Kevin,
I'm going to give you my opinion on your overheating and brake fluid
situation, but let me begin by suggesting that you explore two other
options while you work on preparing the 6 for this cross-country jaunt;
consider selling the car, and consider having it moved. You don't want
to start this journey with either bad brakes or an overheating engine,
let alone both.
First, the engine. Make sure all your hoses are in great shape. I'd
actually take each one off the car and make sure it's not blocked or
collapsed inside. Make sure the thermostat is installed correctly
(if it's upside down, it forms an effective barrier to circulation), and
pull the water pump off and make sure the impeller still has vanes on
it. Is the pulley tensioned correctly? Check the timing. If it's too
far advanced, you'll hear pinging under acceleration, and the car will
run very hot. If you haven't found the problem yet, then I'd take it to
a radiator shop. It would be great if your radiator's shot; it's
relatively inexpensive to have re-cored or even replaced. But a good
radiator shop can run simple tests to see if there are exhaust gases in
the coolant---they can't fix it, but they can detect it. If there are
exhaust gases in the coolant, then you either have a blown head gasket
(not likely if the recent engine overhaul was done well---and anyway,
this condition preceded the overhaul), a cracked head, or a cracked
block. Consider selling the car, or plan to spend a lot of time and
money (or just a whole lot of money) replacing the engine.
The brakes. Yeah, you need DOT4. Some people will insist that you
should replace all the rubber in your brake system (rubber lines at each
wheel, rubber in the master and all slave cylinders, rubber in the
pressure sensor just below the MC) *now*. I assume you just replaced
all of the brakes lines at the wheels when you did your master cylinder,
though, so I bet that if you just had the system flushed with DOT4,
you'll be OK. The DOT3 you have in your system is melting all the
rubber in your system now, as we speak, though, so it's gotta go. And
even flushing with DOT4 will leave some DOT3 behind (especially where
it's been absorbed by the rotting rubber), and no amount of flushing
will get it all out. So, if the rubber lines at the wheels are fairly
new, you probably won't have to rebuilt the system for a year or two.
If these lines are old, though, assume that they'll begin to leak and/or
bulge any day now. Keep this in mind as you drive around---no
tailgating, no fast corners unless there's a nice, long runoff---and get
the emergency brake working as well as you can.
I'm sorry not to have a better outlook on your situation, Kevin, but it
just doesn't sound to me like your car is in very good condition to
begin a 2300 mile trip.
Good luck, though, and let us know how it's going!
Kevin Riggs
________________________________________________________________________
Intergraph Corporation TEL: (205) 730-3074
Mailstop: GD3000 FAX: (205) 730-3453
Huntsville, AL 35894-0001 rkriggs@riggs.b30.ingr.com
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