I think muh headgasket is toast

[KwKouki]

Heading up the keys tonight I take a gander down and yet again my temp needle is pegged full hot. I pull off the highway and I have steam pouring from the passenger side. It was extremely dark and could only see steam, nothing spitting out. I can see coolant mist on my valve cover, and can hear it from around the bottom of the engine.

I JUST replaced the thermo with a nismo unit. And the car has been fine until tonight.

Anyhoo, I let the car cool off for about 45 minutes. Got back in to see if it would even out. And the needle went from 1/4 below to full hot in under 3 minutes.

What am I looking at now? I can only think headgasket since pretty much EVERYTHING has been replaced. I dont understand why it would get so hot so fast.

[womenbeshoppin]

that sucks man, are u sure the thermo is working properly?

[Silverbullet]

was the thermostat a recent install? Perhaps you didn't bleed the coolant system properly and over heated and blew your HG.

[DrtyRat]

have you changed/checked your water pump? I blew my hg a few yrs ago b/c i replaced everything but the water pump. you can check it by taking off the rad. cap (when the car is cooled down), start the car and lok down in the rad. while looking, rev the engine and see if the water is flowing. If its just sittin there and bubbling up it could be you water pump, if the pump has already been replaced and it happens then you probably ahve a bad hg.

[s13pignose]

Hmm thats strange when I got my nismo stat in stalled my temp gauge stays lower than before. It use to spike up to h at random times in the past until I got a flush and new rad hoses with the nismo t-stat. I'm not sure if this is 100% correct, but I think I heard someone say if you blow a HG check your oil cap to see if its contaminated with coolant..should look milky? Also maybe if you can see down in the valve cover where you put oil in. How is your exhaust coming out..far as color.

[jackjack]

was the thermostat a recent install? Perhaps you didn't bleed the coolant system properly and over heated and blew your HG.


thats what i'm thinking. i had to bleed my system 2-3 times when i changed my thermo and water pump. it had a lot of air.

[KwKouki]

We had a few bubbles, so we flushed the system. The thermostat has been working fine, I havent had a problem until last night.

Im gonna check for any oil discoloration and pull my waterpump when I get it back to my house.

[jackjack]

i know you said you replace everything...... have you changed the water pump?

[ms!3]

hopefully its just air in the system. it can take a while sometimes. Took me a good bit to bleed mine. didn't think id ever get all of the air out.

[KwKouki]

The oil is a bit dark *overdue for a change* but it doesnt look discolored. We got a flashlight under it and there is alot of residue by the lower rad hose. I am guessing thats where the loss of coolant is coming from. I popped my rad cap and it was almost empty, it took about an entire jug of coolant.

We filled it up, burped the system, and got it home. It took about a 13 minute drive, the needle was just a bit higher than halfway so it is still running hot. Im gonna get some good rad hoses and reflush the entire coolant system again.

[jackjack]

well, so far so good. let us know how it turns out.

[njd07]

same shit happened to me...just fix the leak(probably a loose lower rad hose) and it should be good. headgasket should be fine if you didnt let it overheat too much.

[KwKouki]

YAY!!!!!!!! its not the HG. There is a hose DIRECTLY underneath the intake manifold. Its popped a pin sized leak. when we caught it, we only saw a very very very tiny drip every 10 seconds. When the car heats up, it becomes a very fine mist, when the car has been running a while its a full out stream of coolant and steam. I just caught it right now driving downtown. I understand why my radiator is emptying so fast. The puddle was incredible. I put water in it to get my home, now I have to get the hose off *which is in a BITCH of a location* and flush the entire coolant system now.

[soreballz]

^I know exactly which hose you speak of, and how much it sucks ass to replace.
You better hope you didn't damage the head or headgasket when you overheated.

[Addicted2Kouki]

^I know exactly which hose you speak of, and how much it sucks ass to replace.
You better hope you didn't damage the head or headgasket when you overheated.

word.
its a bitch to get to.

your cooling system just wasnt holding pressure.
replace hose. easy fix.
hopefully thats it.


good luck.

[s13pignose]

Least it's not HG