Head Gasket going out?

[Black_Mamba]

As everyone already knows, ive been having problems with my coolant light and cooling system ever since i did the coolant flush. Today i started my car and saw white smoke. Now, its not the first time ive seen it but i never paid any attention to it because where i am its like 20 degerees, more/less, so i thought it was normal.

but right now im at school and i just started my car to get it warmed up for the lunch break we have in another 15 minutes and i notice my exhaust was kicking out white smoke like a group of people smoking, im talking alot of white smoke.

Im guessing thats my headgasket going, correct?

[spc2125]

BINGO!!


if your loosing coolant through your overflow then take the cap off and rev the engine. if you see bubbles, or if it comes out, you'll know

[mmorello82]

The fortunate thing here is that our 3400's are fairly easy to do head gaskets on. Did one on a GA in about 6 hours.

[Black_Mamba]

Obviously if you take the cap off & rev it, its gonna come out.

& that's good 6 hours

[JLw7123]

have you done a compression test yet. what color is the coolant.

[a.graham52]

does ur smoke have an oder? does it linger longer then normal? purchase or borrow a "block tester" and test ur coolant system for exhaust gasses.

[mastershake]

Kind of off topic, but why would you let your car warm up for 15 minutes? XD

[jawa]

Kind of off topic, but why would you let your car warm up for 15 minutes? XD

i let mine warm up for a 5 mins or so befor i start driving it when its cold.

[mastershake]

well 5 minutes is ok but FIFTEEN??

[MMGT1]

Maybe he likes it warm in there... hahhaaha

[jawa]

when its real cold its warming up for 15, i want heat when i drive lol

[billytheman1188]

your not supposed to warm up your car....you start it...let it run for about 15 seconds then start driving. until it gets warm i take it real easy...accelerate nice and slow. At least thats what ive been told....

Stop being a bunch of women and MAN UP...drive cold for 5 min. lol

[a.graham52]

:agree:

[mastershake]

^ that's what i'm saying lol. i let it run for a minute MAX before i drive

unless i have to scrape the windshield

[Black_Mamba]

Kind of off topic, but why would you let your car warm up for 15 minutes? XD

Noo re-read it, i didnt let it warm up for 15 min lol.

[Black_Mamba]

everyone needs to re-read it. I said I let it warm up, BECAUSE i have lunch break in 15 minutes, so i let the car idle for about 5 min so when i come back outside in 15 minutes for my 40 min lunch break the car is warmed up ready to drive.


as for the coolant problem, it burns it, it kicks out white smoke like i have a smoke machine for a muffler if i drive the car when its cold. when the car runs normal operating temp, you can squeeze the lines and there is no pressure.

my conclusions so far are either a stuck open thermostat, a faulty coolant resevoir, and/or a soon to be dead water pump. so its not the head gasket, I changed the spark plugs and everything looked perfectly normal. and plus with the 3.4's the lower and upper intake manifolds will leak coolant before the head gasket does and if it was, you'd be able to see it

[a.graham52]

i dont totally agree with your theory here. IF your burning coolant then its not a thermostat, coolant reservoir or water pump. NONE of those will cause you to burn coolant. overheat/loose coolant yes but not burn. your forgetting about a coolant reservoir cap. if thats faulty then you wont build pressure in the system anyways. i still say find a block tested and test for exhaust gases in your coolant system. if their there then no question about it you have a bad head gasket. you know for a fact no coolants getting in your oil?

[robalero]

i let mine warm up for 15 to 20 minutes before I drive it in the mornings. I live in canada of course ima do that its friggen cold in the mornings lol.

as for your theory it means nothing until you actually find your water leak but its deff not a thermostat or coolant res. if it was a dead water pump you wouldn't be losing coolant yet ( until you can see it coming out of it ) get a coolant tester that can check for leaks we have one at our work and it pushes air ( that you pump by hand ) and it will normally tell you where your leaking as it pushes the coolant through the system

[Black_Mamba]

im 99.99 percent positive theres no mix between the coolant and oil. my car isnt over heating but some how im losing coolant, i have very little pretty much no pressure in any of the lines coming from the radiator or the resevoir.

