Was driving across Florida and blew the top radiator hose. I'm not much of a mechanic and the guy who helped me pulled the thermostat out while I changed the hose. We couldn't find a thermostat in the small town and he said in south Florida I'd be OK without it. (??)

Long story short, she made it the last 20 miles to my destination but was running really rough. I checked the oil and radiator and we are not exchanging fluids between the two so i don't think I blew a head gasket, but definitely something wrong. I was looking at it this morning, and there is a loose plug that no doubt goes somewhere but i can't find where. It comes forward from behind the carb with the Air Conditioning cable but splits off just aft of the carb. It has a round black plastic connector (female) with two holes. I can take pics tonight if needed but i'm hoping someone can tell me where this cable goes by my description. In case there was any question, I'm not much of a mechanic.

Thanks in advance, I will take pics tonight if need be.

Jason

 

Boss had me run home to get camera so I got the pic. You can see throttle body, cables run under air intake assembly along with the throttle linkage. The mystery cable splits off from AC wires, problem is I can't find it's plug-in point anywhere near it. Any help appreciated.

Jason

 

I believe that plugs in to the rear of the ac compressor

 

That would make sense I guess. The air hasn't worked since I got the vehicle, just never noticed that plug. I will check that and then start looking for another source of the rough running. I don't see how a missing thermostat could cause that so I must have done some damage in the overheat.

 

If the vehicle was running properly prior to the overheat, and isn't now - most likely something is damaged. To rule out a head gasket have someone test the radiator for combustion gases or pick up a test kit yourself. Google block tester and that should give you some good information to start with.

 

Thanks, will probably just take it to a mechanic who knows what he is doing. I've driven it and it goes fine, just seems to stutter a bit when taking off but once it gets up to maybe 1500 RPM it feels normal. Let off gas and it rough idles. Lots of clacking going on too, my muffler has a rattle and I think it is just the rough running causing the muffler to rattle more but i think i need experienced eyes on it. Was hoping the plug was the problem as I could have knocked it off changing the hose. Probably time for a new vehicle. 15 years old and 300K miles is pretty good, but she still looks like a new car and I;ve been nothing but happy. :-)

 

If you over heated it and blow coolant all over under the hood check inside the distributor cap for moisture