i cant believe i killed another vehicle.. work is not happy with my attendance...

this weekend, i flushed the coolant system 6 times to get rid of the chunky orange sludge that was substituting for coolant... i filled it full of prestone extended life dex compatible...

i also sucked out all the old PS fluid and put in some new..

the car was running mint, steering was working great, and i had EXTREME heat...

i drove it monday, tuesday, worked just fine...

i started it up today and then i hopped in the shower... when i came back out to it, there was not any heat... the overflow tank was completely full and bubbling... i started driving thinking it needed a little more time to warm up...

about 5 miles into my trip i noticed it was spewing coolant at the radiator cap... i shut it off for a while and then continued driving.. the temp gauge was gettng hot, but not overheating.. a tick down from the redline...

then it started to make a rattling/clanging noise, kinda of like a coupler going bad, but 10x louder.. and the car was starting to perform bad...

i stopped in the next town and took of the SC belt.. all looked well.. i gave it some free revs and it sounds nice and peppy...

about 2 miles out of town it started to make that loud noise again, and the car was performing like the transmission was holding it back.. 50mph was like 2500-3000rpm...

i pulled over just as it died while driving...

upon trying to restart it cranked for a little bit and the battery suddenly died...

i gave up at this point.. over my head.. called for a tow.. its now being looked at by a small time shop in madelia...

thoughts, ideas, tips? things i should tell the shop?

this is not my car, and i really cant put money into it, im paying for the tow and for them to look at.. but anything beyond that i dont know

This would just be a guess, that it started as a problem with the water pump, and that was the loud clattering noise. Then, regardless of what the temperature sensor was telling you, the engine overheated (blowing out the radiator cap), which may have lead to a gasket failure, and rather than the battery going dead, the engine is hydro-locked. Again, a total guess. An inspection of the engine and parts will tell a lot.

the shop told me later that the engine was able to turn over... but they couldnt get it fired..

A very good first sign!

the shop still hasnt had time to look at it in the garage yet.. but i went over there today after work to take a peak..

only thing i noticed is that the SC pulley turns harder than normal.. i have felt plenty of them.. and this one feels tight... but it still turns...

bad bearings make the noise only when the engine was trying suck boost, even though there was no belt..?

the shop finally got to look at it today...

he said they pushed it in the shop, put the SC belt back on, and it fired right up...

however it started overheating quite quickly, and the coolant was bouncing up and down in the radiator...he said he tested the coolant and it was mostly water...

that does not make sense to me, i took out the sludge that was in there, flushed it 6 times, and then put in new coolant... maybe i didnt get out ALL the water? anyways, the car was driven 2-3 days like this, and it never one had a problem. it was parked in the garage all those nights,

the day it died, it had been started in the garage and had been running for 10-15 min when i finally got around to driving it... thats when i noticed there was no heat..

the shop thinks it either cracked the head, or the head gasket... as it runs fine now, but overheats quickly...

so what exactly was happening when the car was running like crap, and when it died and would not restart.. according to the car'* temp gauge, the engine never "overheated" it just got a tick away from the red...

i need to talk to the owner to see if WE should rip into it, or have the shop tear into it

*blows off dust*

I tore into this motor myself. final diagnosis: both heads are cracked

I put up a post in the wanted forum for some used heads.

I have a set of good 97 heads if those would help you out.

how much Bill? The only differences between the 97 and 98 heads are the spring bases correct? So, if he wanted rockers down the road, he would have to get 105# springs instead of 90#.

Supposedly. I would warn you away from the 97'* as I have heard 97'* have a cracking issue. We've talked plenty and you know I've never had an issue. Personally..go with the Ed ones...if that falls through. Holler.