sucking air and loosing coolant
#11
04-01-2010, 07:01 PM
osduck, The blown headgasket effecting the way the car runs in a sign of a real advanced blown gasket. When they first start the first thing you will see is pressure in the coolant system even before the car is hot. This is when there is a very minor leak, it may allow only a small amount of coolant into the cyclinder maybe a few drops during the intake stroke. I have even seen it where there was no sign of coolant in the cyclinder just compressed air pushing into the coolant system under extream pressure. Also if the head gasket is blown toward the top of the motor the motor is less likely to draw coolant in because the coolant level is almost alway low.
I was working on a car one time and I suspected a head gasket. I check it with a 4 gas analyzer and I found hydrocarbons in the Radiator. Hydrocarbons come from the burning of gas. So it has a leak, right. The guy did not believe me so he took it to another mechanic. That mechanic did a pressure test and could not find anything wrong. I got a nasty letter sent to the dealership saying we where trying to rip him off. 8 weeks later he was back. His mechanic now says he needs a head gasket. Even then the only issue he had was a slight idle issue but the car was starting to lose coolant and would no longer pass the pressure test. The point to the story is that unless a car overheats or is run super hard head gasket failure happens over time. You get to the point coolant is fouling a plug or you can see a pile of steam coming from the tailpipe your pretty far down the blown head gasket road.
Once you have a tester hook it up and start yur car cold. Noramlly it will take 3 to 5 minutes to start to build pressure. It can take 10-20 minutes to get to 15 PSI. If you start building pressure real quick, like a minute, you have an issue. I have seen cars that ran fine push 10 PSI into the coolant system in less then 30 seconds.
I was working on a car one time and I suspected a head gasket. I check it with a 4 gas analyzer and I found hydrocarbons in the Radiator. Hydrocarbons come from the burning of gas. So it has a leak, right. The guy did not believe me so he took it to another mechanic. That mechanic did a pressure test and could not find anything wrong. I got a nasty letter sent to the dealership saying we where trying to rip him off. 8 weeks later he was back. His mechanic now says he needs a head gasket. Even then the only issue he had was a slight idle issue but the car was starting to lose coolant and would no longer pass the pressure test. The point to the story is that unless a car overheats or is run super hard head gasket failure happens over time. You get to the point coolant is fouling a plug or you can see a pile of steam coming from the tailpipe your pretty far down the blown head gasket road.
Once you have a tester hook it up and start yur car cold. Noramlly it will take 3 to 5 minutes to start to build pressure. It can take 10-20 minutes to get to 15 PSI. If you start building pressure real quick, like a minute, you have an issue. I have seen cars that ran fine push 10 PSI into the coolant system in less then 30 seconds.
#12
04-01-2010, 11:36 PM
You need to put a gage on it to see if your building pressure. If you rad is not flowing well it was cause the decribed issue but it will not build pressure. Rad flush is a easy fix 
#15
04-05-2010, 09:44 PM
mine was plastic elbow
My coolant leak was a plastic elbow behind the belt tensioner pulley assembly (which has coolant flowing through it). Both ends of the elbow were corroded and stayed in the engine and tensioner when I pulled the elbow out. I was loosing about a quart or so per week. Smelled it, saw traces on the engine, but only a drop or two on the floor. The good folks on this site helped me find it. I bought the elbow for 12 bux at the dealer, but some said they found at Advance for 4 bux. Replaced elbow & hasn't leaked since. I could barely see the leak point up under the intake, behind the top right side of the tensioner assembly. Pretty easy fix. Spent more time cleaning fried coolant off the engine than doing actual repair. If I had to do again, I would make sure to get the o-rings for the other end of the tensioner's coolant passage too, but my old ones seemed to work out okay...
#16
04-19-2010, 06:58 PM
Well i started back at my old job today and they had a tester and we had lots of down time today so we pulled my car in the shop and hooked it up. The car got up to operating temp and the tester said about 8 or 9 PSI and it stayed there so im ruleing out any major problems. Then we took the tester and put it on the radiator cap and tried putting pressure to it and it would not hold any at all. So i feel its safe to say that im buying a new Cap tomorrow for a whole $5. I wish i woulda had the money to rent one before but what can i say im a broke *** lol anyway thanks for all the help. Im glad it was something simple
#17
04-24-2010, 10:37 AM
osduck, The blown headgasket effecting the way the car runs in a sign of a real advanced blown gasket. When they first start the first thing you will see is pressure in the coolant system even before the car is hot. This is when there is a very minor leak, it may allow only a small amount of coolant into the cyclinder maybe a few drops during the intake stroke. I have even seen it where there was no sign of coolant in the cyclinder just compressed air pushing into the coolant system under extream pressure. Also if the head gasket is blown toward the top of the motor the motor is less likely to draw coolant in because the coolant level is almost alway low.
I was working on a car one time and I suspected a head gasket. I check it with a 4 gas analyzer and I found hydrocarbons in the Radiator. Hydrocarbons come from the burning of gas. So it has a leak, right. The guy did not believe me so he took it to another mechanic. That mechanic did a pressure test and could not find anything wrong. I got a nasty letter sent to the dealership saying we where trying to rip him off. 8 weeks later he was back. His mechanic now says he needs a head gasket. Even then the only issue he had was a slight idle issue but the car was starting to lose coolant and would no longer pass the pressure test. The point to the story is that unless a car overheats or is run super hard head gasket failure happens over time. You get to the point coolant is fouling a plug or you can see a pile of steam coming from the tailpipe your pretty far down the blown head gasket road.
Once you have a tester hook it up and start yur car cold. Noramlly it will take 3 to 5 minutes to start to build pressure. It can take 10-20 minutes to get to 15 PSI. If you start building pressure real quick, like a minute, you have an issue. I have seen cars that ran fine push 10 PSI into the coolant system in less then 30 seconds.
I was working on a car one time and I suspected a head gasket. I check it with a 4 gas analyzer and I found hydrocarbons in the Radiator. Hydrocarbons come from the burning of gas. So it has a leak, right. The guy did not believe me so he took it to another mechanic. That mechanic did a pressure test and could not find anything wrong. I got a nasty letter sent to the dealership saying we where trying to rip him off. 8 weeks later he was back. His mechanic now says he needs a head gasket. Even then the only issue he had was a slight idle issue but the car was starting to lose coolant and would no longer pass the pressure test. The point to the story is that unless a car overheats or is run super hard head gasket failure happens over time. You get to the point coolant is fouling a plug or you can see a pile of steam coming from the tailpipe your pretty far down the blown head gasket road.
Once you have a tester hook it up and start yur car cold. Noramlly it will take 3 to 5 minutes to start to build pressure. It can take 10-20 minutes to get to 15 PSI. If you start building pressure real quick, like a minute, you have an issue. I have seen cars that ran fine push 10 PSI into the coolant system in less then 30 seconds.
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