Thread: Is the headgasket gone?

For the last few weeks I have been struggling with my coolant system. Coolant has been getting pushed into the overflow and sometimes it would go back into the engine and sometimes it would not. The car has been very inconsistent in this sense. Until a few nights ago the car never had issues overheating. The car does not smoke out the exhaust, it starts fine, and runs fine at idle or any other RPM. It does seem a little bit slower and virtual dyno is noticing a loss of power over time.

I started off by changing the thermostat and radiator cap. During this I noticed that my coolant (distilled water and water wetter) went from a nice clear pinkish color to a dirt looking brown.

I then went ahead and checked the car for coolant leaks. I did not find anything. This was followed by cleaning out the overflow tank and tube. The tube and tank flowed well and did not have any blockage. I bled the system and got everything up to par to drive.

The car would be fine for one night and then the coolant would get stuck in the overflow again. I repeated this a few times and finally found time to really get into testing the car.

Today I really got into testing the car. Here is how my day went...

First I started off by testing the coolant systems pressure for leaks. When I went to do this I popped the radiator cap and found this:




The build up was also in the bottom of the radiator. I am thinking this might be some oil or something not good.

I tested the pressure of the system with a tool I picked up that pressurizes the system with air. The system seemed to hold pressure just fine.






Next I moved onto a compression test. I do all of my compression tests with the throttle body completely open. The numbers were not bad, they should be a little higher but I did this with the engine cold. The results are as follows.

#1- 162psi
#2- 170psi
#3- 162psi
#4- 170psi

These numbers are fine.






Next I moved onto a cylinder leak down test. This was my first time using one of these tools. It took me a few tries to get everything right but I got proper results. This was done on a cold engine as well. The results are as follows:

#1- 27% pressure loss
#2- 25% pressure loss
#3- 26% pressure loss
#4- 24% pressure loss





I then did a block test. This came up negative but I'm not sure if it works proper with e85 fuel. While doing this test, I had to rev the car with the radiator cap off. I noticed a small amount of steam coming from the radiator. I also noticed some fuel coming from the valve cover.


After re bleeding the coolant system to get the car up and running again, I came face to face with the monster. Oil in coolant.





I took the car out for a drive anyway. I beat the shit out of the car for about 20 minutes and the car did not overheat while driving. No water moved into the overflow either. When I got home I let the car idle and it began to overheat. The fans could not bring the temp down.

Do you guys think my head gasket is shot or possibly have a cracked head or block.

im having those same issues, im pulling my head and putting a new gasket in.

keep me informed if you can, would be interested to see if its a gasket, cracked head or block.

only thing I couldn't do the leak down, our tool has the wrong fitting. but on coolant pressure test thee is a slight loss. but I have none of the normall blown gasket issues, just pushing some coolant and over heating at idle

If you guys pull the heads get them decked or it will just do the same thing again over time. It's worth the 50-60$ machine work to know the head is true.

I am going to pull the engine and have the block, timing cover and head resurfaced. Depending on how much material is removed will negate what head gasket I choose. I think I have my mind set on mazworx std head studs.

Check and see if the water pump even has propellers left

Just get the head resurfaced and new gasket. Don't nick the block deck when cleaning. What headbolts ?

The head bolts were stock head bolts.

I'm in the process of deciding if I should upgrade to mazworx or if the arp will do.

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