Ken99287

I have a stock 92 si.

It recently started overheating slightly. The oil is clean and the coolant is clean. There is a slight white smoke coming from the tailpipe and after shutting down, its cranking a little longer before sputtering to life, but once it starts, it seems to run just fine!

I've replaced the radiator with a known good, removed the thermostat, still same thing.

My cluster has always been goofy intermittently. Currently, both turn signal indicator lights on the cluster are dimly lit all the time, and when the turn signals are turned on, everything flashes and the rpm needle goes nuts.

Could the overheating be imaginary? But the cluster was always goofy like that intermittently, so maybe I really am overheating??

Either way, the head gasket must be on its way out if its smoking white out the pipe (even if just a little bit).

Oh, I couldn't tell for sure, but there seems to be a little coolant drip from the tyranny area... I see it dripping to the ground from the underside of the tyranny, kinda the underside of where the speed sensor is.

Any help would be great, I'm stuck riding my motorcycle and its gonna rain tomorrow!

Does anyone have experience with the "Blue Devil" head gasket in a bottle stuff?

Ken99287

Darn auto correct on my tablet! Not tyranny, but tranny!

CFiannotti

Replace the HG,IF a pressure test on any cylinder shows you have very low compression.The head isn't sealing, and you are losing coolant from the bottom of the head / block joint, and its draining down that way. The long crank and sputter is an early sign.

Ken99287

OK, what's the secret to using the compression tester? I almost got the thing stuck in the head one time!

Could my water pump have crapped out (corroded fins) and caused overheat which caused hg failure?

jbpnoman

Uh, if you almost got it stuck, you're probably using the wrong one. Your compression tester should screw into the spark plug threads, and it should have an O ring to seal the system. Easy to screw in, easy to screw out, all by hand.

I wouldn't bother with the compression test. Just go straight to the leakdown test and work from there.

Ken99287

Yeah, I know it goes into the spark plug threads, but after I screwed it on, it wouldn't screw back off, that joint between the rubber hose and the brass fitting just kept spinning. So I was trying to spin it off by the hose, and the brass fitting wouldn't spin. Eventually, I think I tugged on the hose hard while spinning to increase the friction at the joint. I eventually came back out... maybe the thing was defective? It was an autozone loaner.

So a leakdown tester is basically a fitting that fits the spark plug hole, same as compression tester with o-ring and all) hooked to a hose and an air fitting with a pressure gauge in between?

At what psi should I test to? Testing is on the downstroke?

Thanks so much!

jbpnoman

** How To/DIY ** - Leakdown Test

ek951

Look on youtube on how to do the leak down test Eric the car guy i think is his name, gives a real good explanation on how to do it. Also check underneath the oil cap and look to see if there is a little bit of white looking S*** on it that can be a sign of water oil mixture and another thing to do is take off the radiator cap WHEN THE CAR IS COOLED DOWN of course and start the car and see if there is water constantly overflowing from the radiator can mean you'll need a head gasket replaced