My car brokeded

[Higlac]

Yeah, my '96 Mustang blew a head gasket. I was driving home and I stopped at a stop sign, and the car started shaking really bad at low rpms. I got home and I parked my car and opened the hood. I could see the whole engine shaking. I turn off the car and I realize, oh, I havent changed my oil in about 4000 miles, I should probably do that. So I go to start up the car to park it on the concrete drive, and the engine won't turn over. I try it again. The engine turns over and starts up, except with a huge clang, and then it sounds like a diesel while it's running, and it's spewing copious amounts of white smoke everywhere. I manage to park it on the drive and shut it off. When I pulled the oil plug, a shitload of coolant started running out. So... this pretty much ruined my day.

However, since there was a huge clang, more might have gone wrong with the engine. If the engine is screwed up enough I might just do an engine swap with a Thunderbird Super Coupe. So, it might not be all bad.

 

[CyberPitz]

That's why having head gaskets suck!

Couldn't you just get it rebuilt for ~1k? Not sure how much one of those engines cost.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

I threw a rod in a '79 mustang, pretty much /end car.

 

[Higlac]

That's why having head gaskets suck!

Couldn't you just get it rebuilt for ~1k? Not sure how much one of those engines cost.

Well, if the only thing that is wrong is the head gaskets, then it will only cost me maybe $200 at the most (we'll rebuild it ourselves). But if it's gonna be more than $500 then the supercoupe swap will be cheaper, you can get those motors for around $500-700 or so.

 

[xcellerate]

awww...poor baby, a head gasket. I had to replace my piston rings about 3 months ago, that was something to complain about...

$200 for a headgasket is still a lot, i mean i can get a head gasket set (as in all the gaskets for the head...not a set of head gaskets) for $40 for my gti and headbolts cost me $1.50 a piece (x10). The mustang is probably a few dollars more.

 

[Higlac]

well it's about $130 for the gasket set and about $21 for the bolts. I did some rough math and some leeway for other problems.

 

[Parrot of doom]

A 3000 mile oil change interval indicates to me that you're using mineral oil?

I'd swap that for fully synthetic tbh.

Once you've done the gasket, check for any blowby, and also have a look at your engine mounts, at 10 years + they probably want replacing.

 

[Krynn72]

How many miles can you get away with not having your oil changed past the 3000 mark? I cant afford a change until next month (whoo! Go go terrible budget!) and im already a little over 4k now.


And back on topic... Sux for OP.

 

[Higlac]

Well, I went with about 4000 miles, and well, the gasket is a problem part on this motor, so the oil wasn't the problem. And, Krynn, I would drive it easy until you get an oil change.

 

[CyberPitz]

How many miles can you get away with not having your oil changed past the 3000 mark? I cant afford a change until next month (whoo! Go go terrible budget!) and im already a little over 4k now.


And back on topic... Sux for OP.

You can survive as long as your not red lining it constantly. You'll add unneeded wear to your engine, but I seriously doubt it will kill it. If you had a rotary, I'd say you were being suicidal, though.

 

[Parrot of doom]

I regularly go between 10,000 and 15,000 on mine. On Mobil 1 0W-40.

 

[Krynn72]

You can survive as long as your not red lining it constantly. You'll add unneeded wear to your engine, but I seriously doubt it will kill it. If you had a rotary, I'd say you were being suicidal, though.

I dont drive it hard, and I dont drive it that often either, I just wanted to make sure nothing would shit out on me and cost me even more.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Hehe, bad things happen to you lots, don't they?
P.S., Krynn, you got me an infraction..

 

[Ridge]

This happened to me a couple years ago...you'll want to get a head gasket set, you'll want to send the head out to be ground down and compression tested...cost me like $60 and 24 hours at the local NAPA...head set will include everything you need, like gaskets, bolts, etc... and is a lot cheaper than buying the parts individually...and that was when I had a 10% discount...

 

[Vigilante]

Does it have a 3.8 V6 or a 4.6 V8? Huge clang? Is it coming from the bottom end while running?

The 3.8s are notorious for blowing head gaskets. Replace it yourself either way, it's a good learning experience. I own a '92 GT and I've done several head gaskets on 5.0s, but I have no experience with 3.8s. It's not hard, just time consuming.

EDIT: Since you said you may swap it for a supercoupe motor I'm guessing it's a 3.8.