10 replies to this topic

[allpaw4]

Hey all. Think I may be up for a head gasket repair soon. Wanted to confirm it.

 

B4, single turbo spec C engine conversion. Popped the radiator cap this morning to top up the coolant and was greeted with very fine bubbles. Froth I would even go so far as to say. I've never seen the bubbly coolant from a head gasket failure before, but I suspect thats what I'm looking at. Any ideas people? Will take a photo tomorrow morning if I get up early enough (I have change over at work at 0530).

Cheers,

Ben

[MadB4]

A slight bubbling seen in the reservoir tank is normal due to the returning of coolant from radiator to the reservoir tank. Do you see the bubbling in this tank, with rad cap on & engine warmed up?

 

Air in the system from leak in a hose join can be the culprit. The system is under pressure so, air that is sucked in will cause fluid level changes. 

 

You should only need to fill from the rad cap if you are wanting to bleed any air out of the system. Did you see the coolant fluid moving once it warmed up? Is this the bubbling you are refering too? This is normal. 

 

 A leaking HG usually causes a greater bubbling & you would be losing collant & temp gauge will rise. Unless it is the start of a HG leak, you may see this. A full blown gasket leak will result in oil in the coolant fluid &/or coolant in the engine oil. 

 

Was fluid low? Have you seen the temp rise?

 

My wife's Commodore looses coolant somewhere. Prolly a hose & loses coolant. Can't tell by checking reservoir tank level but, there is always air in the system & needs a litre of top up @ times & bleeding. Air in the system isn't a good thing. 

[allpaw4]

Have a small leak from one of the coolant hose connections on the turbo, so have been topping up every now and again. I was just greeted with froth this morning, which scared me a bit. There wasnt any big bubbles, but the froth continued for a minute or 2. I havent tried any real tests or anything as I was in a bit of a rush this morning. Guage has been rock solid. Level comes up as it gets hotter, which is normal. Might have to whip the coolant line off that join, replace the hose and clean up the connection a bit I reckon.

 

So head gasket bubbles are fairly large normally?

[aekOne]

Are you getting any milky residue (and in your oil)? How does your overflow tank look? You getting any white smoke or excessive water out if the exhaust?

[MadB4]

Have a small leak from one of the coolant hose connections on the turbo, so have been topping up every now and again. I was just greeted with froth this morning, which scared me a bit. There wasnt any big bubbles, but the froth continued for a minute or 2. I havent tried any real tests or anything as I was in a bit of a rush this morning. Guage has been rock solid. Level comes up as it gets hotter, which is normal. Might have to whip the coolant line off that join, replace the hose and clean up the connection a bit I reckon.

 

So head gasket bubbles are fairly large normally?

 

Ben, replace the hose. Not worth a bigger prob later......At moment, your prolly just sucking in some air into the system right here. Bubble would be more aggressive you'd suspect if it was your HG. Wouldn't be concerned until you swap the hose, esp if your not losing coolant & temp isn't going up

[allpaw4]

Awesome, thanks for that dude. Having never seen a head gasket failure, I did not enjoy seeing those bubbles this morning. I'll just do the hose when I get to days off on wednesday, and hopefully that cures the issue.

 

Aek, haven't had a chance to look at the overflow bottle or the oil condition yet. Its due for its oil change too, so might be doing that on wednesday too. Will check it tonight though.

 

Cheers,

Ben

[alexGT]

good sign of HG failure is overflow filling up but not being pulled back into system after it engine cools (off)

[acres]

As alexxx said. Also the overflow bottle will smell of exhaust if you pop the cap and quickly shove your nose in there for a whiff. 

[CodeBurn3r]

Hard to tell the smell exactly if you havent smelt it before though..

 

but as Alexxx said.. over flow bottle full.. HG fail

milky oil.. HG fail

Dripping from Passenger side head... HG Fail

Waterfountain from the Overflow.. HG Fail

[CRUISN]

Green coolant coming out of the exhaust... HG fail.

 

This happened to mine along with the of the overflow bottle, errr overflowing.

 

This when it properly let go. Before hand was large airbubbles when running with rad cap off.

[allpaw4]

Tis all good. All videos and things I have looked at online say that a head gasket is usually large bubbles, temperature variation and overflowing overflow bottle. I have none of those. At this stage it's being temporarily blamed on the turbo coolant line letting air into the system. Will be cleaning it up with a dremel and wire brush attachment tomorrow before a trip away, so time will tell if it is a HG.