Scion XA Blown Headgasket?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hey all, I was driving my 2005 Scion Xa when it began overheating. I pulled off the road and opened the hood, the coolant reservoir tank had completely filled up and was overflowing with coolant, spilling it everywhere. Checked the engine when it had cooled down in and the radiator was pretty empty, it looks like the engine has blown all the coolant out back through the reservoir tank. I filled the radiator with coolant and was able to get it home. So in my limited knowledge of cars, I’m thinking maybe a blown head gasket? Something with the compression is just blowing the coolant out? I’d like to get some thoughts on what it could be before wasting money on a mechanic poking around at it. Thanks

2

Warm up the engine with the reservoir cap off. Watch for bubbles. If you have a steady stream of bubbles, you have a blown head gaskets.

Then you can “waste” money on a professional who will test it again (for a fee) before they give you an estimate for the repair.

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3

You might need a new radiator cap. I know it’s a very long shot, but I’m the hopeful cheapskate.

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4

Thanks, i will try that

5

Thanks, I will try to replace the radiotor cap, I hadn’t thought it could be something like that but heres hoping.

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Not what I would call the best statement on an automotive Forum that has some very knowledgeable mechanics who try to give good free advice.

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I wasnt trying to insult the people on the forum, I respect your alls opinions more then the local shops, just that taking the car in for a head gasket job would be super expensive. my bad

8

Don’t give them a diagnosis, but don’t be too surprised if they tell you that you need a head gasket.

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9

Might be thermostat also

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10

If you are something of a shade tree mechanic then try the cheap stuff first. Was the radiator fan running when the engine was so hot? It should have been, so if it wasn’t that’s worth investigating too.

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11

Might as well be optimistic. A major overheating incident like that could be caused by a head gasket problem, true enough, but could be any of these too

  • cooling system not holding pressure, hose leak or radiator (pressure) cap problem
  • thermostat problem
  • engine compartment fan problem (especially if this occurred in slow speed driving, idling.)

I’ve had all three of those problems cause overheating incidents on various car, over the years.

When engine overheats it boils the coolant, and the steam can make it look like a head gasket problem. If you see lots and lots of very tiny bubbles, almost looks like a cloud, coming up through a mostly cold radiator as engine idles, worse when bumping engine speed, pretty good chance that’s a head gasket problem.

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12

So ran the engine with the cap off, I didn’t see a noticeable amount of bubbles. I replaced the cap and after running the car again I see the the upper radiotor hose is collapsing. It doesnt appear the system is bringing in any new coolant from the reservoir. Vaccuum in the coolant system?

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Actually checking the new cap it looks different from the old cap, I wonder if its still a cap problem but Autozone gave me wrong part

14

I wonder if you have a plugged radiator or a bad thermostat.

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15

I presume you mean you run the engine to operating temp with pressure cap on, no problem, but when you turn the engine off after 10 minutes or so you notice the upper radiator hose is collapsing. Could mean that hose is kaput and needs replacing . Or could mean there’s a clog in the tubing from the plastic overflow reservoir back to the top of the radiator. I doubt this is a problem with the new radiator cap. Radiator cap problem might prevent coolant from being drawn back into radiator, but then the hose wouldn’t collapse. I had a clog in the tube between the reservoir and the radiator in my truck one time. I removed the tube and couldn’t blow through it. Cleaned it out using compressed air, fixed. Another idea, sometimes radiator hoses have springs in them. Maybe yours has corroded away.

Google ‘radiator hose spring’ for info.

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To check the cap itself try looking at the list of caps in rockauto.com and see if what you got is one of those. Here’s a link to the list:
Rockauto caps

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IF your upper radiator hose is collapsing that obviously implies a vacuum in the cooling system. There SHOULD be a vacuum: the water pump is drawing coolant through the lower radiator hose, through the radiator and through the upper radiator hose from the engine. The lower hose has a coiled spring inside it to keep it from collapsing, the radiator itself is made of metal and won’t collapse, the upper hose has no spring in it because it’s not normally needed. So the collapsing upper hose is because there’s an abnormal vacuum seen at the upper hose. Like if the thermostat is stuck closed.

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When a hot engine cools down there is a vacuum formed by the air and coolant in the system shrinking as it gets cooler. It’s supposed to draw coolant from the overflow tank back into the system, through a one way valve in the radiator cap. If that valve is stuck open it will draw back coolant, but when it’s hot it will blast coolant out of the system into the overflow. That’s why I wrote that the OP should check the radiator cap.

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