bad head gasket?

[nscottp]

so i dont know what to do.
i have a 98 gp with what i believe to be a bad head gasket
car has 130k mi on it and still runs good over short distances, but i wont drive it till i fix or sale it..
so i was wondering if this sounds like a head gasket or not..
started over heating, radiator and water pump do not leak, thermanstat seems to open, i can drive aprox 5 mi and then she over heats bad.
any ideas?
cars heat does not function any more either
i have chaged thermostate and flushed radiator, still have the problem
i put water in the radiator and i can see the oil looking stuff. neon colons under light in the radiator.
cars oil looks fime though
is a head gasket difficult on these, are the worth doing?
or should i try to cut the car lose for idk $1500?
let me know opinions

[Bio248]

head gaskets are pretty easy to do if you know how to work on motors.

i think it sounds like the thermostat. switch it just in case. its only like $4.

[Liquifire]

it sounds to me like if you have no leaks from the fluid that you are having problems with circulation of the coolant in general...no heat and overflowing....I would say replace the water pump as its fins may have deteriorated and may not be working properly. You said in another thread that you already replaced the thermo. If oil is getting in your coolant it will look like chocolate milk or a light chocolate milk color. If you just see a small sheen floating on top of the radiator, I doubt it is leaking.........Do you ever have low coolant or oil levels? Does the coolant or oil look milky? If you answered no to those questions, I would lean towards a new water pump. They can go bad and not leak you know.

[Jakegday]

"thermostat seems to open"
how does it "seem" to open? remember, just cuz a thermostat is new doesnt mean its good.
a bad thermostat alone would not cause your heat to quit working though......

[nscottp]

liquifire, thanks for the post! i do the WP tomarrow, cuz yes my answer was no!!
lol
as for the every hoping for termstat answer, its been replace, poblem continues.
a thero did fix my 99 z28 a couple years ago, so thats where i always start.
thanks for the post!

[Liquifire]

Replace the two coolant elbows while you are in there. They are famous for going out...and it costs around ten bucks for the two parts....if you can