Scout1
Thread starter
Lots of good discussion, thanks gang! When I pulled the radiator cap, the engine was warm but not hot. It was holding some pressure I had to bleed off before removing the cap, so that's a positive sign. I don't have the pressure testing equipment but I'll look into that. I kind of doubt anyone put anything in the oil by mistake since I had a hard time just getting the oil filler cap off; it was extremely tight, like it hadn't been off in over a year!That could certainly be from short tripping, but I would pressure test the cooling system to rule out a head gasket. It's easy enough to do.
As for why not walk, she's like me, getting older so she drives but she's had problems flattening her battery due to the extremely short drives. My son has recently replaced her battery and had to charge it a couple of times this winter. We checked the charging voltage and it's fine so it's simply the: start, drive 1/4 mile, shutoff: start, drive 1/4 mile, shut off: all the while running the lights and defroster!
I'll have to take a look at the PCV valve and make sure that isn't plugged up...