Yea, it all depends on which way the gasket blows. From oil galley to water jacket, cylinder wall to the edge of the block. I've seen some crazy blows. Some result in smoke and smell and some result in oil dripping down your block. It all depends. Do a Compression test.

Ah, lil far away..
I would recommend having these on hand anyway.
Go to autozone and get:
Compression gauge: $25
Remote starter switch: $15

For $40 you can have piece of mind about your engine.

alrighty..thanks to everyone for your input and advice. i just want this thing to stop being a headache.

when my headgasket was leaking/failing I had no smoke from the tailpipe, no loss of compression, and no real issues aside from it overheating. Just because air is getting into the coolant, doesnt mean coolant will get into the exhaust. You can use a tool that will measure if there is any exhaust gases coming through your coolant.

gettin me all worked up with HG talk.

ok ok ok

FIRST- Burp your coolant system as stated above. Do it till you dont see any drop in coolant level. Once the level has been steady for a couple tries then take the car out for an extended drive. IF you are still having problems then we will go from there.

No freaking out just yet. It could be quite simple.

will do.

so this is the engine bay (not mine but exactly the same). only radiator cap is on that hose and i couldnt get it to come off and after 10 or so minutes of normal driving i was still getting overheating issues. the coolant resevoir seems to be very dirty and im not sure if it was replaced or not. i got some new coolant and am just waiting for the motor to cool down. should i just empty and refill the resevoir or should that cap come off?

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s.../EngineBay.jpg

You should get that cap off. That needs to be your prime place to fill the coolant system. Not sure about DSMs but with the RX-7s, that is an overflow tank rather than a resivoir and hardly ever is used to fill the system. Try some pressure down on the cap and twist, sometimes they can be a bitch.

thanks, im gonna go try that now. i thought the canister was an overflow but i didnt wanna break that damn cap off so i didnt try too hard to get it off earlier.

so the cap came off easily, im just a retard. anyway, the system seems to be filled all the way. its still fairly warm so i took the cap off and im gonna leave it off for a while to see if the level goes down at all...another question. would it be a problem if the overflow can lid doesnt make a seal? the opening is about twice the size of the cap i have on there. is that a big deal?

i don't think its a big deal...my overflow rarely has coolant in it, and if there is, its very little.

i think im gonna let it cool with the rad cap off. close it all up, then start the car and let it run for a while to see what she does. not trying to blow this motor up

you won't blow the motor. did you replace that thermostat? I would do that before trying to completely bleed that system out. They are so easy to replace and only 10 bucks, i would do that first

i was at freakin pep boys tonight and didnt pick one up. where the hell is it?

http://img3.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/949c741d35.jpg

Inside the green circle haha


Its under the cap. Easy to get to. I suggest getting a Hanes manual.

ha i have a haynes manual..i was just out for a spin and it got dumb hot again. its fine for the first ten minutes of driving then all of the sudden the gauge decides to go strait to the top. wtf. guess i'll go get a thermostat tomorrow and see if that helps.

if you need a hand, give me a call. its really easy, i did mine in like 10 minutes

thanks man i'll let you know. i dunno why this started all of the sudden. the trip back from jnz nor the trip back to west chester showed any signs of overheating. stupid car.

Its wierd that it would spike all of a sudden. I could understand if it gradually went up and then got too hot.

Where is the temp sender on the engine?