91 thunderbird overheating help

[RG5384]

My friend has a 91 ford thunderbird that is overheating. There is midrange power loss, and it starts to stall and chug, however his temp guage remains within the norm. We replaced the thermostat, to no avail. Also, after the car has been cooled off, if you run it for ONE MINUTE, and then open the radiator cap the radiator fluid explodes out, and it isn't even hot(the fluid). What could be up with this thing? i have no clue as i only really know my mercedes, but if you have any idea please let us know!
thanks
Ryan

[RG5384]

hmm, dont know, i'll go check that. I hope your wrong too-for my friends sake. it is the 3.8l sixer BTW
Ryan

[engatwork]

The explosion when removing the radiator cap after a minute of running (and the engine is not hot) is an indication of a head gasket problem.

The 3.8 L V6 is known for head gasket issues.

[RG5384]

there wasn't any oil in coolant coolant in oil etc, he did say that the temp guage will shoot up and then come back down, same as it did before the replacement T-stat, but the car doesnt' shimmy and stall as much anymore

[Billybob]

Hello Ryan, Glad to see you got your gage working!

If its' not the head gasket blown in and around cylinder #4 I'll eat the car!

I'll find the info I've got and get it to you depending on the year and the mileage Ford may make good on it. You can search the net and you will find a couple of sites devoted to this problem. when this happened to my wife's car we got nothing but the run around. Eventually we hooked up with a class action and a month later we got a letter from Ford offering reimbursement of credit towards a new piece of crap. We took the money and we still are trying to dump the car. He's something from another post here on "the most undependable car you've ever owned":

How about four head gaskets and three heads in 20 months/20k miles. After a protracted argument with FOMOCO and joining a class action Ford reimbursed full out of pocket costs $4800 and did the last gasket and head for free. Even though they eventually covered the costs who wants to drive the car anywhere always waiting for the next blow! The interior and exterior are near perfect and the car sits waiting to be sold or traded in. We live in a low population rural area and wouldn't sell the car to anyone we know because we don't want to screw them! This V-6 aluminim head cast iron block engine is in many a Taurus and Windstar so beware 75K seems to be the point of destruction.

The original warranty from Ford was increased to 5 years/ 50k Later they increased it to 7 years/ 75K for this gasket "issue".

[RG5384]

well we took out the benz and the t-bird tonight and went and had some fun on a beach called gandy beach here in florida. Not going into particulars on what we did, but the short of it is this. Driving behind the car there was no smoke coming out, it smelled normal(hardly any smell), looked under the hood after HARD running, no steam/smoke smells etc, radiator hoses all had pressure. Only thing hinting at a problem is that when we were pushing it real hard at speeds over 80mph, it seemed to miss quite a bit, almost like a chug type deal. I hope for his sake that it isn't the head gasket. I doubt ford would make good on this one, the car is pretty beat up, and it shows on the outside and in. Any tips NOT pointing to head gasket? i'm finding it hard to beleive it could be that when it's no longer overheating and no coolant/oil mixes going on. Thanks in advance
Ryan

[MikeTangas]

Try this.

On a cold engine, make sure the cooling system is topped off, leave the cap off. Start the engine and let it warm for a minute or two, then rev to about 2500 rpm. Let us know if coolant blows out of the radiator/expansion tank.

[RG5384]

he did the test with the car running after it sat for a night, you can see bubbles and it also explodes. I'm guessing that's not a good thing?
Ryan

[MikeTangas]

99.44/100% sure your pal needs head gaskets.

[RG5384]

hmm, that sucks. that really surprises me that it could have a blown gasket even though it still runs "relatively" well. you think he could pass it off to a dealer as a trade in or something?
R

[Billybob]

Ford dealerships bill this repair as $480 labor + gasket set $100 + two O2 Sensors $160 pair + any related damage accordingly, replacement head $500. according to my info they have done tens of thousands of these jobs, Taurus was the best selling domestic car for many years, these engines where avilable in T-birds, Windstar mini vans, and Ranger pickups as well as a few other models.

Service Program Number 00M09

The paper work lists 94 and 95 Taurus and 95 Windstar Vans under this "program"

You can witness the misery by starting to look here:

http://www.thecomplaintstation/f/ford-toc.htm

probably won't help in this case as to the age of the car but you never know, there are rumors that Ford will pay out something in small claims actions so it might be worth the filing fee! Or unload the car as is if you can unfortunately anyone in the automotive field is probably hip to this issue or do some DIY wrenching, learn a little, and unload it.

To bad, last I heard this engine was still coming off the production line.