So my 88 xt6 has this funny little problem... It won't stay full of antifreeze. "Fix the hole, dummy!" Well I'd do that, but it is exploding out of the burp tank. "Don't overfill it, dummy!" Yeah, I'm not at all. When the car gets hot it just starts bubbling in the burp tank like crazy. Doesn't seem to be "boiling", but rather just expelling lots of air. Maybe it is boiling, but it doesn't seem like it. Would this maybe be a blown head gasket letting air into the coolant lines?

 

Another thing it does is this: Randomly, when I first start it, when I take off to drive at a normal pace, it craps out, completely powerless and sometimes makes a couple few hollow "pow" noises. Real descriptive, yeah I know.. I fix it by flooring it and taking it to 4-5k rpms. It clears out and doesn't do it again at east until I start it again, but usually not for a couple days. Head gasket again, letting crap into the combustion chamber maybe?

 

The third issue I'd like to ask about if I may is this. My car pings a LOT when drawing heavy compression (ie, when going up hills). Where should my timing be at for a tired 230k mile motor? The thing pulls like crazy, but it is old no matter how you look at it. I tweaked it forward a bit to try and slow the pinging down a bit but it didn't do much if anything. Would that maybe be my belts having jumped teeth? (Oh shoot.. is the 2.7 h6 engine an interference setup?)

 

Boy, that's a pathetic lot of questions:rolleyes:. Sorry bout that. Anyone have any ideas or confirmation of my guesses?

Kenny

1: Do a compression test on all cylinders. Does it get hot on the gauge? Check the thermostat.

 

2: Kinda sounds like a timing issue. Follow step 3.

 

3: Have you checked the timing with a timing light? There are two connectors that need to be connected prior to timing it on the #1 cylinder. Have you checked all plugs and wires? Make sure the cap and rotor look good. Take the timing covers off and put the driver's side cam straight up and the passenger's straight down. Like this:

(driver's)

(Passenger's).

Then you should see these three marks, with the arrow on the center one.

If one pulley isn't in the right spot (Like the picture shows), but the other is, your valve timing is off and follow this to fix it:

 

Good Luck, I hope my rambling helped,

Justin.

Your 1 & 2 problems indicate a head gasket problem. #2 is probably coolant leaking into one of the cylinders. If you do a compression test, let it sit overnight and look for coolant when you pull the plugs.

You folks are cool. Thank you crazy lots for spending the time to bail me out!

Kenny

sounds like a head gasket unfortunately.

if it was previously overheated ever (highly likely in a 230,000 mile/20 year old car that carries a $500 OEM only radiator with no aftermarket source)....then it's almost a given.

Yep. Sound like the H. G. Blues!