Coolant Problem - Coolant Level Rising

wmburns · Oct 30, 2009

Another possible source of air in the cooling jacket could be the intake. I am not familiar with the OP's supercharger set up. But if the intake gasket is leaking at the cross over, this could allow boosted air into the cooling jacket.

IMO, this is a long shot as most likely it would work both ways and pull coolant into the intake at idle. Likely resulting in white smoke out the exhaust.

Looking at the pictures, the anti-freeze concentration looks high. At high concentrations, anti-freeze does not carry heat as well. While the boiling point is higher, it is carrying much less heat than it should. This can lead to slow overheating.

It would help to know how the coolant temperature before/during/after this problem happens.

bhuff30 · Oct 30, 2009

You said there are bubbles coming up through the system when idling? It does this when cold too? If so, it sounds very likely it is a head gasket issue. It is possible to blow head gaskets in a variety of ways. I've blown headgaskets that only leaked coolant and never mixed oil and water.

Do the easy things which don't require special tools first... pull the spark plugs and have a look at them. If one is especially clean, then you are probably leaking coolant into that cylinder. Steam does a great job of cleaning internal parts. Also, on a v8, it would be easier to not notice a miss at idle which is another sign of a bad HG. On a v6 or 4cyl, it is much more obvious.

Also, someone mentioned a combustion gas test on the cooling system. This is cheap and would give clear results of a head gasket problem. Or a compression test would show it.

My sister has one of those 95 3.8s that like to blow head gaskets. The CEL came on and it took me 1min to diagnosis it. I openned the radiator cap and had her start the car. I saw bubbles coming up the radiator. A small rev, and I saw even more bubbles. Headgasket.

trombonedemon · Oct 30, 2009

Was it steam or white smoke coming from the rear?

bakos24 · Oct 30, 2009

You can see it thin vid towards the end the air bubbles coming up. Not sure if that is how it is suppose to be or not

others :: IMG_0106.flv video by bakos024 - Photobucket

I will update you guys when I can get a chance to do some tests

bboylobo · Oct 30, 2009

just a note, threads like this keep me coming to this forum. There is ALOT of great information ^^ above me. thanks for all that info. im goanna copy and past this stuff in a file and save it.

REDSTALION · Nov 2, 2009

bakos24 has your problem been solved?

bakos24 · Nov 2, 2009

REDSTALION said:
bakos24 has your problem been solved?

Not yet, I haven't had the chance to go out an mess with it. Will update this thread when I get a chance to

the98stang · Nov 4, 2009

usually with a severe blown head gasket you will have symptoms like:

1. overheating
2. Milky oil
3. White smoke coming out of exhaust
4. coolant pouring out of overflow (like you describe)

Like others have said, you can do a compression test to see if adjacent cylinders have low compression.

A BETTER test would be a leak-down test. This will test the pressure of your coolant system, and tell you if you have a busted head gasket.

Either way, DO NOT drive or run the car!! Or you will end up damaging the engine even further and costing yourself more money!

wmburns · Dec 23, 2009

:bump:

Here is a link to some useful information regarding head gaskets and how to test coolant for combustion by-products.

Tech Feature: Cylinder Head Gasket Service Essentials - Underhood Service

bakos24 · Dec 23, 2009

wmburns said:
:bump:

Here is a link to some useful information regarding head gaskets and how to test coolant for combustion by-products.

Tech Feature: Cylinder Head Gasket Service Essentials - Underhood Service

Thanks for the help. Haven't had the chance to mess with it at all.......according to most of you guys and that link...

