need some help

[marks86]

so my girl has a 1999 mercury sable with 170,000, so when I got in the car I first noticed white smoke pouring out after ten mins of warmup time and the temp gauge did not move, so half way to where we were going the temp gauge shot up to Hot, so I pulled over and noticed the overflow had overflowed and smoke was coming from the radator, I limped it home only to find a nice sweet smell coming from the white smoke still pouring from the exhaust, Im pretty sure its a head gasket now my question is do you think its worth buying the gasket kit and fixing it, how do I know the block is not cracked or the head is not warped, any tips would help thank you

 

[RetroC10Sport]

That has the 3.0, doesn't it?

AS I recall, those are a major pain to do head gaskets on.

 

[marks86]

it is a 3.0 and why do you say that?

 

[davbell22602]

Take the head to a machine shop and have them clean and check it for ya.

 

[89Suburban]

Put a bottle of this **** in it and sell it fast!!!!

-------> http://www.gmsquarebody.com/forum/showpost.php?p=28422&postcount=34

 

[Irishman999]

with 170 miles and the car being 12 years old now I am putting my vote on 89's suggestion.

 

[marks86]

with 170 miles and the car being 12 years old now I am putting my vote on 89's suggestion.

the problem with that is she wants to keep the car

 

[89Suburban]

the problem with that is she wants to keep the car

I am sure you are looking at $1500 - $2000 at least for a head job if nothing is cracked. Unless you do it yourself, which could cut that in half. Might be able to find a used low mileage motor for it and go that way for $500 - $1500 depending if you put that in yourself or pay somebody. Either way is a ****** situation.

 

[marks86]

I am sure you are looking at $1500 - $2000 at least for a head job if nothing is cracked. Unless you do it yourself, which could cut that in half. Might be able to find a used low mileage motor for it and go that way for $500 - $1500 depending if you put that in yourself or pay somebody. Either way is a ****** situation.

I was going to do it myself and have a local machine shop look at it
thats the simple plan anyways

 

[marks86]

btw the local shop said they would do i for $480, I can get the gasket kit for 60bucks plus anti freeze

 

[Irishman999]

that should be a common motor since its the same as a ford Taurus, Im sure you could find a wrecked Taurus in your Pic-n-pull with good heads on it.

 

[marks86]

that should be a common motor since its the same as a ford Taurus, Im sure you could find a wrecked Taurus in your Pic-n-pull with good heads on it.

were just assuming the heads are shot I think if the car needs new heads its not worth it anymore

 

[oneluckypops]

btw the local shop said they would do i for $480, I can get the gasket kit for 60bucks plus anti freeze

lol closer to 500 then 1500 lol.
as far as the parts go you might want to amke sure the Head bolts arnt stretch bolts, if they are you HAVE to replace them also. I would also recomend changing the thermostat while your at it Its not much but try to figure all the little ******** with the gaskets

 

[Irishman999]

Its hard to say man, all you can really do is a tear-down and it sounds like its your wifes DD. I get the feeling that if it got hot and warped the head its probably junk, head gaskets are not supposed to just all of a sudden fail like that as far as I know.

 

[Wrecker]

Having done exactly what you're talking about before, I'd never do it again to any common car with that many miles and that low of value. If it had a little cool factor it'd be worth it-but that car is not even close. I had to do it twice and then sold it for 250 dollars when it blew again. I could have replaced the car for less than I spent, not to mention the aggravation. It was a very nice looking car which is why I thought it was worth it, but it never ran reliably after the first gasket blew making it just a total pos.