Suspected Headgasket??

[Guest]

OK, well had the radiator tank replaced about a month ago as there was a few cracks in the tank and the system was overheating as using up all the coolant and water etc. Had only been driving it around town for the past month, then took it out of town on sunday. Was fine on the way to the destination (about 30mins of 100km/h driving). then on the way back the check engine light came on and the temp needle rose up to high, i pulled over straight away and white smoke was pouring out the engine bay, and the over flow radiator tank was bubbling away like a hot stove top. Waited about 45mins to an hour for engine to cool down as it was extremely hot, was able to take radiator cap off to find no coolant or anything in there or the overflow tank. Lucky had a water bottle with me (only 1.5 litres) so topped it up as much as i could and drove home slowly at bout 60km/h. Took it into the garage this morning where the radiator was first fixed and they seem to think the head gasket is blown and are going to do a Teekay test on it for free for me and let me know. Obviously i will be waiting to here the results at some stage today, but thought id ask on here if this sounds like a head gasket problem, or blocked radiator, blocked heater core or airlock in block? any help would be appreciated. cheers

[Shale]

Sounds familiar. Not much use to you no doubt, but been there done that with a 1990 Legacy. Fired boiling failure out the overflow and tried to climb into the red after it'd warmed up. It turned out the first time it was a broken waterpump, but the previous owner had done the damage and from there it kept doing it despite the new waterpump. The headgaskets showed no signs of being blown, but we suspect a warped block at this point - or damaged heads.

With the other Legacy, its overheating antics are possibly a blocked heater core. Can't get it to run to test.

Best to wait til the results come back on yours.

[Guest]

Just had the call from the mechanic, he ran the teekay test on it this morning and it didnt change colour, he then ran it again this afternoon for about an hour to be sure and again it didnt go green or yellow like it would if there was a blown head gasket. Does that mean that its def not a blown head gasket? he then went on to say that the bottom radiator hose was still cold whilst the top radiator hose was really hot which he seems to think is a faulty thermostat? what you guys think? cheers

[Guest the_return_of_the_jedi]

thermostat has closed shut.. guarantee it.

[Bazza-NZ]

 the_return_of_the_jedi said:

thermostat has closed shut.. guarantee it.

+1, Replace the thermostat

If the top hose is hot but bottom one is cold it means there is no flow in the cooling system, thus cuasing the overheating as the hot water is staying in the block and not traveling around

IF replacing the thermostat doesn't fix the issue then it might pay to look at the waterpump

[Durty-Sanchez]

 Bazza-NZ said:

+1, Replace the thermostat

If the top hose is hot but bottom one is cold it means there is no flow in the cooling system, thus cuasing the overheating as the hot water is staying in the block and not traveling around

IF replacing the thermostat doesn't fix the issue then it might pay to look at the waterpump

This

[Guest the_return_of_the_jedi]

also... dont start replacing everything just yet ie: water pump , thermostat, radiator, hoses, coolant etc etc.

get a compression test done first and check the ppm of Co2 in the coolant ( if there is any ) this can be an indication of exhaust gases mixing with oil/water via blown head gasket..

well thats what i did in my wagon,, ended up costing over a grand to do HG ( the heads were slightly warped )

[Guest]

hmmm very weird, just got a call from mechanic, he took the thermostat out and tested it and it is still opening etc like it should. So it appears that the thermostat is working and doing its job?? so apparently no point in replacing the thermostat. So he said he is going to check other things, but at this stage is not sure what the problem is and he is still not ruling out that it has a blown head gasket

[Guest the_return_of_the_jedi]

also could be the fins in the waterpump...

[Guest]

so you reckon its worth mentioning to him about the waterpump? im sure he should check all that anyway as he said he just gonna go through an elimination process to try and figure out what is causing it. So yea, could still be a blown head gasket. Does that Teekay test not actually confirm whether it is a blown head gasket or not??

[Guest the_return_of_the_jedi]

id say let the man do his job

how many kms has your car done and when was the last time the cam belt was done?

