Head Gasket blown I think???????

[British Bob]

Hi Guys and Girls,

I think that my head gasket has blown!!!!!!!!

Took the beast out the other day, was fine for a while, then acceleration became a little strange.

I have a 4+3 box and in cruise the car made a rasping noise when I tried to accelerate. Got on to a fast road and went for it, the car went into overdrive and seemed to be ok but in cruise would rasp badley, I was loosing speed and could only get anywhere by going into overdrive. At the top of the road the car stalled and would not restart. 5 mins later and lots of smoke ( i thought from an old oil leak) the car started and drove very badley to my home. It stalled again when the revs dropped and again would not start, 5 mins later and a puff of white smoke it limped on to my drive stalling one more time then cut out when I stopped on the drive.

I dont think that it is very well.

From reading a few forums I think that it must be the head gasket. I would like to try and fix this myself so does anyone know a link to a step by step guide or have any advice for me.

Thanks

British Bob.

[jrzvette]

Before you start tearing things apart make sure it's your head gasket. This should help you determine if it is:

http://www.misterfixit.com/headgskt.htm

What color was the smoke? Blue = oil, white = coolant, black = unburned gas.

Also, check your distributor cap, a cracked cap could cause some of the problems you're experiencing, and is a lot easier to fix.

[British Bob]

Thank you very much for that.

So a cracked distibuter cap will cause the rasping and loss of power?

BB

[jrzvette]

Originally Posted by British Bob

Thank you very much for that.

So a cracked distibuter cap will cause the rasping and loss of power?

BB

If there's a crack in the distributor cap the electical charge from the coil that should go to the sparkplugs will leak out through the crack causing a loss of power. The crack doesn't have to be big, a barely visible hairline will cause problems. Try running the car at night or in a dark garage. Open the hood. If the distributor looks like a Pink Floyd concert you've found your problem.

[British Bob]

I like Pink Floyd........ will put on a cd while i am doing this thanks.