Will not stay running after overheating

1996 MERCURY COUGAR
91,815 MILES • V6 • AUTOMATIC
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NATBUTLER12
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
So my boyfriend said it overheated. found a hole in the airflow tube sealed it. I found one under the car on the passenger side by the tire where it seems to leak from the reservoir. we plugged that but now you can't drive it no more then a block and it will just quit running.
Nov 15, 2020 at 12:32 AM
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KASEKENNY
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 18,907 POSTS
I am thinking this is related to the overheating. Can you check the oil and coolant and make sure they are the proper color and don't look like a milkshake?

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/coolantantifreeze-in-the-engine-oil

Even if they look ok we still need to check the head gasket. The oil and coolant is just the quickest and easiest way that this could be the issue.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/head-gasket-blown-test

I suspect when the engine overheated it pushed out the head gasket and you are losing compression causing the issue.

Let's start with this and go from there. If that checks ok then this is the direction of things we need to check as laid out in this guide.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/stall-at-idle
Nov 15, 2020 at 12:55 AM
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