I pulled the plugs out to change them and i did the best visual inspection i could and there was no signs of coolant

[a.graham52]

I pulled the plugs out to change them and i did the best visual inspection i could and there was no signs of coolant

i dont consider that to be your BEST test. you need to block test it and/or check your coolant system with a pressure tester. and if you do the pressure test you can test your res cap as well to make sure that holds pressure.

[JLw7123]

it is leaking internally probably. That is why you probably can not see it leaking.

[Black_Mamba]

i let mine warm up for 15 to 20 minutes before I drive it in the mornings. I live in canada of course ima do that its friggen cold in the mornings lol.

as for your theory it means nothing until you actually find your water leak but its deff not a thermostat or coolant res. if it was a dead water pump you wouldn't be losing coolant yet ( until you can see it coming out of it ) get a coolant tester that can check for leaks we have one at our work and it pushes air ( that you pump by hand ) and it will normally tell you where your leaking as it pushes the coolant through the system

i know what youre talking about, i secured it to the resevoir and pumped the air and checked for pressure. i know for a fact i need a new coolant resevoir tank because the coolant sensor is corroted and wont shut off unless i unplug it. and when i did unplug it, abunch of white crusty crap came out.

[Black_Mamba]

im gonna get a new resevoir with a new cap and new sensor and see where that takes me. if there is still no pressure in the lines, the water pump isnt doing its job and ill replace that. after that i should be good.

if it was leaking internally id have to know about it somehow

[a.graham52]

the water pump doesnt cause the pressure in the system just so you know. its the heating of the coolant causing it to expand. if the water pump fails you either have an external coolant leak (which would have shown up with your pressure test as a pressure leak), or major overheating problems.

[Black_Mamba]

the water pump doesnt cause the pressure in the system just so you know. its the heating of the coolant causing it to expand. if the water pump fails you either have an external coolant leak (which would have shown up with your pressure test as a pressure leak), or major overheating problems.

i must not be looking hard enough then :wacko: it doesnt over heat at all, most of the time its between half and 1/4 (cold, not hot). it rarely goes above the half way mark and when it does its when im sitting in traffic or letting it idle and it will only raise abou 1mm, thats how small

[a.graham52]

i must not be looking hard enough then :wacko: it doesnt over heat at all, most of the time its between half and 1/4 (cold, not hot). it rarely goes above the half way mark and when it does its when im sitting in traffic or letting it idle and it will only raise abou 1mm, thats how small

that sounds normal. both of mine act like that. so... on a COLD engine, durring the pressure test. how much pressure did you loose and how long did it take to loose it?

[Black_Mamba]

that sounds normal. both of mine act like that. so... on a COLD engine, durring the pressure test. how much pressure did you loose and how long did it take to loose it?

for the "pressurized cap", it went from roguhly 15 or 16 psi to about 4 psi, pretty much nothing, and i dont remember how long cause i did it at work so i had to do other things too i was running around. one of the other mechanics finished up the test for me

[a.graham52]

well if your radiator caps not holding pressure then neither will your cooling system. and on a cold engine HAS TO BE COLD! if drop like 1-2 psi in 10-15 minutes your doing pretty good. id prefer to see zero psi drop but there are a lot of variables.

[Black_Mamba]

i know this sounds like a stupid question, but im still young and learning and we all ask our share of stupid questions..

would it be possible for the radiator to have a leak internally? i dont know the dimensions or the insides of a radiator.

[Black_Mamba]

key problems are low/no pressure in coolant hoses, exhaust kicks out white smoke if you drive it from a dead cold start, meaning you have to let it idle for at least 3 to 5 minutes. no coolant burnt build up on spark plugs

[a.graham52]

you could possibly get a leak between your trans cooler and radiator but you would find strawberry milk shake in your coolant res. i think you need to deep breath and think about how your going about all this. if you work at a shop somone must have a block tester. test for gasses in the cooling system. if you do then its a head gasket. is your car leaving any drips on the ground over night? do you smell coolant when your engines hot? how about a video of your exhaust smoke on start up?

