Ontopic A Thread About Butt Mustard, For Those Who Drive Automobiles

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Jehannum said:
My friend's dodge caravan from sometime between the mid-naughties to the early 2010s has shat the bed.

Her exact words were, "Basically my gas gauge went down 1/8 tank, a ton of fluid came out of the (exhaust) pipe, and then the hood and the undercarriage started smoking." Apparently this happened with some amount of overheating in its immediate aftermath.

I'm not super familiar with the Dodge V6 lineup, but that sounds to me like one of those over-engineered pressurized surge tank dealie-bobs (that all the manufacturers thought would be a good idea) might have blown up and made the engine cooling system unhappy.

Second opinions?
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Fluid out the exhaust pipe sounds like a head gasket, compression test should confirm.

Or if that was just her seeing normal water coming out the exhaust, it could have just blown the cooling system somewhere. Surge tank or hose or radiator or thermostat housing or who the fuck knows what.

I don't know how maintainable those motors are, eg. if you have to disconnect motor mounts to change spark plugs and shit. I'd do this before you agree to touch anything, in case you have to pull the motor by dropping it underneath the van or some other shit.
 
gee said:
I don't know how maintainable those motors are, eg. if you have to disconnect motor mounts to change spark plugs and shit. I'd do this before you agree to touch anything, in case you have to pull the motor by dropping it underneath the van or some other shit.
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Fairly sure you have to do that
 
gee said:
Fluid out the exhaust pipe sounds like a head gasket, compression test should confirm.

Or if that was just her seeing normal water coming out the exhaust, it could have just blown the cooling system somewhere. Surge tank or hose or radiator or thermostat housing or who the fuck knows what.

I don't know how maintainable those motors are, eg. if you have to disconnect motor mounts to change spark plugs and shit. I'd do this before you agree to touch anything, in case you have to pull the motor by dropping it underneath the van or some other shit.
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I looked, and I found a split heater hose.

I found enough coolant on the back of the motor that I expect it was just that hose that fucked everything up. I poured some coolant I had into the radiator, started the car, and didn't smell anything untoward out the exhaust.

So, she's going to figure out how to get a replacement from Napa, some red Mopar coolant, and I'll help her button it up tomorrow.

There's still the possibility of catastrophic damage, but head gaskets are usually a slow progression on an NA car, rather than a sudden pop.
 
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