Temperature-related failure patterns are the most common. As always, the primary symptom of a leaking head gasket is an increasing consumption of coolant with no apparently visible external coolant leakage. If cylinder leakage occurs during cold-*engine operation, combustion gases accumulate under the *engine’s thermostat during cold engine *operation, forcing the coolant back through the radiator and *resulting in an overflow condition at the coolant reservoir

pretty sure its a head gasket now....
Looks like its time to save for some new heads and cams have those changed while its apart.....*sigh*

Black'02 · Dec 23, 2009

Gonna have to agree with everyone else and say it's probably a head gasket. I had a 94 3.8 that would rapidly overheat and then suddenly return to normal operating temperature. It would also occasionally overflow the coolant resevoir. Tore the top of the engine apart and both head gaskets were blown. I guess the cylinders were compressing the coolant passages preventing coolant flow and the gas bubbles would suddenly break through and the engine would cool. It also prevented my heater from working (during the overheat episodes). Once coolant started flowing again the heat would work. Sure wasn't fun during winter.

It took a while to convince my dad that that was the problem and to help me tear the engine apart. The car had been having those issues for a while and amazingly the heads and the engine weren't warped from the rapid heating and cooling.

Just be sure to do the necessary diagnostics first. Hopefully it's something more simple.

d90212 · Dec 23, 2009

I have heard you should check your thermostat to make sure its opening....if you dont know how...just ask...

eliteJAE · Dec 24, 2009

Same thing happened to me, it wa most definitely a head gasket failure for me though. Exhaust gases got into the coolant jackets, and it would spill out completely when i parked it as, as wmburns outlined.

You know alot of people say that these cars don't blow headgaskets but I've seen a good chunk that do, including mine lol best of luck to you man.

bakos24 · Mar 29, 2010

ok, got a chance to go out and look a little further over the weekend. Was going to change the thermostat for cheap insurance. I pulled my car onto some ramps and crawled underneath and what do you know....it does have a leak. Its coming from the front of the tranny and dripping down on the sway bar.
You can see in the pics. The last pic is looking straight up at the starter.

I was not able to see anywhere else where it was actually coming from, just in these spots. Also, when I started my car, there was some white smoke, not sure if this is because of a blown headgasket or since the car was sitting for awhile. It did go away though. My oil still looks good though. Any thoughts?

bhuff30 · Mar 29, 2010

There are some heater hoses and connections on the top end of the engine. There is also a hose that goes through the engine valley. That would be a good place to start looking.

bakos24 · Mar 29, 2010

bhuff30 said:
There are some heater hoses and connections on the top end of the engine. There is also a hose that goes through the engine valley. That would be a good place to start looking.

Thanks, I will have to check those. I did notice that my heat does not work either, only blows cold air.

usaf_branham · Mar 29, 2010

Did Big Shot install the blower for you or just tune it?

trinity_gt · Mar 29, 2010

FWIW bakos24, my KB-blown SOHC suffered what I thought was a catastrophic failure when, after getting on it hard for a moment, I was met with a large, billowing cloud of steam out behind me. When I stopped, I looked underneath and saw coolant gushing out around the same area you're seeing. I babied it back home (just a mile or two) and when I got under it, I saw that the block heater, which was installed in the rear-most core plug hole on the driver's-side of the block, had blown partially out. In my car's case, the block heater is sealed by just a rubber ring expanded by a washer when a bolt is cinched down. Over time these rubber-rings dry out and can leak or even partially blow out as I found.

Might be worthwhile checking the core plugs and especially a b-heater if you have one installed as the source of your leak.

I too worry a bit about the increase in water jacket pressure that led to my blockheater blowout. This happened literally days before the car went into winter storage so I didn't have time to put a lot of miles on it after the block heater was removed. Hopefully I don't find that the source of increased water jacket pressure was combustion pressures leaking into the cooling system...

bakos24 · Mar 29, 2010

usaf_branham said:
Did Big Shot install the blower for you or just tune it?

they did both.

Thanks trinity_gt, thats a little reassuring. Will have to check a little more better when I get another chance.

trinity_gt · Mar 29, 2010

bakos24 said:
Thanks trinity_gt, thats a little reassuring. Will have to check a little more better when I get another chance.

I just re-checked your pics and notice you seem to be weeping down the passenger side whereas mine was on the driver's. Might still be worthwhile checking the plugs but you might find the heater hoses and the connection to the water tube running out of the back of the waterpump to be the real source of your leak.

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