over heat problem

[jictat]

I have a 1995 ford mustang 3.8, my problem is, after two or three miles of driving the temperature, the indicator passes the place where the thermostat opens and the fan runs then shows that the engine is overheated and the heater start blowing cold air, I took the car to the mechanic and he changed the thermostat and replaced the anti freeze, I drove the car again and it was the same the indicator goes almost to the end of normal, (never passes to the red line), heater blows cold air and after couple minutes it goes down again and works fine, thermostat and radiator fan works etc, is only after I start driving and the car warm up, I'm concern because I don't know what's goin on, and because the mechanic couldn't solve the problem.

Please help me.

Thank you

[moosejaw]

The 3.8L engines have a notoriously poor head gasket design. Your car is showing symptoms of a slow head gasket leak. These engines can leak combustion gases to the coolant and not blow big white clouds until complete failure of the gasket.

It sounds like combustion gases are being trapped in your coolant system at various times and then are pushed out to the radiator. This could expain the erratic upshoot of temp gage and no heat.

These head gaskets have been known to fail as quickly as 40k miles on Taurus and Aerostar. There is a "fix" kit by Ford but who knows if will stop it from appearing again.


Mike