'84 sportvan overheating

I recently just got back from a 25mile ride from work and had to pull off the highway at about 7 miles from my home, because my temperature gauge was reading past the 260 mark which is the highest reading on mine, so I made the split second move and pulled over to cool off for about 20 mins. instantly i noticed a tea-kettle like whistling and went to look at my coolant tank, and it basically appeared to be boiling or bubbling inside the tank because i cautiously popped the cap and saw inside. after it cooled halfway I noticed the contents of the coolant tank was empty as if it just purged then drained itself again into the engine. Luckily i was in range of a free AAA tow and I didnt want to screw around and continue driving like an idiot with a hot engine.

the color of the fliud had a gold metallic-like sparkle to it and when it had drained it left a light brownish soot at the bottom of the coolant tank. there is no leak besides the current minor oil leak on the passenger side of the engine block coming from either the valve cover or the head possibly. YES there is occasionally, if not frequently, a puff of white smoke out of the tailpipe upon ignition.

senses tell me it could be related to what just happened and it could be a head gasket related problem but i have not begun diagnostics training yet but I know the basis. I have $80 on me to fix this problem and a good amount of days to do it.

theres 145k miles on my ride so I'm not supprised this happened, yet relieved in a pre-emptive sense. Please, any input and things I may want to do to repair this will be helpful so i could get this started quite soon.

I recently just got back from a 25mile ride from work and had to pull off the highway at about 7 miles from my home, because my temperature gauge was reading past the 260 mark which is the highest reading on mine, so I made the split second move and pulled over to cool off for about 20 mins. instantly i noticed a tea-kettle like whistling and went to look at my coolant tank, and it basically appeared to be boiling or bubbling inside the tank because i cautiously popped the cap and saw inside. after it cooled halfway I noticed the contents of the coolant tank was empty as if it just purged then drained itself again into the engine. Luckily i was in range of a free AAA tow and I didnt want to screw around and continue driving like an idiot with a hot engine.

the color of the fliud had a gold metallic-like sparkle to it and when it had drained it left a light brownish soot at the bottom of the coolant tank. there is no leak besides the current minor oil leak on the passenger side of the engine block coming from either the valve cover or the head possibly. YES there is occasionally, if not frequently, a puff of white smoke out of the tailpipe upon ignition.

senses tell me it could be related to what just happened and it could be a head gasket related problem but i have not begun diagnostics training yet but I know the basis. I have $80 on me to fix this problem and a good amount of days to do it.

theres 145k miles on my ride so I'm not supprised this happened, yet relieved in a pre-emptive sense. Please, any input and things I may want to do to repair this will be helpful so i could get this started quite soon.

First thing would check if it overheated from lose of coolant or other problems.

Start with replacing the stat and coolant and then watch for lose of coolant or over heating.
Let us know how that goes.

Bought a tub of new coolant just incase and I am currently replacing the thermostat as the moment, before I bother with fluid levels. coolant might also be low because the such high temperatures may have boiled some off, steam was coming out of my vents and was stinking of coolant.

Bought a tub of new coolant just incase and I am currently replacing the thermostat as the moment, before I bother with fluid levels. coolant might also be low because the such high temperatures may have boiled some off, steam was coming out of my vents and was stinking of coolant.

Let us know what it does with new coolant and stat.

replaced the thermo and a ported vacuum switch that snapped off by my breaker bar by accident, cursed cramped conditions...

the coolant seemed to be non existant from overheating and probably boiled away previously so i leveled it up and when out for a test and it ran fine all night, with no overheating.

Unfortunatly I spoke too soon and this morning the engine did not turn over out of the blue, and still wont. I got work tomorrow too. i took the engine hatch off to listen closer and cranked a few more and all i got was a small stench of gas and no ignition. I checked a spark plug against a ground but didnt really get anything. Again, another fix needed with limited resources...

replaced the thermo and a ported vacuum switch that snapped off by my breaker bar by accident, cursed cramped conditions...

the coolant seemed to be non existant from overheating and probably boiled away previously so i leveled it up and when out for a test and it ran fine all night, with no overheating.

Unfortunatly I spoke too soon and this morning the engine did not turn over out of the blue, and still wont. I got work tomorrow too. i took the engine hatch off to listen closer and cranked a few more and all i got was a small stench of gas and no ignition. I checked a spark plug against a ground but didnt really get anything. Again, another fix needed with limited resources...
If everything looks okay, take a look at the ignition module, in the distributor below the rotor. It may need replacement.

Without even doing anything just now, i got ignition and gave it a bit of gas but the engine just was pulsing to stay alive (split second combustion delays), and when i release the gas it cut off. fuel pump? improper sparking? I wasnt too impressed by the pulsing so I gave it a rest till I figure out how to keep it alive. the pulsing is enough wiggle the van a little as it fires and to me the sound and feel of it seems like only one side of the block is firing.