Head gasket?

[Johnny.Rydell]

So I didn't change out my thermostat in time and my car finally overheated without me knowing and then I had severe coolant leak into my oil. What are the odds that it's simply a head gasket and not a warped cylinder head or cracked block? 2008 MKZ front wheel drive

Edited November 8, 2020 by Johnny.Rydell

[bbf2530]

17 hours ago, Johnny.Rydell said:

So I didn't change out my thermostat in time and my car finally overheated without me knowing and then I had severe coolant leak into my oil. What are the odds that it's simply a head gasket and not a warped cylinder head or cracked block? 2008 MKZ front wheel drive

 

Hi JR. My experience backed opinion: There is absolutely no way to give an accurate diagnosis (or "odds') blindly over the Internet. And a bunch or random guesses really does nothing to help you. If you want to find out what the damage is, the engine will need to be looked at by a competent shop/tech/mechanic.

 

Let us know how you make out and good luck.

Edited November 9, 2020 by bbf2530
Correction of typos. Uncoordinated fingers.

[drolds1]

How would your engine overheat without you knowing it?   There's an engine temperature gauge plus a warning light and chime, not to mention fail-safe cooling.  Also, what is meant by not changing the thermostat "in time?"  FoMoCo thermostats are designed to fail in the open position to avoid just this scenario.

 

As bbf2530 says, we can only guess at the resulting damage but overheating an aluminum block/head engine is never good.  The heads tend to warp.  Furthermore, if coolant got into the oil, you may have other engine damage to worry about.  Coolant is not a good lubricant.

 

 In the end, as bbf2530 also noted, the engine needs to be torn down by an experienced mechanic in order to assess any damage.

 

[esqueue]

From my experience, finding a honest mechanic is far more difficult than overheating a car....  I'd even guess that it was driven with coolant in the oil for quite a while. From reading your first post, my internet opinion is that entire engine is trash.