Have a 98 626 that died on me on the highway. Noticed that it was overheating which wasn't normal so took the next exit. At the stop sign at the end of the exit it died. Turned it over and it sounded like there was no compression at all. Once cooled, removed radiator cap, and it shot out like a geyser when turning it over.

Suspecting head gasket. Almost have it down to the point of removing the head. I have a lot of black soot in the intake. Was a small amount of water in there as well. I plan on figuring out the best way to clean the soot out.

There is a metal tube that goes from the exhaust manifold to the intake manifold. My question is what purpose does this tube have? I was half tempted to cap both sides then thought better with the engineering of cars, and ask those that may know more than I do on this part.

Will be getting the head surfaced and replacing the timing belt.

Also need to find good replacement injector sleeves at the yard. One of mine is cracked and the rest look like they may be a little brittle.

Here is a few pics I took during the progress thus far.

Screenshot by Lightshot Water in the intake and lot of black soot

Screenshot by Lightshot Cracked injector sleeve

Screenshot by Lightshot Dirty valve cover and cams

Screenshot by Lightshot Gasket was clean, more soot in pic.