How can you tell if the problem with your engine is a damaged head gasket or a burnt exhaust valve? The “only” signs my engine has issues is that I am getting air out the radiator overflow jug. Besides that the car is running fine. I am getting no white smoke out the tail pipe, I have no loss of oil, I have no white gunk on the oil stick. I am getting about 20-21 mpg in the city. There is no fluid coming from the engine. I do have low compression in the No. 1 cylinder but the engine runs very well. How do I tell without tearing down the entire engine?
Low compression or an inability to hold pressure?
My guess is that you have a bad headgasket. Rule of thumb is that you can detect a bad valve with a vacuum gage (wobbling needle, the instructions come with the gage…it’s really simple) and a blown headgasket with a pressure leakdown tes (again, pretty simple, you pump air into the cylinder through the spark plug hole see if it holds and using a pressure gage).
I’m guessing a bad headgasket because the bubbles coming out the radiator cap hole are probably compression gasses being blown through the headgasket breech and migrating up to the cooling system high point…the radiator hole. That would be typical of a blowm headgasket. Usually the hot gasses will cause overheating too, and the intake strokes will pull pull coolant back through the breech and blow it out as a white cloud, but perhaps yours is a variation on the sympton set.
I have 0 issue of overheating. The car warms up fine and the gauge stays at just about the half way point the entire time, no matter what, and driving in city stop and go. I have no “gunk” on the oil stick. I would kinda think that my gas milage would be bad and the engine would knock or run rough and it doesn’t. I have put 3000 miles on it since getting it in July, and there has been no change in how the engine performs at all.
I don’t see how a burned valve would put air into the coolant system. Burned valve would lower compression, and perhaps cause some backfires and misfires. It would take a bad head gasket to allow compressed air/fuel mix into the coolant.
I agree with mountainbike and Uncle Turbo.
Even though you don’t yet have coolant contamination/dilution of the motor oil, bear in mind that this can change rapidly as the head gasket continues to degrade and develop additional breaches.
I would suggest that you make a decision soon regarding whether to fix it or dump the car. That way, you can “get all of your ducks in a row”, rather than having to make a snap decision.
By the way, welcome back mountainbike!
I was starting to get worried about you since we had not heard from you in…perhaps a couple of weeks.
Try a pressure leakdown test. I’ll bet my morning muffin you have a headgasket breech.
By the way Uncle T, I agree.
Thank you sincerely VDC. It’s been a month. I had a heart attack. The fuel I was using had too many additives!
I’m glad to see that you’re back, but I’m really sorry to hear the reason for your absence.
May God grant you a swift and complete recovery.
Thanks. God’s already done more than his part. He created all foods healthy and gave me the freedom of choice. It was what the deep fryers and the processing plants did to the things he gave us, combined with my having the freedom to choose but not the wisdom, that got me where I am.
I owe god an apology. I’ve squandered his gifts. And yet he’s given me still another chance. He truely must be forgiving.
mountainbike
Learn to love fish!
I eat salmon/sardines/tuna/mackeral (the so-called fatty fish) about 3 times per week, coupled with lots of vegetables and olive oil, and my MD attributes my good cardiac health to that type of diet. The rest of my body is going to wrack & ruin, but my heart is apparently in good shape.
Mountainbike: Sorry about your heart attack. Glad to see you made it through.
As VDCdriver noted, I hope you’re blessed with a smooth and full recovery.
I had a leakdown test done on the no. 1 cylinder and I got air out the radiator overflow jug and out the tailpipe. I only paid $450 for this car, if it is the headgasket, I am thinking about trying Steel Seal and see what that does. I am just going to drive the car till it dies, and then redonate it back to the Goodwill. You can’t expect much for $450.
I don’t know anything about “Steel Seal” in particular, but I’m not a fan of these types of sealers. They can plug up the leak, but they can plug up all kinds of other stuff too. You’ve got 5 cylinders working OK, that should be enough to get you around until the car croaks.
If you use the sealer it might help, but it might just make something else worse. If the motor isn’t overheating then it should last for a bit longer.
Part of me agrees. The car starts, it runs, it is getting about 20 mpg and isn’t leaking anything except for the antfreeze being pushed out the overflow jug which amounts to about a cup a week. I don’t drive the car on the freeway, it never gets above 60 mph and I have 0 signs of problem with the engine outside of the presure on the radiator issue. My goal is for the car to last to mid summer (about a year) and then move on to another beater.
Sincere thanks to you both.
Those tests seem to indicate a head gasket problem. If you use any radiator gunk, read the instructions and follow them exactly or you won’t get the right results.
When you get that leak fixed, expect to change the heater core or radiator because the pressure is going to cause one of them to leak, then when that is fixed, the other one will let go. You won’t be able to additive those problems.
One stop leak equals $950.
Agree; fix the head gasket; it will only get worse if you do nothing!
Well with this “Steel Seal” there is a garage here where I live that will do it for me. Now I don’t know what they charge but I would rather have a professional due it. I just replaced the radiator, as for the heater core I can live without heat as I am not even using it now and the “vent” warms the car enough.
Will a head gasket issue effect a cat converter?
A headgasket issue won’t generally affect a cat converter because the vapor it produces doesn’t coat the catalyst, but rather blows through the honeycomb and out the exhaust…unless an oil passage is involved, and I see nothing in the thread to make me suspect that.
I’ve never used “Steel Seal”, as I either repair a problem or live with it. I don;t generally like additives in lieu of repairs, but since the goal is to just get next summer “on the cheap” and the car is already a beater perhaps it’s worth trying. Additives are great for these scenerios. If it doesn;t halp, you’ve really lost nothing, and of it does you’ve accomplished your goal.
If left unrepaired, how long can a bad headgasket last? If you monitor the engine temp and keep fluids up and clean (oil) how long will it last? Will the engine performance just start getting worse or will the engine just go in one big glunk out of the blue?