Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

Topic: Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff.. (Read 1855 times) previous topic - next topic

Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

January 24, 2005, 06:26:38 AM

Everytime i check my oil level, my dipstick always has water and plenty of some sort of white grease on the dipstick and oil cap.
In city driving it dont really bother me, but its annoying when i need to drive for more than 30-45 min on highway... oil begin to spill slowly on my manifold. (yeah... i dont have headers yet....)

I had a compression test at "Canadian Tire" couples of months ago and told me all my Cylinder compression were almost equal at 132-135PSI (if i remember right) and also said 2 cylinder looks "lean" (Dont remember which...) :dunno: :dunno: (What the hell does that mean?)

My coolant is dissapearing slowly since the last 8 month but none is leaking outside the engine... :disappoin

My 1st guess as i read some others prob, Coolant must be leaking inside my oil but I have no Oil in the coolant...
When engine is hot, If I put in "D" and give some gas with the brakes applied, I can see some steam coming out of my dipstick or my Oil cap after 10-15 sec...

It dont do anything really strange... No special smoke out the exhaust (not more than any others car)
No strange noise, No Misfire/Ping, No overheat.... in other words, it run perfect except this... wtf? :screwy:

I dont want to pay a stupid garage to charge me for something i dont need.... this is why i ask you all guru's of mechanic... :ies: :bowdown:

I asked 2 shop and both of em agreed on the fact that I have pressure accumulating in the lower but one said "Rings" and the other "Head Gasket"...

Do you think its Rings or Head gasket?
Rings would be a PITA while the gasket require MUCH less works!

Re: Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

Reply #1 – January 24, 2005, 08:28:21 AM

Quote

also said 2 cylinder looks "lean" (Dont remember which...) (What the hell does that mean?)

He probably figured that since rich usually turns the spark plugs black and sooty, lean should make them clean and white. Actually, coolant leaking into the cylinders will do a very good job of "steam cleaning" the plugs, as well as the tops of the pistons, sometimes cleaning off all the deposits that help the rings seal.

Quote

Coolant must be leaking inside my oil but I have no Oil in the coolant...

The cooling system is always under pressure, and coolant will get sucked into the cylinders past a damaged gasket, get vaporized into steam, then blow out wherever it can, even back into the cooling system and out the overflow tank. The coolant can also help wash the oil off the cylinder walls, letting the rings wear out faster, allowing normal exhaust pressure and/or coolant and/or steam into the crankcase.

Also, when the engine is turned off, the coolant will keep dripping into the cylinders until the pressure is gone, and then will slowly leak past the rings into the crankcase oil.

Re: Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

Reply #2 – January 24, 2005, 02:00:32 PM

what you can do is pull the plugs

basically, as Master Blaster said, the coolant will steam clean the cylinder, piston tops and plugs, youll have one or two plus that will look BRAND NEW, like they were never installed if you have coolant getting into the cylinder

Re: Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

Reply #3 – January 24, 2005, 04:48:33 PM

Thanks... that's an easy way to check it....

Illl go check that right now......

Re: Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

Reply #4 – January 24, 2005, 07:22:45 PM

any updates?

Re: Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

Reply #5 – January 24, 2005, 08:41:38 PM

All my spark plug look the same.... none shinier than an other....
I did my last tune up (dist, plugs, wires) 5 month ago.
I dont think im burning coolant anyway or i should be making white smoke...

Possible coolant leak by inside the crank case where the pushrod/lifter are?

Ill remove the heads tomorrow to investigate furter and while im there, get some pic........

Re: Head gasket? Lotta Milky stuff..

Reply #6 – January 26, 2005, 12:09:18 PM

Might want to check one other thing. I had a lot of coolant leaking into my oil and thought it was a head gasket. Turned out to be the timing chain cover gasket letting it in. I still have some blow by (steam coming out of oil cap) but I guess that's from the rings being worn out by the coolant. But I have no coolant in my oil anymore so that's something to consider. Got my chain and gasket replaced for $250. Hell of a lot cheaper than a head gasket. :)