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tuforteee
05-14-2013, 02:42 PM
Recently i bought a car the owner claimed to be in excellent condition. Car drove fine, water pump appeared to be new, no white exhaust, no milky oil. I drove it home and on the way home i saw the temp creep up once when i drove up to a toll booth (220 mile trip). I figured theres some air in the cooling system. Once home i saw that there was some "stop-leak" shit in the coolant.

Thats where my battle begins. The "stop-leak" stuff was all over the radiator cap and neck area, so i figured maybe the radiator cap needs to be replaced. Replaced that and bled the air, car seemed better, but the overheating problem came back shortly. I flushed the engine out to get rid of the "stop-leak". Car would idle and be fine, but then when i drove it around it would overheat again. I bled the air a few times and each time it would overheat after a longer period of time. Sometimes it would drive fine for an hour and would stay dead on in the middle. But the overheating would come back when i least expect it. Its not "jumping", it just steadily goes from operating temperature to hot. When car was fine, both upper and lower hoses were hot. When it would overheat, the lower rad hose and radiator would stay cold.

So i figured maybe its a faulty thermostat. I ordered a new OEM thermostat online. While waiting for the thermostat to come in, i took the old one out and the car drove fine for the first 2 days (30 mile trip no problem). When i took the old tstat out i also put the coolant flush stuff to get rid of the "stop-leak" deposits in the system. But yesterday when i drove the car the temp went up to 2/3 of the way and stayed there. I popped the hood and the coolant overflow tank was full and i saw some small bubbles come up (like 1 small bubbles every 1-2 seconds, as if the coolant was boiling, but not all the way)

My question is: Is my headgasket done? I'm thinking that the exhaust gas is being pushed into my coolant at a slow rate, creating "air bubbles". I was trying to find the "exhaust gas in coolant" detector (the fluid that changes color from blue to yellow) but they dont have it at my local autoparts store. What other tests should i perform before tearing off the head just to be absolutely certain its the headgasket?

Sorry for the long read, just want to make sure i covered everything. Your thoughts are appreciated, thanks

tuforteee
05-14-2013, 02:46 PM
Crap, i realized i posted this in general chat, maybe the tech section would be more appropriate? Mods please feel free to move it to tech, i dont want to clutter up zilvia by making another thread there

locoluna825
05-14-2013, 03:13 PM
Sounds exactly like a leaky head gasket. I currently have this exact problem with my rb20. Napa autoparts sells a "block tester", autozone also rents them and it is called an engine block test. there are a few videos on youtube on how to use them. Including ones with reviews of "liquid mechanic" (head gasket sealant) with before and after tests with a block tester. I don't suggest using that stuff though for a leaky headgasket. If you end up testing positive for exhaust gases in your coolant you should have the cylinder head checked out and the headgasket replaced.

Dagostino480
05-14-2013, 03:50 PM
take it to a smog shop and have them put the sniffer at the top of the radiator. If there is any hc's in the system that means your coolant is exposed to exhaust/combustion and the headgasket needs replacement.

soryu
05-14-2013, 04:06 PM
if there were a leak wouldn't the coolant reservoir be bubbling?
I was having the same problem car would overheat at random times.
the overheat would last around 2min max then go back to normal temp.
I removed the thermostat no overheating for two weeks. dropped thermostat back in overheat within 10 min. therm tested and good.
lately I filled up the radiator up to before it reaches the neck no overheating so far been 2 wks.
car is failing smog HC's are at max 88

MamangSorbetero
05-14-2013, 05:42 PM
My car had this problem. It just started randomly overheating and it would peg at 3/4 of the way. Coolant would boil in the reservoir

Found out later the radiator was leaking from the plastic housing. I replaced the rad with a Koyorad and the overheating issue went away. Never overheated since then

tuforteee
05-14-2013, 09:14 PM
I think i'll see if the Autozone near me has the "combustion leak tester kit". Some neat stuff, here's a vid of it in action:

2004 Subaru STi blown head gasket diagnostic. - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRdTGBlFFCI)

If i get a hold of it and do the test, i'll report back with my findings

yetijeff
05-14-2013, 09:34 PM
If it does have a blown h/g and u don't want to/ can't afford to do it, az sells this stuff called blue devil. It's garuntee or double your money back. I was skeptical when I first tried it but it really works. I've done it on like 4-5 different cars and if u follow the instruction EXACTLY it will work. I've even done it on a car with a cracked head...

locoluna825
05-15-2013, 02:48 AM
Do make sure like some have pointed out that you don't have any kinds of leaks on your cooling system. A leak is not only a leak but a potential way for air to get into your cooling system and cause cavitation and cause you to overheat.

wangan_cruiser
05-15-2013, 09:16 AM
I would check the waterpump before anything else. And what motor is this again?

tuforteee
05-15-2013, 04:42 PM
Forgot to mention it's a stock s14 KA... I ran some coolant flush through it and I can see a slight white smoke out of the exhaust... I did the combustion leak test in the radiator and it's a negative, so no exhaust gasses in it... I was gonna do a cylinder leak down test next, but there some shit in #1 spark plug hole, so I can't take the spark plug out... It looks like the old coil rubber thing ripped off and got wedged in there... I'll have to take the valve cover off and try to get it with vice grips... I'll report back tomorrow

