What are general symptoms or effects of a head gasket going bad? Very curious. I have small amount of smoke (oil burning off maybe) coming from behind the header heat shield area. Can’t seem to see behind or get a good visual in that area. Before I start taking things apart can anyone give me feed back on what a bad head gasket can cause? TIA -
Oil leaks from under the head and or white smoke from exhaust. Look for oil soaked spark plugs. Also lack of power and steam from exhaust. The steam is coolant getting into the piston/ exhaust.
Originally posted by 2ndJenn
Oil leaks from under the head and or white smoke from exhaust. Look for oil soaked spark plugs. Also lack of power and steam from exhaust. The steam is coolant getting into the piston/ exhaust.
-Engine overheats
-Oil leaking from head gasket area
-Blue smoke from exhaust
-White smoke from exhaust
-Compression check reads low on two adjacent cylinders
-Loss in performance (less power from engine)
-Coolant in oil
-Oil in coolant
-Excessive consumption of oil
-Excessive consumption of coolant
I can’t think of anything else, but that’s a fairly comprehensive list. Best of luck to you.
Originally posted by mojoGSR92
[B]-Engine overheats
-Oil leaking from head gasket area
-Blue smoke from exhaust
-White smoke from exhaust
-Compression check reads low on two adjacent cylinders
-Loss in performance (less power from engine)
-Coolant in oil
-Oil in coolant
-Excessive consumption of oil
-Excessive consumption of coolant
I can’t think of anything else, but that’s a fairly comprehensive list. Best of luck to you. [/B]
to add to your “compression check reads low on two adjacent cylinders” to clarify, there really are 2 things to look for:
-you may have just one cylinder running lower compression than the others this would suggest the head gasket break is only accessable by that cylinder
-two side by side cylinders read the exact same compression (which will be lower than normal). this is caused when the gasket blows inbetween the two cylinders, thus connecting them. air, when pushed, flows inbetween the cylinders, this is why you will get the same reading for both cylinders but normal readings for the others.
when mine went out, was going out, my radiator overfill resevoir continuously overfilled to the point where the cap would explode off. There was also a noticable film on the top of my radiator fluid of oil in both the radiator and the resevoir.
how hard is it to replace the headgasket?
and where is it located?
Originally posted by gen2ls/vtec
[B]when mine went out, was going out, my radiator overfill resevoir continuously overfilled to the point where the cap would explode off. There was also a noticable film on the top of my radiator fluid of oil in both the radiator and the resevoir.
[/B]
i’m currently thinking that mine might be blown (and its brand new!). i’m leaking oil and possibly burning oil. But my coolant problem is different from yours, i seem to be loosing coolant, the overflow reservoir is nearly empty now, and its the 2nd time its been empty in the past few weeks. which makes me think coolant is leaking into the cylinders (just not at a super high rate). i’m not noticing any coolant leaks on the motor and none dripping from the radiator, so i can’t think of another reason why i’d be loosing coolant.
superthug: its a pretty big job. the gasket is located in between the head and the block. read your manual…it’ll do wonders for basic questions like that.
yeah i think i’m in the exact same boat as you colin. i’m also leaking coolant from somewhere behind the engine, possibly at the iacv, i need to check again. anyone know where i could get a head gasket kit for a decent price?
my head gasket is also gone was wondering if anyone knows an average price to have a shop fix it? i have the gasket already
I’m bringing back this uber old thread haha! I have the same-ish problem that gen2ls/vtec had except my radiator cap wouldn’t fly off. I’m losing a little coolant, but I know that exhaust is leaking into my cooling system big time b/c when I turn the car on with the radiator cap off coolant spews out. I took it too my mechanic who is really really honest and he said its probably a head gasket. He also idled the car with the cap off for a while until no more coolant spat out and got a tester out called a block check test/combustion leak test which he found carbon monoxide(exhaust) in the cooling system.
My main question is does this sound right? And would that have to do with the lack of power I’m experiencing? My car starts up with a little bit of sputtering but it doesn’t last long. For the first mile or so my car has some hesitation, but after a mile or so it dogs ass and barely accelerates especially under 3500 rpms.
any help would be awesome!!
Jason
i know napa sells this head gasket testing kit that we use all the time. the fluid turns yellow if it finds hc in your cooling system.
I think thats the tester kit he used. B/c he used this blue fluid in a tube and it turned green then yellow. So thats almost definitely a head gasket, and would that explain why my acceleration is very very bad?
Thanks
Jason
Ya that could be the main problem. But the head does have to come off while its off may as well get a valve job and replace the valve seals. Grab a manual and diy and save some decent cash.
Yea I’m thinking the same thing if I do the hg might as well bring it in and get it resurfaced and I’ll throw in some new valve seals.
Jason