Oh boy, here we go again with these freaking car. If it's not transmission problems, it's gotta be the motor.

A little backround on the motor:

160,xxx miles on the motor, had |250| |245| |250| |245| across the board about a month or so ago, and like 8% +/- leakdown on all cylinders.

Never over heated, never any problems motor wise, pulls like a bat outta hell, etc. I introduced Water Wetter into the cooling system about two weeks ago, just because. Up until tonight I've never had any problems.

The car only ran twice today. Once around 4pm when I went to the store, a total of 1 mile, about 5-ish minutes ran. Then earlier tonight I went to check my Post Office Box then went and grabbed some McDonald's.

I leave my house, and about a 1/2 mile away I notice the car was warming up a lot quicker than usual. I figure nothing of it and keep on my way. Get to the P.O. Box, which is about 3-4 miles, etc. Continue my way to McDonald's and I'm sitting in the drive-thru I notice the car was a little 'warm'. The car temp gauge usually sits a little under half way at full opperating temperature. A couple minutes go by and I see the needle now past the middle of the gauge, more towards 3/4. I turn the car off and keep waiting for the line to move. Line moves, start the car, get my food, the gauge is just about 1/2 at that point. Get out to the road, it's staying around the 1/2 mark.
From then on to 1/2 mile away, the temp gauge is climbing, almost all the way to hot. Since I was on an uphill slope with no where to pull over, I keep going for a couple hundred feet, turn the car off and cost into a gas station. Popped the hood, checked the oil, it was a little low, but what really concerned me was that it was very thin, and almost looked like it had a greenish tinge on the dip stick. Under the hood smelt a little like burnt coolant. I then checked the coolant over flow, and it had nothing in it, except for a little bit where the hose can't reach. What was left was greyish black and smell horrid, like burnt oil and coolant.

I let the car cool for a few minutes with the key on to leave the fan on, and go home, which was about a mile away. Got home, took the oil cap off, it's not really milky, but it had the same consistency as the oil on the dip stick being so thin and wattery, and the residue was a tad whitish grey. I can't do a compression/leak down test right now, I'll do that tomorrow.

What boggles me is that I didn't even beat on the car today. The most it seen tonight was a 2nd and 3rd gear small pull up to about 5k rpm.

What do you guys think with the given info though?

 

I am having probs with my car too, but did you check the coolant level in the rad? If it was low, I would just put some in and drive it a little, keeping an eye on the oil and watch for external leaks. If the oil gets thick and milky, we are both in the same boat.

 

I checked the rad and it looked low, because I didn't see any coolant at the top like I usually do. I looked with a little light and there was some greyish substance coating the walls. I don't tink it'll get milky quite yet since it's still at an early stage of failure.

I don't want to drive it because the oil is already looking/feeling very thin and wattery and I can't afford any bottom end damage, as well as over heating it and warping the head. A head gasket change I can do, I just don't want to have to have the head and block decked, or even have to replace bearings and all that. It's funny that this happens when I'm flat on my *** broke and I use my car for work every day.

I'm going to do a copression test in a little bit and I'll report back from there.

 

Just did a compression test.. 210, 185, 210, 200. That's while the motor was cold though...

Drained some fluid from the rad with the drain **** and it's just like the over flow tank.. greyish white and smells like crap.

 

Ok.. now I'm ****in' confused..

After I did the compression test I put every thng back together, added some water to the radiator and over flow tank, started the car let it idle and warm up for about 5 minutes, then went to the store for a pack of smokes. I pretty much did a rerun of last night and went for a short drive. The car warmed up like normal, and I really layed into it. I went to Mcdonald's for a sweet tea and the car idled for 5-10 minutes, didn't get hot, just stayed at normal temp. On my way home I beat the crap outta the car and it still didn't get hot. I don't understand what's going on. Any one have a silimar experience? I guess I'll just change the oil and flush and refill the coolant and see what happens.