first the pic


okay, i started up my car this morning and started heading out my neighborhood when i heard a LOUD ticking noise. i turn the car around and bring it back home and it started smoking white.

popped the hood, filled radiator fluid wit water as a quick fix to see if it would stop smoke. turned the car on, checked the engine and all the water was pooring out that one spot where the green rad fluid is. so i know its leaking.

im thinking headgasket. but does hg cause LOUD ticking noise?
what else might it be? any other gaskets that might leak and cause smoke while ticking?

thanks

 

if you look closely you can see some green around the headgasket and hints of oil. first thing i would do is a leak down and compression check and then go from there

 

well definately losing coolant possibly cracked hose?

 

i figured it was the headgasket. but one of my friends told me it could be another gasket or even something else. also, hg shouldnt make tickign noise correct?

thats why im confused is by the ticking noise.

 

sounds like you have a blown head gasket. drain your oil and see if it is milky if it is then blown head gasket. I dont see were else it could be leaking from in that area. what motor is it? ticking is probably coming from the valves. there is really no telling from just that one pic and what you are describing..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BoostedEG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds like you have a blown head gasket. drain your oil and see if it is milky if it is then blown head gasket. I dont see were else it could be leaking from in that area. what motor is it? ticking is probably coming from the valves. there is really no telling from just that one pic and what you are describing..</TD></TR></TABLE>


b20vtec

just did valve adjustment like a month ago.
and rebuilt the motor 2months ago so it had a new hg.


leaking hg doesnt cause ticking correcT?


Modified by -iLLuZioN-B18C1 at 3:34 PM 11/4/2004

 

pull off the valve cover, check for milky crap on top. And as someone else said drain the oil and look. Just going on the looks of that picture I think its the head gasket.

and the ticking ...maybe the valve adjustment was done incorrectly? (i.e. too tight of a clearance).

 

just saw this...



the screw was loose. what is the purpose of that piece/bracket

 

that bracket just holds the clips thats all doesnt matter if its on there or not. you actually dont need it since you dont have any of the factory clips. As for the valves it sounds like they did to tight of a clearence and when you blow a head gasket it can also throw off the valves from what they were set at. pull your valve cover off and take a pic of it and post it. is this the first time you have started the car or was it running before?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BoostedEG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that bracket just holds the clips thats all doesnt matter if its on there or not. you actually dont need it since you dont have any of the factory clips. As for the valves it sounds like they did to tight of a clearence and when you blow a head gasket it can also throw off the valves from what they were set at. pull your valve cover off and take a pic of it and post it. is this the first time you have started the car or was it running before?</TD></TR></TABLE>


its been running for a about a month. then i got in an accident. so waas in body shop for like 2 weeks. got it out of the body shop for like a week and turned it on this morning and it happens. yesterday it was driving just fine

 

It's NA right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by m R g S r &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's NA right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep

 

well a h/g could tick cus the compression is leaking out, if you had down shifted realy hard like say from 4th to 1st you could blow a h/g it happened to my buddy, b4 on his m3,

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C1CYA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well a h/g could tick cus the compression is leaking out, if you had down shifted realy hard like say from 4th to 1st you could blow a h/g it happened to my buddy, b4 on his m3, </TD></TR></TABLE>


thats the thing, i didnt do anything. im still 'breaking it in' the easy way. shifting at 3.5K. it was driving perfect yesteday. turned it on this mornign and started tickign right when i turned it on. happened so suddenly. no signs or nothing yesterday while driving. i dont get how i could have blown the hg.

 

it definitely looks like a blown headgasket. When i've blown headgaskets before i've never heard ticking though except for my valvetrain and injectors which is normal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC_MShue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it definitely looks like a blown headgasket. When i've blown headgaskets before i've never heard ticking though except for my valvetrain and injectors which is normal.</TD></TR></TABLE>


its not the normal ticking. its the LOUD ticking that you can definately tell somethign is not right.

 

valves maybe because of low oil?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by InTeGrA B18b1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">valves maybe because of low oil?</TD></TR></TABLE>


oil level is fine

 

well i think you need to look deeper into it then, check the upper hose and the sensors that are on that side of the head for leaks, and if they are all good then next thing pull the head.