Hi guys, new to the site. well, i have a 1987 ranger with 56000 original miles, bought with 47000 bout a year ago... going to work the other day, i smelt something hot, looked at my temp gauge and it was almost at H. i pulled over, got it checked out and the guy says my head gasket iis blown, but there is no white smoke coming out the tailpipe and he said there is no oil/water/coolant mixing...(which would happen if the gasket was blown right???) when i first pulled over, noticed the coolant level was all the way down, tried to fill it, start her back up but she didnt suck the coolant in. what you guys think? any info is deeply apreciated. thank you

thermostat could be stuck- rare tho'. Is it 4 cyl or 6 cyl? Filling the radiator with coolant will cause the thermostat to close until coolant is up to operating temp so you will not see any flow.Once the engine is up to temp you should see some sort of flowing present in radiator with the cap off. Other causes of overheating can be a failing/failed water pump,loose pump drive belt,debris blocking airflow thru radiator, blockage in radiator( remove both radiator hose and put a garden hose in upper hose neck and turn it on full blast- water should flow out of bottom neck at same rate...if radiator fills then it's blocked) collapsed radiator hose ( have seen one or two where hose looks fine outside but inner separation caused a blockage - also rare) Also, if radiator was leaking and someone used block seal I have seen one where BLOCK sealer caused a blockage on head gasket and burnt two exhaust valves. If head gasket is not blown badly there are some block sealers ( good ones can cost $30-$50) I have used and they worked. ALWAYS CHECK SIMPLE STUFF FIRST

^ thanks for the info. but i just finished working on it yestereday. It was a bad thermostat and also a small high pressure leak from the heater hose T that runs next to the valve cover. it ran the coolant lower and lower till it drained out, causing it to overheat. i changed out the theromostat and put all new hoses in. New problem though. now it wont really heat up... it will stay at the bottom of NORMAL or even lower. it never stays all the way cold but what could cause this? new thermostat? wrong thermostat?

what tstat did you put in, did you put it in properly? did you check that it is full of coolant?

i put a 180 degree stat in, that may be the prob. put everything in back together well, no leaks, coolant is full. what is the stock thermostat degree?

where did you get a 180* Tstat for a 2.3 at the parts stores there is only one a 192* and it snaps into the Tstat housing.

They have 180 and 192 at rockauto. I was thinking that 192/195 was the original. I know on my truck 192 is the correct one.

thats the prob then....thanks guys. i did not see any 192* at the store but shall look again.