Coolant Consumption, Help!

[scoobysteven]

Recently changed water pump, it never failed. Just preventative. After that, I did something stupid. One week after water pump change, I ran the car for like 1 minute without adaquate water. I opened the radiator drain plug, and to drain as much of the old out, I let car run low. Temperature got a little high, but nowhere near red. After refilling, I noticed a slight smell of burning coolant. Really not a big deal. About one week after this, car starts heating up and upon investigation, I realize coolant level is low.

Here is the deal. At idle, or in traffic, the engine consumes a slight amount of coolant. Cruising at freeway speed, I lose no coolant. The consumption is so slight, that even driving traffic, when consumption takes place, it takes a week to lose enough coolant to cause high temps. I notice no loss of power, indicating good compression, and there is no water in oil.

My question is, can I simply retorque the head? How to do. Is it a big job?

[flinterman2000]

Wouldn't advise just retorquing the head. You need to change the head gasket, it may not be bad but to be safe it's the best thing to do.