[1993PaseoOwnerMan]

Last week my 1993 Toyota Paseo (230,000 miles) suddenly overheated and found that the coolant return hose at the back of the engine burst... I removed the starter and replaced the hose. This week, the car has over-heated a few times and I stopped just as soon as I noticed it and let it cool down. About 1 gallon of coolant/water is missing each time. When I refill I don't see any leaking right away. The radiator fan is working fine. The car sounds like it may be misfiring. After filling the radiator with another gallon of water, I started and car and left the radiator cap off... it seemed that it heated up fast and spewed forth some bubbles... turned the car off, topped it off and drove home and barely made it home as it sounds, again, like its running rough.

Some background: Oil leaks rapidly. I have to keep adding engine oil frequently. I replaced the water pump a couple of months ago. The head gasket was replaced a few years ago by fly-by-night mechanics who let the car leave the shop with stripped out harmonic balancer bolt (they stripped it out). At the time, I fixed the harmonic balancer by replacing it and re-tapping the thread. I recall that the woodruff key looked problematic at the time.

Could anybody suggest some good troubleshooting measures?

 

[sdspeed]

Compression check! Sounds like a head issue, warped, cracked, bad gasket again etc.

 

[itsbella]

A common cause of car overheating is a low-cost thermostat stuck closed, restricting coolant flow. Low engine coolant level. An engine coolant leak internally or externally reduces the level in the system, preventing proper cooling. Blown head gasket.

 

[1993PaseoOwnerMan]

I checked the sparkplugs and the one on cylinder 2 looked a bit oil-fouled... I hooked up a compression tester on cylinder 1 and when I turned the key in the ignition coolant/water shot up from cylinder 2... I ordered a head gasket kit online and hope it arrives soon

 

[sdspeed]

Sorta good news