WV_SR20
05-15-2013, 04:59 PM
Forgot to mention it's a stock s14 KA... I ran some coolant flush through it and I can see a slight white smoke out of the exhaust... I did the combustion leak test in the radiator and it's a negative, so no exhaust gasses in it... I was gonna do a cylinder leak down test next, but there some shit in #1 spark plug hole, so I can't take the spark plug out... It looks like the old coil rubber thing ripped off and got wedged in there... I'll have to take the valve cover off and try to get it with vice grips... I'll report back tomorrow

I've had the end of the spark plug wires come off on top of the plug like I think you're talking about. Depending on how much of it is left down in there make sure when trying to extract it not to break the plastic tube I guess you would call it, they're not the sturdiest thing out there.

tuforteee
05-15-2013, 05:46 PM
I think it's just the rubber piece, it sticks just enough to cover the "nut" part of the spark plug, so the socket can't grab it... It shouldn't be too bad to get it out, I'll just take the valve cover off to get better access, I was gonna change the gasket anyway
EDIT: I got it out.

Now i have a question, is compression testing the engine a definitive test for a blown headgasket? I feel like my symptoms are very inconsistent, so it's hard to tell. Car runs great, sometimes overheats, sometimes it doesnt, when i start the engine coolant shoots out of the radiator neck, but theres no fumes in the coolant (unless i fubared the test). Would a compression test give me a definite YES or NO?

yetijeff
05-15-2013, 07:59 PM
I think it's just the rubber piece, it sticks just enough to cover the "nut" part of the spark plug, so the socket can't grab it... It shouldn't be too bad to get it out, I'll just take the valve cover off to get better access, I was gonna change the gasket anyway
EDIT: I got it out.

Now i have a question, is compression testing the engine a definitive test for a blown headgasket? I feel like my symptoms are very inconsistent, so it's hard to tell. Car runs great, sometimes overheats, sometimes it doesnt, when i start the engine coolant shoots out of the radiator neck, but theres no fumes in the coolant (unless i fubared the test). Would a compression test give me a definite YES or NO?

No. Could be other issues like bent valves etc. but in ur case (u hadn't mentioned any performance issues) I would say yes sort of. Lol

tuforteee
05-15-2013, 08:10 PM
Hah ok, the car runs pretty good, theres no power loss as far as i can tell... So if my compression numbers come back somewhat consistent across the board, i can rule out the headgasket as the cause of my overheating?

MrSanchez925
05-15-2013, 08:23 PM
have you taken the the rad to get cleaned out?
That stop a leak stuff reaks havoc on a cooling system... clogging stuff all over the place...

Have you pressure tested the cooling system yet?

tuforteee
05-15-2013, 08:35 PM
I flushed the radiator out, flows good. I also put the radiator flush stuff in it, which is currently in the car. I will do a compression test and pressure test the radiator tomorrow. Will update with results and go from there. Thanks bros for all the input, i really appreciate it

ixfxi
05-15-2013, 08:50 PM
.............

http://zilvia.net/f/chat/514590-stuff-radiator.html

You need to realize that the stock gauge on the 240 is a dummy gauge - its either cold, normal, or overheat. It does not move precisely like an aftermarket gauge will.

For some reason I've got a hunch that this car is going to need its head serviced

Yup and when the headgasket does go you'll need to have the head surfaced if it's still useable, new gasket, labour if you're not confident to do all this work yourself, coolant AGAIN, oil, etc. Will cost you a lot more there than what you would be spending on the piece of mind of a new radiator now.

Overheating can fuck up your engine really fast, its better to be safe than sorry... If you don't know what you're doing, bring it to someone who does


Well he has done 2 of the 4 things racepar1 told him to do in his initial post. Lets see if he's smart enough to do the other 2 before its too late.

How much do you want for your blown ka?

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/31251967.jpg
http://comedycentral.mtvnimages.com/images/shows/chappelle/videos/season1/102_educatedguess_v6.jpg

ixfxi
05-15-2013, 08:51 PM
oh.... and i forgot to say


you're a fucking moron. you need a mechanic, not a forum.

tuforteee
05-15-2013, 08:58 PM
lol you mad? you're a retarded piece of shit, go back to gluing your taillights or whatever the fuck it is that you do

soryu
05-15-2013, 09:05 PM
Oh Zilvia.

tuforteee
05-16-2013, 03:20 PM
Did compression test 150 150 160 145... Other than the 15psi difference between #3 and 4 it looks good... I also pressure tested the rad and discovered a small drip on one of the coolant hoses (the clamp wasnt tightened at all), i fixed that and repressurized it again. Seems like I have a slow leak somewhere still.. I drained the coolant and pressurized the system with air to listen for air leaks, but couldn't hear anything... I took the spark plugs out and listened to see if I hear anything in the chambers, but sounded the same with and without pressure... Tomorrow I'll stop by home depo and buy rubber caps and clamps to pressure test just the rad, will report back tomorrow... Your thought pertaining to my situation are appreciated, if you're here to boost your self esteem GTFO