Well, today I learned once again that just deciding I knew the problem was wrong. I had been suspecting a head gasket going on my '96, as I saw no leaks. I was having to fill up the coolant tank from when the fill light came on up to max (on cold engine) every 250 or so miles. I though that I saw some smoke a couple of times, but I was never sure if it was coolant or just a thicker cloud from a longer idle (because I AM burning oil, but that's another matter).

Anyway, today I noticed a little wet spot on my carpet near the door, and since it had just rained I figured my door drain was clogged and it had come in. Checked the door drains and found them unobstructed. So I pulled up the carpet to find that the floor underneath was damp, not soaked. Well, next step was to pull back the carpet by the heater core, and I found it a little sticky, and slightly wet.

Started the car with the carpet pulled back, no leaks. It heated up, hit the pedal and I get a little stream of piping hot coolant coming out. Problem found, and it doesn't require me to replace the head gasket.

Ordered some parts, likely replace it Wednesday. Guess I've pulled this one back out of the grave for a little longer.

Bought a Behr core and the pipe assembly, but I don't think I'll change the hoses from the engine to the firewall. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me. I'll use Matthew's as my guide and that should get me through the repair. Even though it has been a little under a year since I last flushed the coolant, I'll go ahead and do a full flush with this.

I went through my records and they only go back to '01, with no mention of it being done. I think this was the factory core, so 16 years on it isn't bad.
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If you're not driving it "like its stolen," are you really driving?