My brothers 95 escort died on him last week. This is only a month and a half after we put a used motor in the car. Motor had about 75,000 miles on it but had been sitting for over a year due to a blown auto transmission. We converted it to 5 speed and installed it into his car and it cranked on the first try. It idled and ran fine before and after the swap.
After it died we did a compression check on it and got no compression on 3 and 4 so we stopped thinking the tester was no good. I put all the plugs back in and tried to start the car and I could here the water in the radiator and reserve bubbling.(sounded like blowing bubbles in water threw a straw) I pulled the #4 spark plug and tried to start it and it sprayed a little water out. the #1 and 2 pored water out.
My question is if he blew the head gasket and water got into the cylinders could it have lifted the head or do you think it more than likely bent rods.
Were still trying to get the car back to my house to pull the head off and see if any thing looks damaged or warped.
I think what happened is the heater core cracked and all the water came out into the floor and over heated the motor. warped the head and blew the head gasket.
Thanks
(I hate this car...)