Questioni have a 93 ford escort lx wagon, 1.9L automatic transmission. i
took my radiator out (as described in chilton's) to check for leaks
since i was refilling my coolant about every 2 weeks. installed
radiator again after seeing i couldn't fix it. put some alumiseal
in, but didn't have enough coolant to fill radiator. Put what i had
in, not very much, hoping it would pull coolant from the
reservoir (yes i am new to car repair). drove the car afterward for
about a mile on my way to buying more coolant before i stopped
because i heard a rattle. then drove another 1/2 mile before it
completely shut down on me. no smoke from exhaust, no
warning lights, nothing. opened the hood and a little smoke
coming from left side of engine which stopped after a few
minutes. Got some coolant and filled the radiator. engine
sounds fine now, but once i am in 3,4,5 gear, rpms don't go up
as high as before, with a loss of power going up hills. oil not
milky and its not overheating(temp staying in normal range).
have driven it now about 30miles after refilling radiator. any
ideas what could be wrong? could i fix it myself?
AnswerHello and thanks for the question...I'll try to help.
Before going ahead and replacing parts that might not need to be........do some diagnostic work.
Get a cooling system pressurizer and pressure test the entire system. Remove the spark plugs when doing this. Coolant coming from the spark plug holes will indicate a bad/leaking head gasket.
The Next thing I would suggest is that you have the computer system checked for fault codes and repair what is needed.
Erik
