Chrysler Repair: Chrysler New Yorker overheating, loss of coolant, white smoke, auto salvage yard, chrysler new yorker

Question
Hi Roland! I am having a problem with my 1988 Chrysler New Yorker 3.0 V6 FWD 137,673 MI I purchased the car from a friend and noticed that it would overheat. The radiator fan would not come on when it was supposed to. I know this because the (digital) temp gauge would go all the way over to the right and stop at the red line. I had the fan hooked up to the battery with a switch so I could turn it on and off that didn't help the first time I noticed it was when I was driving back from the auto salvage yard (on a hot day) and the car all of a sudden started to jerk, kinda pulling so I gave it more gas and it continued for a few seconds and then died and lost power steering. I waited for fifteen minutes, started it up, drove ok for awhile and happened twice before I reached my house. I changed the thermostat and that didn't help. Later on down the road the radiator sprung a small leak, so I used that powder sealant stuff that comes in a tube kind of a yellowish color, that helped for a couple of days. more leaks started to appear. It got to the point where I would loose all antifreeze that was in the car on a 6 mile trip. I replaced the radiator with a new one, and now the same thing is starting to happen again. I also replaced the fan relay that is on the right side of the car under the hood, that didn't help, so I replaced the temp sensor, after pulling it off I noticed some kind of buildup on there. after installing the new one it seemed to make the car run a lot better but it still would overheat, the car eventually began to run crappy again, like it did when I first bought it. Does white smoke, have any thing to do with it? also I am leaking oil from the left side of the car, at first I thought that it was the oil pan leaking at the hump but discovered that it is coming from in between the side of the engine block and the other spinning thing next to it, I don't know what that (spinning thing) is, not to sound stupid. One last thing, the car has not had a tune up in a long time. That I will be performing sometime here soon.

I will be looking forward to your response Thanks Roland!


Answer
Hi Dorian,
Thanks for the very detailed history. The overheating, the loss of coolant over a short period of time, and particularly the white smoke from the exhaust pipe are indications that one of the head gaskets on a bank of cylinders has begun to leak. You can figure out which by removing the spark plugs and looking for any that appear wet with coolant. There is a long shot that loosening slightly and then retorqueing the head bolts might stop the leak if it not due to a torn gasket but rather a too loose compression between the head and block. But it may be worth a try. Otherwise you have to remove the cylinder head and replace the gasket.
Roland