Hey all! Its nice to be here and hope someone can help me figure out what is going on with my Montero.


I just bought it about a month ago. Its a 1988 2 door in great condition except it is burning coolant. The odd thing is though, I have pressure tested the coolant system and it holds pressure just fine. There is no smoke of any color and no leaks. I can park it for hours and it still will have pressure in the system. It seems to be burning about a half gallon of coolant every 30-40 miles. There is no coolant in the oil nor oil in the coolant. I do smell that sickly sweet smell of burning coolant when I park it. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

I have determined that the issue is indeed a probable cracked head or blown head gasket. I'm really surprised at the lack of responses on this site. No biggie though. I'm gonna spend the big bucks and get a new casting, non-jet valve head from the folks at Racetep. The cost is close to 1300 with the ARP head studs in place of the one time use bolts. Should get me rolling again without adding a gallon of coolant every few miles. And btw, I just had a set of 31x10.5 tires installed and they look great! It drives much better too. The old tires were pretty shot. It's amazing what a difference tires can make.