Radiator Failure

[MagmaJct]

*sigh*



Driving home from work on the freeway. Traffic, as it often does, came to an abrupt stand-still. Temperature gauge started to climb, which it never does. The needle wasn't yet in the "hot" zone so I figured I could make it to the next exit. Of course, I had just passed an exit! I then noticed a bit of steam coming out of the engine room. Got off the freeway to find a geyser from the seem between the tank and core.

Being between pay checks, we were too broke to pay for a tow. We ended up buying 8 gallons of distilled water and making our way home on surface streets, ~25 miles. We only ended up using 3 gallons. This picture was taken the next day at home. At this point most of the coolant was water.

Because this engine has chronic low vacuum, I've planned to pull the timing cover for some time to investigate the timing gears and chain. This is a good time to do all that work. So the plan moving forward is to save up for a new radiator. The heater core has a small leak, so I may replace or repair that as well.

Replace radiator.
Replace heater core.
Replace thermostat.
Replace timing gasket.
Replace oil pan gasket.
Inspect timing gears and chain.

Regards,
Mike