Chrysler Repair: 03 Voyager 3.3L: headgasket leak?

Question
Hi Roland,
I have a 2003 Chrysler Voyager 3.3 with a possible head gasket leak. I had the van parked up for at least year and recently I had changed the A/C compressor and the belt, I checked if it had coolant but it was dry because a hose on the radiator had burst. I changed the hose and the freeze out plug had popped out and I replaced it. Now after all that I had driven the vehicle locally and it was fine until I went on the highway it started overheating but no sign of a leak I removed the thermostat and it was faulty but the car kept overheating until I parked and revved it for awhile and all the coolant had spilled. If you can please help it would be appreciated and sorry about this long paragraph.
-Rob

Answer
Hi Rob,
I am not clear as to what you mean by "spilled". Head gasket leaks involving the coolant can leak out the seam between the head and the block, or can leak into the cylinder and out the exhaust pipe (excessive white smoke from the pipe is the sign of that), or can leak into the oil passageway and turn the oil milky/cloudy. Also, if none of those are obvious then doing a compression test on all the cylinders should reveal which are low and thus would help to identify which side of the engine the gasket is blown and needs replacement (or you can often tell a leak into the cylinder by looking for 'wet' spark plugs).
So let me know what you find and we can go from there. There is a chance if the compression check shows all the cylinders at about 100 psi that you could stop the leak by either slightly loosening then re-torqueing to spec the head bolts or by use of a coolant system additive such as "Bar's Leak".
Please read the PS (below) and respond to it.
Thanks,
Roland