i drove the car from california to montana, i was having some overheating problems. My radiator is fine with full fluid, so i brought it into a local shop. They are saying that it is either a head gasket or cracked head. This is "atleast a thousand dollar fix". Does that sound right. The car runs fine, but the temperature gauge goes all the way to hot, no steam or anything comes out, so im not forced to pull over, i can keep driving. Basically i want to know if you guys think it is a problem with the gasket/heads, and if so would you guys have an estimate on price.

 

Thermostat or faulty temp sensor. If it is truly overheating, I would not drive it. You can also let it get hot and pull the spark plugs to see if coolant is going into the cylinders and drain the oil to make sure that coolant isnt leaking into the crank case.

You can also rent a pressure tester and test the cooling system as well.

 

check the lower radiator hose vs the top, is the lower one cold? this is to check the thermostat if its opening

open the cap on the radiator and check if its milky, that will tell u if its a blown gasket. since if its blown the rad fluid is mixed with the engine oil.
i highly doubt cracked head. is there any leaks?
u shouldnt keep driving when the temp is pegged. your doing more harm than good even if u dont suspect any foul.
does ur rad fan kick on at all?

 

I vote headgasket, if nothing else if you kept driving the car after it overheated then the head needs to be decked as well. You could easily be dripping water into the combustion chamber and burning it or combustion gases into the water jacket---check your oil cap for a brown color or foamy residue..

 

Like I've said a couple of times before, log the temperature off of the ECU to see if it agrees with the gauge.

 

correct...the gauge sensor is also an issue..happened to me car ran hot or so Mitsu said...turned out gauge sensor got crudded up by a very minor coolant leak from the top hose. tiny bit of wire, and $`18 sensor they wanted $750 to fix

If you are not running over 185-190 on the ECU coolant sensor and not pushing fluid to the overflow then there is no reason to think head gasket. if the gauge then reads high, you have found the issue..sensor or wire issue.

Have a competent rad shop do a pressure test and diagnose from the ECu as well as get in there, clean and actually check the gauge sensor off the water neck. Ten to one it is crudded up and wet.