Blown head gasket???

[scottthomp]

66 289, bored .040 over, new 4 core radiator, about 600 total miles.

Well my mustang has about 600 miles on it and its having some problems. The first couple hundred miles i have had a hard time keeping coolant in the radiator. Every time i would get the engine hot and shut it off you could hear a loud gurgle from the radiator. The coolant would leak out of the overflow tube on to the ground. I used to just fill the radiator up with coolant before i drove it. Today i checked the oil and there is definately coolant in it. It looks nasty!!!

So how do i know that it is a head gasket and not a cracked cylinder or cracked head?
How do i know which side head gasket will need to be replaced?
Will doing a compression check on each cylinder help?
What brand and type of head gaskets are good to use?
Will leaving this problem unfixed and not driving it hurt it?
Will driving it as is hurt it?

Thank you for the help

 

[Pbum5]

Water in the oil.
Sounds like a blown head gasket.

You can run a compression test to find out where it’s blown.
Since you will have the motor torn down you should pull off both heads have them checked out.
If they are not cracked then have them surfaced and you should be good to go.
I like Felpro gaskets.


Make sure the rest of you cooling system is in good shape. I see the new 4-row RAD, but how is the waterpump and thermostat?
If the cooling system was not working properly it could have lead to overheating and the blown head gasket.

 

[scottthomp]

Thanks,

The whole car has less than 600 miles on rebuild. The engine did used to get hot because of the coolant leaking out all the time, it would get low and the engine would heat up. The thermostat housing is leaking and coolant is sitting on top of the timing chain cover. Could the coolant somehow make it to the oil from there. It was pooled up in there today.

Also could the head bolts have come loose and caused this?

 

[Pbum5]

Even I fit could get into your oil from there, I doubt that the coolant leaking from the thermostat housing would be enough to turn your oil bad.

I don’t know if the bolts loosened up or not to cause your head gasket to blow.
It’s not a bad idea to re-torque the heads the next time you put them on after a few hundred miles.

Stop driving it. Oil and water is not a good lubricant and you could do more damage to your motor. Drain it out an put some fresh oil in there, but don’t drive it.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

It is possible that coolant is leaking into the oil from the water passages in the ends of the intake manifold.

 

[steel1212]

I know when I had a blown head gasket, Manufacture mistake, all I had to do was let it run and you would see air bubbling out of the rad with the cap off. I had to have my heads resurfaced because I caught it to late and it warped them.

 

[scottthomp]

NOW WHAT????

I ran a compression test:

1 175
2 180
3 175
4 180
5 180
6 180
7 175
8 180

Now what?? Those all look good to me.

observations:

I let the engine run til warmup, about 10 minutes. I did this with the radiator cap off. The first 5 minutes there were splatters of liquid and what smoke coming from both tailpipes. Enough splatters to show on the concrete beneath them. But the liquid evaporated quickly leading me to believe it was water. There was more on the drivers side than passenger. Then after 5 minutes or so, the white smoke dwindles down to spurts and the liquid stopped all together. Once it was warm there is a random spurt of white smoke, i would guess once every 30 seconds, the motor still was on the low end of warm.

I also watched the coolant in the radiator. All looked good, not any bubbles or anything. level stayed good and never overlowed.

I also noticed that while the engine was getting hot the passenger side valve cover got much hotter much faster. The right side after 10 minutes was still touchable, left wasnt.

I dont know if this tells us anything, just telling you what i know. So now what do i check?

 

[Pbum5]

It is possible that coolant is leaking into the oil from the water passages in the ends of the intake manifold.

65ShelbyClone could have nailed it..

 

[mikec35]

I bet you have an upside down or defective head gasket. If the car is not overheating then what you are hearing in the radiator is exhaust fumes in the cooling system. It may be hard to detect which gasket though.

 

[jdowen2]

Have you noticed any steam or water leaking out of your exhaust? I would question the party involved in rebuilding the engine and have them fix it.

 

[Stangboy67]

I bet you have an upside down or defective head gasket. If the car is not overheating then what you are hearing in the radiator is exhaust fumes in the cooling system. It may be hard to detect which gasket though.

With one side heating up much faster than another, I would vote for a gasket being in the wrong (upside down) position.