damage), but cars with blown headgaskets usually have low compression since its not sealing, and you need compression for it to run it the first place, so it could be just the blown headgasket.

[WayneB]

Thanks,

Either way, it sucks.

I'll keep the board posted. I wish I could afford to dump this car. It also needs some front end work. Maybe just a strut though.

[WayneB]

I let the car sit overnight and tried to start it again. This time it started right away, but was misfiring like crazy, worse than before it was turned off last night.

and the street looked like it was being sprayed by a DDT truck. Tons of white smoke, and stank like anti-freeze.

Damn, I should have splurged up front and bought a 4.8L Mustang originally.

Live and learn.

Soooo, how much should a new head gasket run, assuming the head isn't cracked? My shop said 10-12 hours labor. I'm assuming there'll be a machining charge on top of that.

-Wayne

Waybro@aol.com

[5.0 in a 66]

A set of head gaskets is about $50. If the heads are warped, the machining costs for having them milled flat shouldn't be all that expensive (under $100).