The oldest son has an '03 Chrysler Town & Country with 3.8l motor that's been having cooling system problems . It's hard to diagnose from a couple hundred miles away , even harder over the 'net but ... he says that when he revs it up with the radiator cap off it will spew coolant , but when he turns the motor off (cap off) it literally geysers out the filler neck . I told him it sounds like a head gasket . No oil in the coolant , no coolant in the oil , so if it's head gasket it's just to a coolant passage , which is good . This is their only vehicle and they need it to do their job (food delivery) so any help will be appreciated .
Another car problem ...
Dec 10, 2019
8 Replies
What happens if he leaves the cap on?
He says that a jet of water sprays out somewhere on the passenger side rear of the motor , shoots up onto the firewall above the motor . It's apparently over-pressurizing the system . There are no heater hoses or other coolant lines in that area . He was talking about doing a compression check (I gave him my backup tester a few years ago) but I don't know if he did or not .
Sounds like a cyl head or head gasket issue. Hope he isn't running straight water for coolant and had a cold night - - - - . Those engines were known to be almost bulletproof if even minimally maintained
Thanks Clare , you've confirmed my thoughts on this one .
Headgasket
That's what I think too .
I think head gasket too. The symptoms are similar to what I had with a couple of cars over the years when the head gasket went.
It *might* be possible to drive it short distances by removing the thermostat.
More data - my daughter in law was researching common problems with their van , turns out that their year model is one of several years that has a history of rear heater plumbing giving problems - exactly the problem they're having . So he's going to dig into that and see if it's the problem . I sure hope so !
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