losing coolant, headgasket?

[blownlxvert]

the motor only has about 5k on it, and every once in a while the level is low in the radiator. if you run the car all day or weekend the overflow will seem to fill and then push out and i will have a little puddle in the battery tray. it doesnt cycle back to the rad. for some reason. i had a buddy drive the car while i followed and he was getting all over it and its not smoking at all. is this normal, are there a ton of air pockets in the system, is there something pushing the coolant out? btw the car never runs above 190.

 

[Victor's GT]

Could be a blown h/g or bad t-stat. See if it pushes coolant back intot the overflow when not under boost.

 

[blownlxvert]

i guess im unclear on how a headgasket could cause this, especially when the oil clean, coolants clean, and no smoke. i dont really know how i can watch the bottle when im driving it . ill be really angry if its a gasket, i even bought the reinforced ring fel pros.

 

[Victor's GT]

i guess im unclear on how a headgasket could cause this, especially when the oil clean, coolants clean, and no smoke. i dont really know how i can watch the bottle when im driving it . ill be really angry if its a gasket, i even bought the reinforced ring fel pros.

The heads are lifting and boost is seeping into the coolant passages thus pushing coolant into the recovery tank. Milky oil and smoke out of tailpipes are not the only signs nor even have to be present to show leaky h/g.

Don't go into boost and check to see if overflow gets backed up..if it doesn't, get on it and then check. if it's full of coolant you have h/g issue

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I blew a headgasket and didn't even know it. There were no signs except that I was loosing coolant and my car was running a little hot. All it takes is a small crack in a headgasket for it to leak coolant into the cylinder. You might be loosing a drop at a time. Check all the plugs and see if any of them are slightly wet.

 

[blownlxvert]

ill try that, did it last night running it hard came home and all was normal. its only after a hot day and running al lot of miles in one outting. ill give it a shot. should i recheck the touque on the headbolts or what. seems kind of rediculous this would happen on a new motor. not to mention i quadruple check all my specs when reassembling. btw, all the plugs are buring perfect.

 

[bullitstang1313]

With a forced induction engine your cylinder pressures are higher. Since the pressure is higher coolant most likely wouldn't leak into the cylinder, but combustion gases will leak into the coolant forcing it into the overflow. This is what Victor's GT was saying. You might also check to see if the weep hole on your waterpump is leaking.

 

[90lxcoupe]

the first time i blew a head gasket i was watching the car on the dyno and it shot coolant about 5 feet up from the radiator cap, and if there was boost getting into the cooling system this would probly bee the same result

 

[Biggeley]

Buy or rent a head gasket leak detector. They are used to detect combustion gasses in your cooling system. This will tell you definitively whether or not you have a leaky headgasket.

 

[blownlxvert]

so would detination most likly be the cause of this, right after the rebuild this winter it was still sd and ran like crap and was detonating a few times. changed to mass air and everything was good. the car is going to be dyno tuned before it comes out next year. will a tune, new gaskets put me in a more safe situation, because i dont want to go through this crap all the time.

 

[blownlxvert]

put a new radiator cap on and it has be fine for about a week. and ive been runnin the crap out of it.

 

[blownlxvert]

has anyone run into this, could it be this simple. anyone.

 

[Victor's GT]

has anyone run into this, could it be this simple. anyone.

Yes it could be as simple as that. If the old cap wasn't holding the correct pressure

 

[fox-gt]

Mine only had 1,200 miles on it and the same thing happened to me. The new water pump they installed cracked and was dripping slowly, never saw anything on the ground. Gave me a heart attack.