Blown head gasket or cracked block

[TazMan]

Hello. I hope everyone had a good holiday.

So, after a 3-1/2 hour trip home from the holiday, I didn't have any antifreeze left and instead of going out and getting some, I just drained the radiator and ran the car a minute or two to get all the water out. Well this was a big mistake. I hadn't considered the puddles of water that would sit in the different parts of the engine and freeze. The next day I had popped a freeze plug and after replacing it, I had water shooting out the from between the rear head and the block, or at least thats where it looked like it was coming from. I was able to stop it with some stop leak. Now my question is, is this most likely just a blown head gasket or do you think there's a good chance I could have cracked the block or the head and I just can't see it.

[sprucegagt]

I would get a pressure check done to find out exactly where the leak is. But popping out a freeze plug really makes me think you may have internally broke the block.

Do you have any coolant in the oil?

[TazMan]

I would get a pressure check done to find out exactly where the leak is. But popping out a freeze plug really makes me think you may have internally broke the block.

Do you have any coolant in the oil?

Yeah I was afraid of something like that too. There was no coolant in the oil. The car ran fine other than the water shooting out. Since I've put in the stop leak I've been able to get around just fine but haven't made any long trips with it.

[TazMan]

Will a pressure test still show me anything now that the Stop Leak has sealed it? Also does anybody now how long this Stop Leak stuff usually holds? The car's been fine since I put it in. Should I not go on long (2-4 hour) drives?

[tractorman]

I think you're going to have to get a flashlight and a good telescoping mirror... jack the car up, set it on stands... then crawl around underneath and/or behind the engine and have a looksee. We can guess all week long, but you won't know what's going on unless/until you have a look.

If water was shooting out, then stopleak stopped it, then you will see buildup/seepage. Personally, I suspect that a freeze plug on the back side was popped part way out... only a guess, of course.

[z34phoenix]

umm... why again did you drain the car? if you were that worried about the car, you should have went out and ran it every 2-3 hours to keep it warm. with living up north why dont you have any anitfreeze in it anyway?

heck even down here i run some anti freeze

hate to say it but from your choices and judgement...well i wont say it.

[Dave96z34]

I forgot to put antifreeze in 2 months ago. Ask z34phoenix I was on aim with him. I realized it and flew the out of my seat and ran to my car at 3am and started it up and then changed it at like 4am. It was only a 30 deg that night. I was in ME last week and it was 2degF when i got to my dads . How did you ever make it this long?

[TazMan]

umm... why again did you drain the car? if you were that worried about the car, you should have went out and ran it every 2-3 hours to keep it warm. with living up north why dont you have any anitfreeze in it anyway?

heck even down here i run some anti freeze

hate to say it but from your choices and judgement...well i wont say it.

Well thanks for not saying it. No but the truth is you don't have to say it. I already know. I already feel like enough of a .

I don't usually run without antifreeze. My radiator has a very small leak. It's been like this since I bought the car over a year ago. I top it off twice a week. My parents live about 3 1/2 hour away and I have always made it there with no problem. This time I hit some heavy traffic and it took almost 5 hours. I had to stop and fill it with water before I got home. Thats the only reason why I had no antifreeze. I guess I should have bought a radiator earlier, but I only paid $200 for the car and the body was falling apart. When it rained heavy, it rained inside the car and the seats got soaked. I'm really not too upset over it. I really like the late 90's 3100 GP's anyway so now I have an excuse to get one if I can pull together the cash. I definitely should have known better though.

[gpse3400]

I have a buddy in R.I. that has a '96 3100 Beretta that was tossing dexycool. I told him to throw in som Bar's Leak till I could get up there. He used 2 bottles and the car never leaked again, this was 3 months ago... I'm totally amazed....