I own a 1996 Special Edition Automatic. I've been having problems with the a water and oil leak since I had the water pump and timing belt changed. For some reason 2 days after I had the car worked on ALL the water in the radiator disappeared. The engine overheated badly while I was stuck in 110 degree heat and stuck in traffic. I suspect that the headgasket may have cracked. About a month ago my radiator and reservior started filling up with a thick dark sludge that cakes up badly when it dries up a bit. This last week the car has been overheating like mad and today it hit the red line. When I got to work this morning and shut off the engine I heard a POP and alot of steam and water came out of the engine. I believe I found the source of the leak but my car runs like crap when I hit the gas even remotely hard and my CEL flashed 71(missfire in cylinder 1).

My questions are:
1. Is the missfiring cylinder most likely due to a complete faliure of the Head Gasket or water getting in the distributor(the distributor and spark plug wires were wet this morning)?
2. Does the dark sludge and all these other symptoms for that matter signify that my Head Gasket is infact broken?
3. Is there any cheap way to get my car running untill such time as I can repair the problem/get a new engine?

If it is the head gasket I think I might just get a new B18B. It would be more cost effective I think.

 

I've replaced the hose that was leaking the water out quickly. But the other problems still remain. Could a temporary fix be to replace the thermostat to keep the car from overheating? Perhaps take it out once a week to clean it of the gunk that is probably caked on there? One more question, is there any solvent that will clean out my engine of all the nasty gunk build-up?

PS The car is no longer running rough like it did when the leak happened this morning, though the CEL light is still flashing and it was flashing code 71 and 72. (cylinder 1 &2 missfiring)

 

I would have taken it back to the shop that did the work on it since all the problems happened AFTER the water pump/belt change.

You driving the car the way you did, more than likely toasted the engine.