2.3L
 

My budy just got a 88 lx. After driving it for a few days the top rad hose came off. He lost all of the water but drove it home a few miles. Now its running very rough and will stall unless he keep his foot on the gas. I cranked the idle up to 1200 and it will run like that until he puts in in gear. I thought it could have been the head gasket since it got hot but I did not see any antifreeze in the oil or smell anything funny out back. Any problems to look for in these old 2.3L. Thanx BigC

My wife did the same thing to her Passat while we were in Germany. It cost me a new engine and the installation time. She also managed making it the 15 miles to work but the internal damage was so great that the motor was toast. 2.3s aren't usually very expensive in junkyards.

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I had the same problem just got done fixing.burnt valve hold a dollor up to tail pipe if it sucks it in at any time you have a bad valve hold on to your dollor . i got a new head with every thing in it for $300 . you may qnly need a valve job if you are lucky my head was cracked so i needed a new one . GOOD LUCK