[Black_Mamba]

you could possibly get a leak between your trans cooler and radiator but you would find strawberry milk shake in your coolant res. i think you need to deep breath and think about how your going about all this. if you work at a shop somone must have a block tester. test for gasses in the cooling system. if you do then its a head gasket. is your car leaving any drips on the ground over night? do you smell coolant when your engines hot? how about a video of your exhaust smoke on start up?

next time it kicks out alot of smoke ill get a video, its not every cold start, maybe like once or twice a week. ever since i changed the plugs and it stopped misfiring, is hasnt really done it.

ill ask for a block tester tomorrow, no ones here but me today, and gasses in cooling system = bad head gasket ?

as for drips, it doesnt leak anything but oil. i have a small FMS leak, but its no big deal, only a drop here and a drop there. ill go through 1 qt of oil every 2 or 3 months. in order to fix it id have to rip the whole engine out and change the seal. i dont have time for that

[a.graham52]

yes combustion gasses on cooling system means bad head gasket. FMS= front main seal? which would be the one behind the harmonic balancer right?

[Black_Mamba]

alright ill remember that & yes i believe so

[a.graham52]

Well if thats the seal your talking aobut who told you had to take the engine out?

[Black_Mamba]

my teacher at school, he had a chevy malibu, same engine and said thats what he did

[a.graham52]

well if all of us are talking about the seal that goes around the crank shaft at the harmonica balancer and NOT the REAR main seal (around the crank shaft at the transmission end) then all you need to do is take the belt off and then remove the balancer. pry the seal out and installed with new seal and a driver. all in vehicle.

[Black_Mamba]

Oh . than he was wrong lol ill take your word for it

[a.graham52]

thats what gm service information says. and i know you can remove the balancer while the engines inthe car. next step is you pry the seal out with a simple seal puller so idk what the big deal would be.

[mastershake]

harmonica balancer harmonica balancer xD

[robalero]

malibu had the 3.1L if I remb correctly so not exactly the same but it is kinda

yes your rad can leak internally but it would have to be checked at a radiator place to find out if thats the issue or not

[a.graham52]

harmonica balancer xD
must be why it didnt show up on spell check lol


malibu had the 3.1L if I remb correctly so not exactly the same but it is kinda

yes your rad can leak internally but it would have to be checked at a radiator place to find out if thats the issue or not

not true. you could check it yourself. the only way you would have an internal leak is if you had a leak between the radiator and your aux coolers (oil, trans, p/s) depending on what you have. the way you would tell would be to check all your fluids. in this case your trans cooler has fluid about 30ish psi at idle. your coolant system would have 15 max. the result if you had a leak would be trans fluid in your coolant and you would have what would look similar to a strawberry milk shake for coolant. and if you want to really check things... next step would be to get a sample of your trans fluid. and if it has milk shake in it then you have a leak. if you had a oil cooler or p/s cooler like you would in most trucks or higher performance cars you would check each system the same way for cross contamination.

[Redog]

your not supposed to warm up your car....you start it...let it run for about 15 seconds then start driving. until it gets warm i take it real easy...accelerate nice and slow. At least thats what ive been told....

Stop being a bunch of women and MAN UP...drive cold for 5 min. lol

Warming up a car is neccessary, if the car is carb'ed. Since the Alero is NOT a carb'ed car, no warming up in neccessary

As for the HG issues, I really don't understand what your are seeing here. A lot of white smoke, that lingers for about a block or so, yeah HG issue. I had a car do that to me. Coolant was getting into the number 1 combustion chamber and being burnt out the exhaust. The HG issue I had with the Alero was Combustion gasses getting into the cooling jacket and forcing the coolant out or a hard accel.

Is either of these happening to you? Is the oil clean?

If you do have a HG issue, feel free to replace the Water Pump, thermo, coolant bottle, raditior, and anything else you like. It's NOT going to fix the problem