[Durty-Sanchez]

Could be water pump, sounds a crap load like what happened to me. Split hoses caused the coolant to boil, I fixed the hoses but corrosion had set in. Driving along and the temp would go through the roof and push water out through the overflow bottle. Passed the TK test just fine (detects hydrocarbons in the water), pressure test didn't cause any water to end up in the cylinders so it was unlikely the headgasket. Suspected blocked radiator so was flushed and pipe cleaned.. no difference. Suspected blocked heater core so was flushed, no difference. The damn thing just wouldn't hold water! Suspected busted thermostat so was replaced.. no difference. Looked at water pump and found this:

If they can get in there with a little mirror (like the dentists use) and inspect the fins that'll save pulling it off.. if it's f**ked like mine that'll be what the problem is. Those badboys are bent too, I suspect a massive wad of limescale/corrosion went through it after it had boiled and I was reving the tits off it.

edit: to shrink unruly picture

[Guest the_return_of_the_jedi]

anyone know if non turbo and turbo water pumps are the same?

i got a spare one if they are.. going cheap too

[Guest]

hmm sounds as tho i have the exact same symptoms as you. radiator has been flushed and pipes cleaned. thermostat appears to be doing its job. so could well be the water pump, but will see what the mechanic says after looking around the motor.

Car has done 137,000kms and cambelt was replaced at 105,000kms.

[Bazza-NZ]

 subleggtb said:

hmm sounds as tho i have the exact same symptoms as you. radiator has been flushed and pipes cleaned. thermostat appears to be doing its job. so could well be the water pump, but will see what the mechanic says after looking around the motor.

Car has done 137,000kms and cambelt was replaced at 105,000kms.

was the water pump done at the same time??

[ReubenH]

Should it be water pump, btw. Only buy genuine, seen a fair few after maket ones fail like above, The genuine ones have a different blade design.

Though i'm sure ryan has seen PLENTY stock ones fail too...

[Guest]

Unsure if the waterpump was done at the same time or not, is just marked in the engine bay that the cambelt was done at 105,000kms. And yea i would only buy genuine stuff as from personal experiences i dont trust the aftermarket items for certain things. cheers

[Guest]

You can test the water pump somewhat by removing the thermostat and then starting the engine briefly with the hose dissconnected from the top pipe (the cross over one under the manifold) with the thermostat removed water should gush out of the pipe if the pump is functioning correctly.

[Guest]

went to the workshop this morning to see the mechanic about the car, he is sure the thermostat is fine but is replacing the o ring around it as it looks perished etc. He seems to think the waterpump is ok as its not making the noises it would if it was stuffed. He is going to hook it all up and bleed it properly and full it up etc and then he said to try that for a week or two and see how it goes. That sound look a good approach? suppose that not much else really i can do.

[Guest]

Also, does anyone know how accurate that Teekay test is? as it has been done twice on the car now and the fluid did not change green or yellow which is good. So does that mean the head gaskets are not blown?

[Koom]

 subleggtb said:

Also, does anyone know how accurate that Teekay test is? as it has been done twice on the car now and the fluid did not change green or yellow which is good. So does that mean the head gaskets are not blown?

Don't rely on it. Its not the perfect test as sometimes the sneaky little hydrocarbons can hide from it.

[Shale]

Durty-Sanchez - what you described is exactly what happened to my car. The pump was so far gone though that it made grinding noises...and there wasn't anything left of the blades.

Jedi - don't the 2.0 N/A ones have different inlets/outlets or something to that description? I've changed to a 2.5 N/A one on my 20E so I can fit turbo headers if I get bored, but not sure if it goes in the other direction.

IMO new genuine one is the only way to go. On that note, is there a possibility the pump is heading towards time for change, subleggtb? They're a cambelt change item, every 100,000km. That said - I'll bet the one that came off Frankie was original........200,000km later.

[Guest]

Im not to sure if waterpump needs to be changed Shale. The mechanic seems to think its ok, but then again he wouldnt be sure unless he was to take it out and have a look at it which he said would take about 3-4hours to do which results in that much labour expenses for me. He has just suggested that the o ring be replaced on the thermostat, connected back up, and the system bleed properly and filled with coolant and to try that for a few weeks and see if it still overheats.

[Wiretap]

 subleggtb said:

Im not to sure if waterpump needs to be changed Shale. The mechanic seems to think its ok, but then again he wouldnt be sure unless he was to take it out and have a look at it which he said would take about 3-4hours to do which results in that much labour expenses for me. He has just suggested that the o ring be replaced on the thermostat, connected back up, and the system bleed properly and filled with coolant and to try that for a few weeks and see if it still overheats.

I take it you like wasting time? and who on earth is your mechanic? 3-4 hours? it's a 2 hour job at worst... bite the bullet and replace the pump, they only make noise if the bearing has failed.

[Guest]

wasting time on what wiretap? Im no mechanic so how am i supposed to know if looking at the waterpump should take 3-4 hours or 2hours?