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Ways to check a blown head gasket?

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Posted by: BlackMark8Li

My car overheated tonight... I shut her down but it still managed to climb into the red for a sec b4 I shut off the engine. anyways I opened the hood and opened the coolant reservoir and the coolant bubbled out. I fixed the leak(coolant crossover tube) and the car drove fine home. No missing, no hesitation, temp stayed right in the middle of the gauge.

After I fixed the leak before I drove home I started my car and there was smoke comming out of my exhaust... it is cold here so it could be that... however it was a decent ammount of smoke comming out(usually isn't like that when it gets cold). there was antifreeze all over the engine so that could explain the smoke also(however the smoke was comming Out of my exhaust) I started smelling the exhaust and also insid ethe valve covers and didn't smell anything like antifreeze. I can't check the oil now because I am using the wrong dipstick(my engine is a 98 and I am using the dipstick from my 96 which is smaller) what other ways are there to see if you have a blown head gasket?

Posted by: fordtechguru

most certain way is to have a "blue water" or "block test" done, it sniffs the coolant system for presence of carbon monoxide in the cooling system, the test fluid turns from blue to yellow if a gasket failed....lol

Posted by: BlackMark8Li

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordtechguru

most certain way is to have a "blue water" or "block test" done, it sniffs the coolant system for presence of carbon monoxide in the cooling system, the test fluid turns from blue to yellow if a gasket failed....lol

Thanks, I will try to look for that at the store after work tonight. does it take a while for carbon monoxide to get into the coolant system? should I drive around for a lil bit before I do the test?

Posted by: Dern Humpus

Using a leakdown tester, put pressure in the cylinder and if there is a problem then most likely you will be able to see bubbles in the rad cap.

Posted by: DonLino

Leak down test is the best way to determine if you have a blown head gasket. Should be no more than 5% between cylinders. Usually a leak will be between two adjacent cylinders since the head gasket is thinest there.