I did search and found a few threads on this, but not exactly what I'm looking for, so here we go... Suppose you think you have a blown head gasket. How would you rank following self-service, "no-disassembly-required" tests as most effective at determining what's going on? Coolant loss with no visible indications of leaks Visual inspection of coolant for oil (oil and water don't mix) Visual inspection of dipstick and valve cover breathers for white sludge Visual inspection of dipstick and valve cover breathers for "chocolate milk" oil Visual inspection of spark plugs (for what I'm not sure - lol) Visual check of tailpipe emissions for water drips/vapor Hydrocarbon (vapor) test of coolant (local auto parts store) Remove spark plug and crank engine (any coolant coming out could indicate leaking into cylinders) Remove radiator cap and run engine (see if coolant/air sprays out - indicating blow-by from the clylinders) These two require specialized tools not available to everyone... Compression / leak-down test cylinders Pressure test cooling system Exhaust gas (sniffer) test Of course physical disassembly is best. But short of that, what do you think is most definitive?
So...................do you think you have a blown head gasket???????????? One thing about a leak-down tester, it really needs to done after the motor has come up to temperature because I've heard a few people say it makes no difference.....................and it really doesn't work well on a cold motor. IMHO
Simplest/most obvoius indicator: Coolant loss with no visible leaks...Bend down and sniff your tail pipe with car warmed up and running(dont sniff for too long)...If you "Smell" hot coolant at the tail pipe...You have a bad head gasket. If you have milk like oil/sludge in crank case...Sniff it...Does it smell like coolant??? if so...Head gasket,crack in cyl bore/head or leaking intake gasket. The most difinitive simple test is the sniff the tail pipe test...If its a bad head gasket, you will know. If it isnt obvoius...Pull the rad cap (cold! engine) Run it up to temp and watch for bubbles/geyser out of rad or once again...Use your nose and sniff the rad whille car is running...If you smell exhaust in the radiator...Head gasket is bad...Good luck!!!
Something to be careful about when dealing with Ford Windsor small blocks. I've seen more than one case of coolant in the exhaust, where as they were sure they had a blown head gasket, but what had happened was they did'nt have a good seal around the water jacket and soon after, the coolant was being sucked into the #1 cylinder. Take care when installing the intake to get a good seal
Here's another one I just heard from a friend: Take your dipstick inside the house and put a few drops of oil on the burner of your coffee maker. Turn it on and if you hear any sizzling, you have water in the oil. To answer the obvious question: yes, I'm worried I have a problem and doing my online research (like a good boy) I see the question everywhere and thought a definitive checklist here on our forum might be beneficial to me and others down the road. As for my problem, here are my points of concern... I am loosing coolant somewhere I have a white pasty substance in the valve cover breathers, dipstick tube, and clinging to the dipstick Engine seems to heat up pretty darn fast (in my opinion) Here are my observations... I can't see any signs of leaking anywhere around the engine/car - no drips, stains, streaking, puddles, nothing My oil is crystal clear - no muddiness at all (just pasty stuff as mentioned) I did the white paper test behind the tailpipe - not a drop or spec of anything came out on startup...or after sitting overnight...or after 5 minutes when hot...or after full warm-up and cool down I removed the radiator cap and brought the car up to temp - saw lots of water movement in the radiator (has a hi-vol water pump) but no blasting liquids, steam spouts, or obvious exhaust smell Pulled no.2 and no.8 plugs - they looked perfect with light brown coating (didn't pull the other side yet) I have not done the chemical hydrocarbon test yet. Guess that will be next. However, here is something interesting: Yesterday (when I did all the above) a few minutes after I shutoff the car my son heard a "sizzle" from the engine bay. We dashed over to look and found just a couple of water drops leaking from the driver side valve cover breather, dripping down onto the valve cover, and then onto the header. There were literally only 2-3 drops total and we would have missed it normally. So, if I do NOT have a blown head gasket / warped or cracked head / cracked block, the ONLY other explanation I have so far is condensation forming inside the parts of the engine that cool off first: dipstick, breathers, etc. However, the temp outside was about 95-deg yesterday and everything I've read online about condensation buildup (which does manifest as a white pasty substance) is always in cold climates/weather. Other ideas and opinions are certainly welcome...
the pasty white substance is a pretty good indicator that you have a problem. i doubt its condesation. your at the point where you need to pull the heads. any more testing is a waste of time.
You've got a minor leak here. It's just enough to flash to steam in the crankcase, but not enough to mix with the oil in the pan. The milky stuff is what happens when you let the car sit overnight and it condenses back into a liquid as it cools off. Take the car out for a 2 hour drive, then park it overnight. If you've still got that milky stuff in the valve covers the next morning, you've definately got a leak.
Take the car to a shop and pay to run the coolant test. It is faster and less expensive than pulling the heads and it will show if you do have compression leaking into the coolant. I have seen lots of engines with the white / yellow goo in the valve covers and on the dipstick that was from condensation. Do the trouble-shooting before you do the hard work and find you don't need it.
Let's see...331 stroker + 3300 stall + 4:10 gears I'll have to take out a home equity loan to drive around that long.
are you kidding. not every body will build there cars just like yours. it looks like its built to race and occasionally drive on the street. not to commute in. thats probly why he built it.
