head gasket question

[nicku]

I have few questions here.

1. Will you feel anything other than seeing smoke from the exhaust by driving the car if the headgasket is blown? Like feels one of the cylinders is not working right or something like that?

2. My friend who is a mechanic has a tester to test headgasket is good or bad. It is like a test tube you stick into your radiator, and you pour in a dark blue liquid. After that you start the car for a couple minutes. And the liquid will start bubbling. If the liquid turns to yellowish color, then that means your headgasket is leaking. If it remains blue, then your headgasket is bad. My result is the headgasket is bad because the liquid did turn yellow. And it does have a lot of blue smoke from the exhaust. But I am just wondering has anyone heard about this tester?

3. My car has hesitation below 3500 rpm, it is really bad. It feels like misfiring + like one of the cylinders is not working. but once the turbo kicks in, it feels a lot smoother. And the car dies by itself. Would it be the headgasket? Timing? or something else? We checked the maf, tps, grounding. and we changed the spark plugs. The injectors work fine, and also we have checked the coilpack as well.

[HalveBlue]

Symptoms of a leaking headgasket are usually one, or a combination, of the following:

-White smoke from the exhaust.
-Constant overheating of the engine.
-Loss of power.
-Having to refill the coolant/coolant leaks.

I haven't heard of the test that your friend performed, per say. The usual way to check for head gasket problem is through a series of compression tests, either at the radiator or on the engine itself. A leakdown test would also reveal head gasket problems.

Bluish smoke is usually indicative of burning oil, which is entirely possible with a blown headgasket.

Good Luck!

[Sileighty_85]

Does your oil look like chocolate milk? or do any of your cylinders look shiney?

[S13Leprechaun]

1. yes you experience everything HalveBlue posted.
2. never heard of the tester.
3. the hesitation, i doubt it, but could have something to do with it.. usually you just lose power altogether tho.

[drift freaq]

ahem compression tests do not show blown headgaskets unless they are blown bad. Cylinder leak down will tell you more. Though with a headgasket just starting to go you can actually drive the car. what you will start to notice is an occasional miss. You will also notice water or coolant loss without seeing it anywhere. Another thing that will happen is if your car has been sitting for several hours or overnite the water will seep into the cylinder, causeing your engine not to start right away because its pumping it out.
All of this stuff is signs of a headgasket going. Once it gets worse you will start puffing white smoke, first in small amounts and then progressively more. Another thing you may see is exhaust gasses going into your radiator. percolation of your coolant and geysering. Headgaskets don't blow instantly. They take time due to numerous reasons.
clogged or stuck thermostat
clogged bad or leaky radiator
small coolant leak causing overheating thats not fixed
overheating repeatedly
Overheating your car once will not blow the headgasket unless something else is already wrong