Replaced the heads a little over 1500 miles ago. Car's been doing weird stuff lately, like getting hot in the morning. So I finally took it to the shop 'cause I'm tired of nickel-n-diming this thing. Mechanic says the dreaded, "hydrocarbons" word. Says I have a blown gasket and the radiator is being pressurized

 

I cant invest another embarassing amount of $$ into this again, so I'm wondering how long do you think I can drive around like this? I know it varies but here is a typical day for me:

 

• Goto work in the morning
  
• 'bout 2 miles from home temp gauge climbs past 1/2 to 3/4 before the t-stat finally opens
  
• Good for the rest of the drive to work, which is 33miles of freeway.
  
• Same thing coming home, temp climbs till t-stat opens about 3/4 gauge (too close for comfort). Another 33miles.
  
• Park car till the next day, otherwise use wife's car do run around in.

If it weren't for the gauge climbing near the red every morning I'd feel more comfortable because other than that the car feels and sounds great!

You probably could do it for a while, but then you're gonna ruing your engine. Think, cracked head or something. Invest the money into doing the headgaskets, and save yourself money in the long run.

Change your thermostat. From what you describe, it sounds defective. If it still runs too warm (for driving conditions and outside temps) do this:

 

 

Pull your thermostat. You can also wire your aux fan to run constantly with the key on. Check your antifreeze level often (daily). These are last-ditch efforts to squeeze a few more miles out of the car, so nothing good will come of it. If you do in fact have a blown gasket or cracked head, it will not get any better. You have a choice: Flog it to death, fix it, or sell it to someone you hate.

we had a 1985 subaru waggon, thaty we couldnt keep coolant in. once it was steaming so bad we had to get out at the lights to see if the light was red. anyhow, after a long fight to keep coolant in it, it all drained out and burnt out, and we continued to drive it, we drove it in town for a total of 4 months with no coolant. we finished it off in a tuff truck event and when we were done it still fired right up. ran like a top,... we couldnt belive it.

 

i will post and new topic along with this link

enjoy

http://www.remotedesigns.ca/Movie.mpeg

You can actually drive it for quite a while if you don,t go on long trips or go where you really need a good heater. You can put in a 180' thermostat, but pull the rattle pin and drill the hole out to 5/16" or 3/8".

You should also remove the small rubber ring on the rad cap. This will allow any compression entering the cooling system to bleed off the top without accumulating and displacing all of your coolant.

The best way to go would be to find a good used motor locally and put it in. Sounds like you should have replaced your rad when you did the heads. Cracked heads are only a symptom, the problem is a faulty cooling system. If you answer, specify your motor, there could be a member close to you that has one for you. Good luck.