[TASHAN]

its not a hot rod but my girlfriends accord, its been reading hot when the car stops but when you go it drops back down right away. I put it it neutral whe it overheated and barely reved and it dropped right away, so I knew the cooland was low. So I dumped 3/4 of a gallon back in. Just 3 weeks before that it was filled. The mechanic says the head is cracked, but a long time ago the same exact problem had happened, and he said he changed the head gasket. About a yar later the same problem. He keeps trying to take advantage of her. Charged her like $400 for the gasket before till I printed up the actual cost for her to show him. What I think is happening is the coolant is slowly leaking out somewhere, but nothing I can see from outside. When it sits for a bit it stubmles like only 3 cylinders are firing and burning off water in the 4th then after about 10 seconds it levels out. Any input would be greatly appreciated..

[HalfOunce]

sure sounds like a head gasket or cracked head to me hard to be for sure without it in front of me but thats sure what it sounds like......and 400 bux to do a head gasket isn't to bad.. IMO

[TASHAN]

nah not to do the gasket,. just for the gasket minus the labor. I just cant see how a cracked head would leak that fast and still run like nothings wrong when the water clears. If it were that bad wouldnt it run like crap due to compression leak at a low rpm?

[HalfOunce]

K i agree 400 bones for just a gasket is kinda steep..... as for where the coolant is coming from....I would pull the plugs to be sure on what cyl it is doing it on. Then if you know someone with a scope you could possibly scope the cyl prior to ever taking it apart to possibly see where it is coming from. Otherwise one will just have to tear it down to see. I would have the head magged for cracks and checked for for straightness as well as the deck of the block and check the bore of the cyl with the problem.

[Jmark]

If the guy is just doing the head gasket and NOT checking/milling the head, you're throwing money away. If sometime in the past it got hot and warped/cracked the head, all the new gaskets in the world won't last.

A quick check is to fill it up, get it hot/build pressure, then shut it off and let it set overnight. Then pull the plugs and crank it over. If ANY moisture comes out any of the plug holes, something is way wrong.

Mark

[TASHAN]

could that much water leak in from a cracked head? If it sits for just an hour or so it gets water in enough to sputter. Thats all Im wondering.