Testdrive Help

[skifdank]

Hey.. I've always been a Lincoln guy, this is like the dark side to me, but I have to move several states away for grad school, rather than take my babied towncar to the deep south with extreme heat and high traffic, I was thinking I'd purchase a used 90's model Seville STS or Eldorado. Everything I'm reading tells me there are major issues with head gaskets and their cooling systems. What can I do when I take a northstar car for a test drive to tell if it has issues? Highway driving? What? How long should I drive it and at what speed before I'd start to see one overheat? With AC on or off?

TL;DR = What's the best way to get a cadi HOT, QUICKLY?

Thanks

 

[gearhed42]

The best way is to look at it. The headgaskets go due to people running them too low on coolant. Granted they do fail on their own a lot more than most cars but still your best bet would be to of course drive it through a warmup cycle which is a good solid 20 mins and THEN check under it closely for leaks.