Tricks to determine coolant cracks?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 792
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From: Palatine
Tricks to determine coolant cracks?
Replaced head gaskets after overheat.. lots of white smoke. Im still getting lots of white smoke after replacement. Is there some good tricks to determine if its the heads, block or intake manifold? My intake manifold is aluminum..not really sure where to start.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,711
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From: San Antonio TX
Run the engine with the radiator cap off and check for bubbles in the radiator. If you see bubbles, do a compression test of the cylinders to determine if you have a leak into the cooling system. If all the cylinders check okay, you could buy a CO sensor pack from NAPA that will tell you for sure if you if you are or are not getting combustion gasses into the coolant.
You could also be dealing with the aftermath of coolant in the exhast. Depending on how long the engine has been running since, it could just be the coolant continuing to burn off in the exhaust.
You'll also want to keep tabs on your oil condition. If you see any signs of a milkshake on the dipstick, you may be seeing coolant going into the oil.
Most of the time, it's the heads that warp in a severe overheat, especially if they're aluminum.
You could also be dealing with the aftermath of coolant in the exhast. Depending on how long the engine has been running since, it could just be the coolant continuing to burn off in the exhaust.
You'll also want to keep tabs on your oil condition. If you see any signs of a milkshake on the dipstick, you may be seeing coolant going into the oil.
Most of the time, it's the heads that warp in a severe overheat, especially if they're aluminum.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2000
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From: Palatine
Thanks for the answers. My heads are iron. The only aluminum peice is my intake manifold. Wouldnt an aluminum intake manifold give out to high heat before iron heads? Im just hoping its not the block, as id like to keep the bottom in the car.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
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From: Columbia Missouri
Originally Posted by Blues77
Thanks for the answers. My heads are iron. The only aluminum peice is my intake manifold. Wouldnt an aluminum intake manifold give out to high heat before iron heads? Im just hoping its not the block, as id like to keep the bottom in the car.
I had the exact same problem six years ago when I rebuilt my motor. All of a sudden, I started getting endless plumes of white smoke/steam from ONLY the passenger side sidepipe. I had a lot of spare parts, so I replaced a lot of things. I replaced the intake. No change. I replaced the heads one at a time, testing after each change. Nothing. I used new gaskets every time, and proper torque specs. No change.
I was left with one option. A new block. Luckily I had a spare engine that I used to build this one. The block was a core, so I dropped it off and the heads along with the old block. I wanted them both tested, because if in fact the old block was okay I wanted to use a Corvette block, and not a truck block.
Turned out I had a crack. So, I rebuilt the entire motor. Long story short it sounds to me like you have a cracked head or block.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,135
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From: Dayton Oh
Could be the following, easy to worst:
1) head gasket
2) cracked heads
3) cracked block
My guess would be No. 2 -- cracked heads. Anyways, you're going to have to pull off the heads just to replace the head gaskets. Would be worth your while to have the heads magna-fluxed and planed even if you're only replacing the gaskets. Check the heads first !
1) head gasket
2) cracked heads
3) cracked block
My guess would be No. 2 -- cracked heads. Anyways, you're going to have to pull off the heads just to replace the head gaskets. Would be worth your while to have the heads magna-fluxed and planed even if you're only replacing the gaskets. Check the heads first !
