I went to look at a car that’s beautiful; unbelievable for the miles on the car (over 300,000). It’s in excellent shape except for one problem, and it could be a big one. The car ran hot – at a range of 95-103 (peak). This is with the air conditioning on & at speeds ranging from about 50-70 mph on an 80 degree day. I pulled over to check the auxiliary fans, and they were not on. It has a new (very recent) radiator. This leads me to suspect that perhaps the old radiator failed catastrophically (broken radiator neck?) when the fans didn’t kick in & the pressure built up. It seems very likely that the engine overheated when that happened.

So now my concern is if the head gasket is bad. I checked the upper radiator hose before I started the car, and there was no residual pressure, but the car hadn’t been driven for several days either. I checked again about 45 seconds after the engine was started, and there was still no pressure build up in the hose. But the car runs hot…

I don’t mind the idea of taking a chance on having to change the head gasket, but I don’t know if the 606 engines have a tendency to crack their heads like the earlier 603’s. A valve job & head gasket are one thing, but buying a head casting is another!

Any input would be greatly appreciated!


Glenn