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Hi,
I have a 1979 242DL with over 387,000 original miles. I noticed today that the water level in the plastic reservoir was low. I too my car to my mechanic to have them look fill it up and look at it. He did a pressure check, and I think it tested okay. I noticed down on the right backside of the engine that there was some water or oil bubbling. The mechanic though it was water since it was located right where the head gasket is located. He said that it should be okay and just make sure I keep the reservoir filled with water. I got home and filled the reservoir with water. Later in the evening I left for a drive. The engine was cooled off by then. I got onto the freeway, and noticed a bunch of smoke or steam coming out of the tail pipe rather consistently. Eventually the smoke/steam cloud stopped. One thing I need to explain is, when my car warms up, the thermometer gauge goes up to normal, then shortly after that it will go all the way up to just below the red zone, then come down to normal. I'm not sure if it's supposed to do that, but it's been doing it that way ever since the thermostat was replaced years ago. Anyway, the thermometer went up to just below the red zone then came back down. Then it seemed to go up a little again, and then eventually stayed on normal. The car kept driving okay although it did seemed to run a little funny. I took the car over to my dad’s house and had him look at it. (It was dark). When we opened the engine compartment there was water everywhere mostly on the left half of the engine compartment. Something exploded. It looked as though the water came from the reservoir, but we weren't for sure. The cap was on, but somewhat loose. The mechanic told me to leave it on a little loose. I didn't hear any bubbling or sizzling sound. We filled up the reservoir with more water and tried to look for leaks. We didn’t see any, and the car didn’t overheat or blow the water back out. My dad checked the tail pipe but didn't see any moister coming out. We didn't feel any moister in the exhaust either when we ran the car pressing on the accelerator. We didn't see any water bubbling around the head gasket this time either. He was thinking that if it was the head gasket it should constantly be blowing out water when the engine was running. My dad didn't see any water on the ground either.
The car seemed to run fine. When I got home with the car, I noticed some moister in the tail pipe.
My dad thinks it could be the thermostat. What do you think? Head gasket?
Thank you.
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