I'm still having trouble with my engine, and it's symptoms. It smokes only when hot (and I mean oil temperature hot, not coolant temperature hot), and when it's hot, it is CLOUDS, even on idle. When it's cold, it doesn't smoke even under load or revving. Compression is down maybe 40 points, the last time I checked, almost 3 weeks ago. It is still running, but there is a bit of odd rattle kind of noises from the engine. It reminds me of how my old Santa Fe sounded.
Does this indicate head gasket, or rings?
Btw, at random intervals, I see some coolant go missing from the res. This is not an every day thing, and it has never drained the bottle. The dummy gauge for coolant temperature does not indicate high temperature.
I'm broke, it's broken. I'm broke because it's broken. It's broken because I'm broke.
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#127464, "RE: Head gasket or rings?" In response to Reply # 2 Aug-30-09 12:25 AM by 420agreenvilleSC
You don't have to send off your coolant for processing. Try this. Wait till the radiator coolant is cold. with the engine off, remove the radiator cap and make sure the coolant is up to the neck. Start the engine. if there is an exhaust leak into the coolant, the coolant will jump out of the neck of the radiator. You can tell about where the exhaust is leaking into the exhaust by removing the plugs and looking for coolant contamination. Revving the engine up will make it jump higher.
If the head gasket is gone, chances are good you have a warped head and it takes someone who really knows what they are doing to "fix" a warped head by milling or any other method to keep the head gasket from blowing in the future.
If you still wanna test for hydrocarbons, test kits only cost about $40-50. Most auto parts stores dont carry them but NAPA does and they're usually available online. They're often called a "block test kit" or something rather. They either look like a turkey baster or have a hose sticking out of one end rather than the baster bulb and come with a 12 oz or more bottle of blue fluid. looks like this:
All you do is let the engine get up to operating temp with the radiator cap off, fill the clear vial with about an ounce of fluid, and stick the pointy end of the tester into your radiator creating a good seal. You pull cooling system gas through the fluid with the bulb or pulling a vacuum on the hose. If the fluid turns yellow (or very slightly greenish) youve got hydrocarbons in your coolant gasses causing your problems. Have fun.
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#127484, "RE: Head gasket or rings?" In response to Reply # 3
OR...
you could do a simple dry/wet compression test and see what cylinders are bad and in which way.
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#127485, "RE: Head gasket or rings?" In response to Reply # 4
yeah a blown headgasket will not nec make coolant jump out of the engine when its cold. typically the coolant level becomes unstable when the engine heats up, the coolant level will rise and drop rapidly.
Do the wet dry compression tests and that will give you some actual results you can draw conclusions on.
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#127522, "RE: Head gasket or rings?" In response to Reply # 7
Well, despite the obvious signs pointing towards a blown ring (on one cylinder? wtf?), I pulled the spark plug and it's clean ass new. I would have expected oil fouling. Thoughts?
I'm broke, it's broken. I'm broke because it's broken. It's broken because I'm broke.
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#127541, "RE: Head gasket or rings?" In response to Reply # 9
I've decided, for right now, to just build back to stock, so I have my DD back, with another block, drop the rebuilt block in, take the block currently in, and if it's good, rebuild that to low compression forged internals as my wallet permits.
My question is do I need to get new pistons and rods? It's a junkyard block, but it's listed in 'a' condition. It comes with the rotating assembly. I know I can keep the crank, since that's not going to break on an extra 30 hp even if it is a rebuilt engine, but the rods and the pistons are concerning me. I don't want to put this together and then have it explode in 2 months, this has to last me until I get the forged engine put together, which could realistically be 4 years.
Let me know what you think I should include in my rebuild kit, so I can go price things....
Being a college student blows.
I'm broke, it's broken. I'm broke because it's broken. It's broken because I'm broke.
