Diagnostic confirmation help (coolant on an 87 ea82)

[hush777]

Car is an 87 spfi wagon.

My sister had problems with it.

Lack of heat from the heater and then it was getting hot.

Found that coolant was being pushed out the cap to the overflow bottle.

New cap.... Sprung a small leak on one of the heater hoses.

Fixed that.

Changed the thermostat.

Everything seemed ok

She goes to work (35 mile drive) and says it got hot a couple times.

I drove it back stopping to let it cool down and check the coolant.... seems to be going through some.

Checking things out and found signs of a leak from the coolant area of the intake/engine mating surfaces.

Pulled all the spark plugs.

All look the same, and no water shoots out of any of the cylinders.

Fixed the intake manifold gasket problem last nite.

Seems to still be wanting to push the water out of the cap.

 

Thinking that this is probably a head gasket issue but wanted to see what you all thought.

Is there anything you can think of that I am missing?

Is there any way to tell without a radiator pressurizer which cylinder??

Thanks

Hush

[NorthWet]

Have you checked/backflushed the radiator? Might be plugged.

[Mark Humble]

Yes, head gasket more than likely. To check for sure you can remove the thermostat housing and thermostat, remove the V belts that drive the water pump, fill the therm hsg to the top with water and start the engine. If the gaskets are leaking then you should see bubbles rising up in the therm hsg, mostly from the small hose that connects the therm hsg to the top of the block under the intake manifold. If you have compressed air there is a way to find out which cyl is leaking.

[hush777]

Update on problem

 

First I want ot thank all who chimed in about this.

Haven't had a chance to do much with it for a while and since my brother still had several other vehicles to use it wasn't a big deal.

when down and let the car warm up then pulled all the plugs.

1 125

2 130

3 133

4 135

 

on a compression test.

Car still wants to push big bubbles of air out through the radiator cap.

Even when the car is just warming up it will push water out the overflow tank.

This has had 4 different radiator caps on it (including the one on my car that has no cooling problems) so I don't think that it is just a weak cap.

There is pressure building up quickly even before the thermostat opens.

Have thought about the radiator being slow flowing but it doesn't make sense about the water out of the overflow even when it is cold.

Are there any other places that I would have pressure build up from the engine to the coolant that I have missed.

Still there is no signs of coolant in the cylinders, or any signs of coolant burning off at the plugs.

 

?????

Hush

[85Sub4WD]

given your pressures, I seriously doubt that you have a HG problem (less than 10% difference), I guess there could be other blockage problems

 

was the coolant system bled properly after the most recent service? Park it nose-up on a steep hill (so radiator cap highest point on coolant system) and let it run for a while, flexing the hoses, and refilling the radiator as necessary - air bubbles in the system can cause problems with the coolant not flowing properly, then boiling in the engine block

 

had it happen on a Ford Aerostar, same problem, ended up just needing the system purged of air.

 

I would also replace the thermostat with a 180-degree one and see if that helps the problem - stuck T-stats can also do this, and it won't be reflected on your temp gauge either - These engines are more reliable with a 180-degree anyway as it doesn't push it thermally as hard a the stock.

 

Good Luck

[rallyruss]

I vote HG porblem. I have seen it before just like you have stated. just the smallest split in the rign that seals the cyl. and compression can leak thru the gasket and pressurize the cooling system. no steam pumping and motor will run ok.

[jimpon]

I had the same problem on my 88 gl found out that the head on one side was cracked into the water jacket. she would heat up right quick. I had no signs of coolant burn on the plugs, valves looked quite different.

 

Jim

[Subarian]

I'm going with HG on this one, in spite of your compression test. The way to be sure would be to find out what kind of gas is actually coming out of the radiator. You can smell it to see if it smells like combustion gases, or you can go to your auto parts store and spend about $30 for a combustion gas detector. It uses a fluid that changes from blue to yellow when combustion gases are present.

[85Sub4WD]

or you can go to your auto parts store and spend about $30 for a combustion gas detector. It uses a fluid that changes from blue to yellow when combustion gases are present.

neat, I did not know those existed - I've only had to deal with one head gasket failure though, and it was on an Aerostar - it emptied the radiator in about less than ten seconds, and coolant was literally pouring out of the engine and tailpipe

it had 197k on it anyway

 

at $30 for a definitive answer, I'd say its well worth it

[Subarian]

It looks like this and it's really easy to use. You take off the radiator cap, put this thing on top of the radiator and fill it with the fluid. As the gases coming out of the radiator pass through it, the fluid changes colors if exhaust gases are present.