What are the signs of a leaking head gasket? I have been told that the spark plug on the cylinder with the leak will look very clean and white but is there any other signs that I should look for? The reason I ask is that my car seems to have more steam coming out of the passenger side exhaust pipe than the other side at start up. It also has a "miss" on one cylinder ( I can't figure out what one) until the car warms up (it could be bad plug wires). I pulled all of the spark plugs and they look normal. I hope its just moisture trapped in my exhaust system at start-up causing the steam... o No: Any tips? o No:
Mike, I'm no expert but I think you should drain the oil and check for coolant contamination, also you might want to perform a compression test and look for the cylinder with lowest compression. All the real Buick brain's are most likely in BG so you might get a more concise answer next week. Good Luck, D.
Mike, now that the warmer weather is here, on a dry day if that pipe steams after the motor is warmed up, you probably do have a blown head gasket. I would drive it for at least 30 minutes and then check it. Steam coming out the pipe when cold or on a cool, humid day is normal. I have a special radiator cap that has a hose attached to it that you can put in a bottle of water. If the compression is entering the cooling system, you will see a steady stream of bubbles in the water. You are welcome to borrow it from me if need be.:bglasses:
Make sure the radiator is full and leave the cap off.Now start the engine.Any water coming out of the radiator neck like it is being pushed out?Blown gasket/cracked head. Take a test light while the engine is running,and poke the spark plug wires at the cap,if there is no change in the engine idle,that should be your bad plug. Make sure you check the compression before you rip off the heads,if you find low compression,squirt some oil in the spark plug hole and check again.If compression stays the same,bad valve,if it goes up,rebuild the engine. Also check the oil filler cap,if the oil on it is anywhere from slightly milky to vanilla milkshake,prolly a blown gasket. If I can think of anything else,I will let you know. Oh yeah,as for the plugs,in my experience,if it is wet,either with oil or water,or even rusty,that is a good sign of a blown head.
I remember when I was younger, and I was checking the compression on my dad's 455...........same reason, misfire and suspicion of a blown head gasket. I was standing directly in front of the bad cylinder, holding my cheap compression tester in the spark plug hole...........I said "OK Dad, crank it over a few times"............all of a sudden, spwitt! I got blasted in the face with the anti freeze that came shooting out from the spark plug hole of the dead cylinder. ou: :laugh:
Thanks for the tips.. I will check out a few more things... When I changed my oil there was not any contamination from anti-freeze nor is there any sign of contamination on the oil filler cap. The spark plugs were dry and all had slight black carbon on them, no sign of foreign contamination. The steam at the exhaust pipe ( I will have to look closer after the car runs for 30 minutes to see if there is any sign) and the coolant level in my radiator slightly dropping are what has me concerned. I will make sure my radiator is topped off and see if I lose any coolant after driving the car for a while (there are no external coolant leaks). Joe, I may take you up on the offer with the radiator cap test. As for the miss at cold start.. The first thing that I am going to do is replace the plug wires (plugs are new) and see if the miss goes away. I have tried to pull one wire at a time to determine the bad cylinder but that only got me zapped..... :beer :eek2: :eek2: We all know how good that feels....
