I think I killed it

woolshire · Post by **woolshire** » 18 Nov 2012, 07:06

Well first, I was wrong about the coolant in the oil. When I changed the oil, there was no coolant. I had previously removed some oil from the oil filler hole with a turkey baster and saw coolant in that oil. Apparently, the turkey baster wasn't clean and provided false data...sorry about cycling everyone's brains on that one.
So I still changed the oil/filter, added coolant, and started it up. It fired and made some signifcant lifter noise for the first five minutes (I added some MMO too). The noise went away and I drove it. It drives fine...looks like I may have dodged a bullet and shut it off just in time the other night. I will still follow up with a compression test.
As for the initating issue, the heater core: I took that out yesterday only to find a big crack in the plastic end, so it immdediately steamed out all my coolant. I have ordered a new one. The failed one is only two years old.
I also now have "floating carpet". All the water I added went under the carpet and is pooled in the rear wheel wells, both sides, mostly under the carpet...something else to think about.

wjhandy850 · Post by **wjhandy850** » 18 Nov 2012, 08:40

I wonder if the sudden drop in coolant level caused you to have hotspots to quickly develop, which made your motor to hiccup. I hope so because head gasket replacement is pretty heady on an older car. Ive had it done, and I was doubting it the whole time. It worked out and I am on it for a few years now.

Post by **rspi** » 18 Nov 2012, 08:45

Where did the 2 year old heater core come from?

As for the head gasket, watch the coolant overflow tank/res to make sure it doesn't overflow while driving. Check the level while cold, before you start a drive somewhere. Once there, pop the hood real quick and check the level again to make sure it hasn't risen to the top.

woolshire · Post by **woolshire** » 18 Nov 2012, 10:02

The failed two-year old heater core was a cheap aftermarket with the black plastic ends. I'm going to try one of the new style ones from SwedishAuto. I saw a post about that on here earlier today...Of course that also falls into the category of "cheap aftermarket", but we'll see . The good news is it only takes 25 minutes to pull a heater core on these cars. I talked to a friend who has a Mitsubishi something or another and he paid $1700 to have his core replaced.
I'll keep an eye on the coolant level and am going to check the compression a little later today.

Post by **erikv11** » 18 Nov 2012, 10:33

The coolant may take a few days to settle down to a constant level. There are often small air bubbles in the system.

Oh and the ONLY way to get everything out of the carpets is to pull the seats and pull the carpets, then pull out the foam and dry it.

woolshire · Post by **woolshire** » 18 Nov 2012, 13:02

Quick update on compression: All cyclinders ~150. Range was 140-155. These are somewhat low, but I think maybe the engine wasn't hot enough. I was just happy to see fairly consistent numbers.