Ea81 blown headgasket?

[BobBrumby]

My ea81 brumby has been using water since i bought it, since then I have replaced all the leaky hoses but still have not stopped the leak. I was checking it today and removed the rad cap just after a drive, and yes i did it very slowly, I thought I had the dreaded milkshake in my radiator but it was really just fine bubbles. I checked the dipstick and the oil still looks like oil. How would the bubbles get in my coolent? This sounds like the begining of a headgasket failure right? Cylinders leaking into the coolent passages? Will a compression test diagnose the situation?

[beataru]

A compression test may actually not show it if it is a very small leak, it is a start though.

You have not noticed any steam out of the tail pipe? If you can I would either use a Combustion gas tester, its the thing with the blue fluid that changes to green or yellow if theres combustion in the coolant.

Or you could use an emmisions tester, just hold the probe, with the engine hot and running strong, right above the filler neck on the radiator. BE VERY careful not to get the probe into the water or you could have just paid 4000 for a machine.

 

If it is a head gasket leak, you should fix it fairly quick, it will make your cooling system corrode at an alarming rate, regardless of your antifreeze.

[GeneralDisorder]

beataru is correct, but before you do those expensive tests there's a couple of common leak locations other than hoses on the EA81's:

 

1. Intake manifold gaskets. (Very common).

 

2. Carb base gaskets.

 

3. Heater core bypass valve.

 

The manifold and base gaskets can "weep" where no visible coolant leak is seen. The coolant will leak slowly and only once the engine reaches operating temp. This allows the coolant to boil off the block as it leaks and never drip on the ground.

 

Generally speaking if the engine is leaking compression into the coolant then it will overpressure the system and leak coolant to the overflow line. You might install a bottle (soda bottle will work) to catch any overflow.

 

GD

[BobBrumby]

1. No clouds of steam from the tail pipe

 

2. The white bubles show up after you get it warmed up but not when cold. The bubbles has the same appearence as the head on a beer.

 

3. Pretty sure it aint just the intake gaskets as i have changed them twice and that would not explain the bubles

 

4. Carb base is right, i forgot to mention that I put a webber on and jb welded the choke coolent passage need for the old hitachi carb

 

5. Heater core bypass has new hoses on the engine side and just the orriginals after the valve

 

6. I have an overflow bottle but it just gets emptied as the motor looses coolent

 

How much coolent has to get burned before you start seeing clouds of steam?

 

Will a small HG leak cause these symptoms?

 

I might do an ej conversion if it is a HG problem as this motor is gettin a bit long in the tooth 300k km, any sugestions?

[beataru]

I say headgasket.... Check the water pump weap hole.

[GeneralDisorder]

It really doesn't take much coolant being burned to create some steam. It will initially look like exhaust on a cold morning. But it's hot so it doesn't make a big cloud - it disipates only a few feet from the pipe.

 

You could just do the HG's on general principle. 300k km isn't much at all really. Plus the HG's on these are really easy. Just an afternoon job really unless you decide to mill the heads.

 

Bad intake manifold gaskets will show the same burning coolant symptoms though - and improper installation or poor quality gaskets will just keep failing over and over. I say pull the manifold and look at the gaskets. If they are good just keep right on going till you get the heads off.

 

GD

[[HTi]Johnson]

 

How much coolent has to get burned before you start seeing clouds of steam?

 

Water expands to over 1700 times it's size when turned to steam. (I know this from all my firefighter classes) So yea, not much to to see steam.

[Heironymous Josch]

If you want a definitive answer, you could have a shop test the coolant for hydrocarbons. If they're present in the green stuff you've got an HG leak somewhere. The test isn't too pricey. When I looked into it, it was $65 US.

 

Josh

[Heironymous Josch]

Also, If it were my car, I'd change the oil just in case. I've heard of guys here driving their cars 10k miles with blown HG's but mine was so bad, compression from the motor burst the seam at one of my radiator tanks. I don't know if an EJ swap is the best alternative unless you have been considering it for a long time. The head job, with milling, cost me $162 and a half a day wrenching (that's with VC & Intake gaskets & valve seals). The EJ swap may take a couple of days and cost several hundred for the implant. Just my 2 cents.

[daeron]

i *think* I may be the only one claiming 10K on a blown headgasket, and let me clarify a few things on that... it was an EA82, my compression numbers were 180, 180, 175, 145, the oil NEVER showed a trace of coolant, but the coolant got brown and icky, and was always bubbling into the overflow.

 

I have logged an additional 8 or so K miles since changing the HGs, and she runs fine... but I have NEVER slept quite as easily as I did before, because I cannot shake the nagging feeling that I may have shortened the life of my bottom end from 600K miles to 300K.....

 

I just saw Josch dropping that "10K miles on a blown headgasket comment" and realized maybe I have been a *bit* too loose with throwing that statement around.

[Heironymous Josch]

i *think* I may be the only one claiming 10K on a blown headgasket, and let me clarify a few things on that... it was an EA82, my compression numbers were 180, 180, 175, 145, the oil NEVER showed a trace of coolant, but the coolant got brown and icky, and was always bubbling into the overflow.

 

I have logged an additional 8 or so K miles since changing the HGs, and she runs fine... but I have NEVER slept quite as easily as I did before, because I cannot shake the nagging feeling that I may have shortened the life of my bottom end from 600K miles to 300K.....

 

I just saw Josch dropping that "10K miles on a blown headgasket comment" and realized maybe I have been a *bit* too loose with throwing that statement around.

 

I certainly meant nothing derogatory by it. I made the mistake of hoping I could get by with a radiator repair, new t-stat, water pump & rad cap only to blow another radiator seam in a geyser of coolant 12 feet in front of the car! Apparently the breach in at least one of my HG's was so bad that a tremendous amount of the cylinder compression was finding its way into the cooling system. All good now. Here's to stayin' cool. :cool:

[daeron]

I certainly meant nothing derogatory by it.

 

It's all gravy; I just didn't want people hearing "10K on a blown headgasket" and thinking that its no big deal. My luck in life has been interesting; the GOOD luck comes in awkward packages like that one.

[BobBrumby]

Yeh i am taking it into our mechanic get a head check done pretty sure its HG but dont want to goto all that effort to find something else is at fault, should find out in a couple of days time. In the mean time I am riding my bike and driving my parents suzuki sierra (so its not all bad ).