Is It Head Gasket?

[ZeroKnowledge]

I went out for a run the other day, after 5 miles I noticed steam from front. The coolant expansion tank had overflowed. the water temp was showing around 80c which is what it normally reads.

 

Engine is ford 2ltr DOHC 8v. & its ran no probs for 6000 miles

I have done a few checks today, compression test showed all cylinders are 16 bar except no2 which showed 13 bar,

the thermostat opened around 88c

no sign of creamy oil or oil in coolant

 

what other checks can I do ??

cheers Paul

[agent_zed]

isn't there something you can put in the water to test if it has exhaust gases in it?

[steve in stockport]

Too much water in the expansion bottle? Have you topped it up recently and filled to a higher level than normal?

[Guest Russell Churchill]

I used to run a Dohc a few years ago and it would randomly spit out its coolant for no apparent reason... Only thing that seemed to fix it was mixing the coolant and the water together in a bucket before adding it to the cooling system.... Seemed to get localised overheating issues if just topping up with coolant??

[ZeroKnowledge]

You could fill it up and run it up to temp in the garage and see what it does. Compression seems ok. If it was the head gasket one (or more) would be very low. And if it was the head gasket it would probably do it all the time, not just after 5 mins.

 

Could have just been an air lock in the system, or the pump failing to pump water quick enough or even the pump failing.

 

I have ran it upto temp & rev`d it quite a bit and all seemed ok,

Will try a runout to our local meet tonight, best keep my RAC card handy

[ZeroKnowledge]

Too much water in the expansion bottle? Have you topped it up recently and filled to a higher level than normal?

 

no never needed to top up

 

cheers Paul

[alantoon]

Hope it's ok Paul sounds like an air lock to me, as you say give it a run and see what happens.

[ZeroKnowledge]

on the run back from church mouse, loads of steam from exhaust & lumpy on tick over and coolant from tank all over engine bay. just made it home

it doesnt look good :(

 

will try & do a leak down test at weekend

[stevedohc2b]

Check the oil on the dipstick as water could be mixing with oil, will look like cold coffee and level increased.

Dont drive it if it is probably head gasket.

Plus lots of white smoke when first started.

 

Stephen

[alantoon]

Sorry to hear that , it sounds like the gasket now, if you need a hand just give me a shout, I'm away at Donington this w/e but any other time. Alan

[ZeroKnowledge]

Check the oil on the dipstick as water could be mixing with oil, will look like cold coffee and level increased.

Dont drive it if it is probably head gasket.

Plus lots of white smoke when first started.

 

Stephen

still no oil/water mix

[ZeroKnowledge]

Sorry to hear that , it sounds like the gasket now, if you need a hand just give me a shout, I'm away at Donington this w/e but any other time. Alan

thanks for offer Alan,

as I am a cylinder head virgin is gonna be a steep learning curve

 

cheers Paul

[Andi]

Hi Paul,

I had the same symptoms, no oil in water, no water in oil, ok compression (one slightly lower) and it was the cylinder head gasket.

It was my first time too, but best thing I ever did as it gave me the confidence to have a bash at everything then.

Plus there are always plenty of offers of help/advice/supervision from this site, so your not doing it totally alone.

Andi

[ZeroKnowledge]

deffo head gasket

leak down test on all cylinders showed no2 was leaking air into coolant as expansion tank was bubbling.

As I will be removing the head is there anything else I could replace/clean?? (its previously been skimmed, polished & ported)

 

Cheers Paul

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Cam belt , alternator belt, obviously anti freeze, how ever I would use just water to begin with and if all is OK add anti freeze at 50 %.

 

Enjoy the learning curve.

 

You will never look back.