I get bubble in my radiator. Fan turns on late. Top radiator hose is swollen.

 

Maybe, maybe not. Could also just be air in the coolant. Try bleeding your coolant before you jump to any conclusions.

Is there oily residue in the coolant overflow tank? Is there milky residue under the oil cap? Do you smell the nauseatingly sweet smell of vaporized coolant from the exhaust pipe? White smoke from the exhaust pipe on a cold start? These are all a few signs of a head gasket failure and/or warped head/block mating surface.

 

Or you could definitively answer your question by renting a block testing kit from your local parts store.

 

Change thermostat and bleed the system

 

I do not see any oil residue in the rad or the overflow tank, the coolant is pretty new though. There is no milky residue in the oil cap, just straight oil or so it seems. The oil is about 4000 miles old so its pretty black, a little water comes out of the tail pipe it might be just condensation though.



How much and how hard is it to test and get that block tester?

 

does your reservoir overflow?

 

The block tester is about $25 bucks at Autozone. They might borrow it out too. If you have access to compressed air, you could go with a leakdown test kit too.

 

My overflow does not over flow. I will have to run and see the options I have offered by my local advance auto.

 

They do rent it out (free as long as you return it), but the actual testing material will run from $10 to $25 depending on if they use a litmus or liquid tester.

 

Autozone rents a fluid one. Fluid is 8$ + tax here in SC.

 

What's the procedure ? Take a sample of coolant and add the liquid and if it reacts there is a head gasket leak?

Would it matter my fluid is only about 1000 miles old?

 

That's the procedure in a nutshell, and no, that wouldn't matter. If there's exhaust gas in the coolant, it'll still show. It shouldn't be there AT ALL.

 

Awesome. Thanks!!

 

Yeah, changing the t-stat and bleeding the system will fix any and all coolant/ overheating problems. Dont bother to actually diagnose the problem. (Sarcasm)

To determine is you have a blown head gasket is to do a block test. The fluid and tester can be bought at any local auto parts store, or any mechanic with any common sense can do this relatively cheap for you. Bubbles in the coolant can mean a whole array of things, but if you are not sure what to do, taking it to a reliable, honest mechanic so he can diagnose it for you would be your best option. Most places will do a cooling system evaluation for about $40

 

no it is not the procedure, you put the liquid in a combustion leak detector tool and open the radiator cap and start the vehicle. then use the ball to draw air from the radiator, if exhaust gases are getting into the cooling system the fluid in the leak detection tool will change colors. GET A REAL MECHANIC TO CHECK THIS FOR YOU!

 

And be sure not to suck up any coolant in the tester, it can give a false positive.

 

This is why i tend to shy away from the block testers for head gasket diagnosis and prefer a leakdown test... but that's just me.

 

I'm selling the car and just wanted to know if it needed one. I will just let the buyer if I get any hits about the issue and he can address it.

Hope I get close to a grand. It runs drives and is inspected haha

 

You realize there are multiple kinds of testers, right? The tester I use, you take a small sample of the coolant from the radiator, put it in a test tube, and drop a litmus strip in. If the strip turns purple, there's exhaust in the coolant. You are correct in your description of one way to test, but there are multiple, equally correct ways to do it.