My car has never had a overheating problem until today. I was driving home from work on the freeway and noticed the temp gauge rising. I pulled over, popped the hood to see that my overflow tank was full. WTF? I looked under the car to look for leaks, nothing. I was not driving any different than i usually do (no long hard pulls in high gears). I drove it home with a watchful eye on the temp gauge with little problem. It seemed like when i was just cruising it started was ok but any boost at all made it really climb. Don't know what to do because this has never happened before


*next day edit* HG pics on next page


Modified by Benjithx at 7:07 PM 2/19/2005

 

Byebye headgasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PrecisionH23a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Byebye headgasket.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep...an overflowing tank usually means headgasket ripped or your head is lifting. As long as you don't see high temps at idle (meaning bad radiator or blockage somewhere) then it's really the 2 options left IMO

 

change your thermostat and cap first.

 

also check & see if your fan is turning on

 

fan is jumped and always running, and there is no smoke or anything. Also i have ARP headstuds and a cometic HG. I would hate to think it was that.

 

You shouldnt even need a fan for highway cruising

Headgasket is done

 

Put antifreeze stop leak first before changing headgasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coocoo32 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Put antifreeze stop leak first before changing headgasket.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not so sure on that one...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by H-T &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Not so sure on that one... </TD></TR></TABLE>

That **** gunks up your whole system.

 

if it were the head gasket. shouldn't there be white smoke?

 

if i was you....i would check the thermostat and cap before ANYTHING....if those check out.....do a compression test........that wont RULE out the headgasket...but it could help you narrow down the problem.......

what radiator are you using?

 

I can tell you that I am 99% positive its your headgasket. I should know...its happened to me 3 times..with arp studs. Also i never really noticed any white smoke or extreme mixtures of coolant and oil. So even though you may not have any symptoms other than the overflow and overheating you probably still have a leak.

 

It could be a number of things, but ive had 2 head gaskets blow on me before with really subtle symptoms. It wouldn't hurt to check the small stuff 1st though.

 

- Look for oil in the coolant
- Do a leak down test and look for bubbles out of the rad inlet with the cap off.
- Pull the valve cover and make sure you don't have a white goo.

Thats the best headgasket check you can do.

 

Look to see if you have "ice cream" under your oil cap. If there is foam of coolant there, your HG most likely blew.

 

thanks guys, good info. going to start screwing with it this morning.

 

take a pic of your gasket if you pull the head off

 

Your headgasket is cracked in my opinion. When I had my teg, at idle my temp would never go up, but any little stress on the engine my temp shot right up, but it didn't bog or blow white smoke. There was no chocolate milk under my oil cap or around my cams.
I had a Civic half sized radiator (Aluminum, PWR) running no thermostat and dual fans wired on constantly.

-Temp shot up with any stress
-No white smoke
-No chocolate milk under the oil cap
-No real power loss
-Ran this way for a week, trying to figure it all out. Untill we pulled the head.

=

Cracked Head Gasket.

 

do a leak down test

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90integra05 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your headgasket is cracked in my opinion. When I had my teg, at idle my temp would never go up, but any little stress on the engine my temp shot right up, but it didn't bog or blow white smoke. There was no chocolate milk under my oil cap or around my cams.
I had a Civic half sized radiator (Aluminum, PWR) running no thermostat and dual fans wired on constantly.

-Temp shot up with any stress
-No white smoke
-No chocolate milk under the oil cap
-No real power loss
-Ran this way for a week, trying to figure it all out. Untill we pulled the head.

=

Cracked Head Gasket. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I thought it was vanilla milk under the oil cap.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prostreetonline &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Look to see if you have "ice cream" under your oil cap. If there is foam of coolant there, your HG most likely blew.</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bryson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">- Look for oil in the coolant
- Do a leak down test and look for bubbles out of the rad inlet with the cap off.
- Pull the valve cover and make sure you don't have a white goo.

Thats the best headgasket check you can do. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

3hours later the head is off.

No white **** under the valve cover.
but....there was a bunch of oil film in the overflow tank. Head gasket appears ok as far as cracks. i will figure out how to post a pic with wtdr.com if i can.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by W O T &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You shouldnt even need a fan for highway cruising

Headgasket is done</TD></TR></TABLE>

i disagree, mine overheats on the freeway with the fan off and my hg aint gone. turned my fan on constant and she's drives like a champ.

 

I've only seen one instance of 'white ****' under the valve cover. So just because you do not have that does not mean your gasket blew.

Inspect the gasket for an area of the gasket that appears to be 'eaten' away or where the black paint came off. If the black coating of the gasket is gone, inspect the area on the head/block in relation to the 'blow'. You may want to check to make sure the head and block did not warp as well. Usually it will be near a water jacket... but I've seen them elsewhere also.

Make sure you do not re-use your stock headbolts (see bolt-stretch), if you have arp's you can use them over and over again. I would also rinse out your radiator as well since there may be a little bit of oil in it. I like to use simple green and water for this.