Damn Overheating!

[MANDO]

I needed a place to vent so heres my situation. My MSP was losing a lot of power going up hill and started to overheat yesterday. Luckily I was close to home so I popped the hood and boiling coolant was coming out from the overflow tank. A few hours later I opened the radiator cap to find the spring mechanism missing from the cap and no radiator coolant. I jacked up the ride and the only visual sign of external leakage was some oil leaking from above the oil filter. I next drained the radiator and this milk shake crap barely came spewing out. Fuck I'm pissed because all I can think of is a blown head gasket and/or warped head. I always do my own maintenance because I worked in the industry and know how dishonest some dealerships can be. I might just take it to a dealer for a compression check and coolant pressure test. Let them give me a quote and estimate of the damage and just do the labor in my carport. Any suggestions or ideas of how much a head gasket replacement would cost will be great. Thanks.... (pissed)

[orng1]

I think the gasket set cost me $90 plus another $75 for the water pump, tensioner and belt. I got the cheaper stuff so take that into acount. I'd say somewhere around $300 for all the parts. You can get a used motor for somewhee around $800.

The used motor will get your car running again and you can send out your block to get built.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh91/robert320i/IMG00290-20090407-1202.jpg

[Alejo_NIN]

yeah, boiling water mostly means warped head.
sucks
my car is contantly overheating, so i always keep an eye on the temp.
haven't seen boiling water(knock on wood) yet!

but a headgasket replacement in our cars is freaking easy, maybe even too easy!

just take your time.

[zuku26]

I bought the car with this same issue. I didn't think it was the gasket cause the car wasn't over heating, just coolant bubbling out. My Local "mazdaspeed" dealer didn't even think it was the gasket. Turns out it was the gasket and the daler I bought the car from paid the $500 it cost to repair,

[MANDO]

Thanks for the feedback guys. You all have great ideas. I pulled the plugs this morning because they can tell you a lot about how the car is running. They appeared normal but smelled like burnt coolant. I might just take it to the dealer to diagnose it's current deficiencies and others they may find. I used to remove and install small blocks in classic Hot Rods every week at a machine shop so doing the work myself would be easy. I just don't have the space to conduct such a big job. I live in an Apartment and only have a carport. I would definitely need my own garage to properly lay out all my parts and prep them for reassembly. If it is the head gasket I will also have to take the head to a machine shop to make sure it's not warped and has bad valve seals. We'll see what happens. I will for sure take a lot of your ideas into consideration. Thanks..

[MANDO]

Traded the MSP in. That solved the problem real quick!

[Alejo_NIN]

Traded the MSP in. That solved the problem real quick!

that's getting to the root of the problem
congrats on getting rid of that piece of shit MSP...ohh wait, i drive one...

[blueprotegelx]

What'd you end up getting for the trade in?