The only thing to do is to find out what's wrong and deal with it. I was in the same position last year with my Astra Coupe. And if you think replacing a headgasket is expensive, wait til you have to have the head skimmed AND have the headgasket replaced. If you leave it as-is, you're going to warp you cylinder head(s). Seeing as you flushed the system and replaced the cap, it is unlikely that you have air trapped in the coolant circuit (I just have a feeling you know about "burping" a car when you replace the coolant). If the compression test says you have bad compression on one or more cylinders, it's your head gasket and there's no way around having it swapped ASAP. They just stick a gauge into each each sparkplug hole and turn the engine over to measure how much "compression" each cylinder makes. If you're lucky, they'll do it for free, otherwise it's not an expensive or long procedure. Only way to be sure is to have a compression test done by a workshop. When they fail in a certain way, they allow exhaust gases to get into the coolant circuit instead of escaping out the exhaust valves like the Lord intended. every combustion chamber will thereafter be a different size so you'll have different compression (and different power) on every cylinder. A machine shop may be able to plane the head, but if they do. If your head is allowed to warp, the car'll never run right again. Even if the leak doesn't get worse fast (which it will), it WILL blow your coolant out, and your car will overheat, and the highest point (the head) will be coolant-starved and suffer from it. If you drive the car any further before getting the problem fixed, you should count on it getting worse - quickly. It may work to stop minor external leakages from the cooling system to the outdoors, but your leak is INTO the cooling system. Cracked heads are much less common than failed head gaskets, though.Ĭooling system leak sealers will have no effect in any of these cases, short-term or long-term. Third is that fuel/air and exhaust are entering the water jacket through a crack in the head, with results nearly identical to head gasket failure. This sort of failure doesn't necessarily alter the appearance & consistency of the coolant, but may cause a very dramatic overpressure condition within the cooling system. During the compression stroke, and especially during the power stroke, the fuel/air and exhaust are under VERY high pressure, far more than oil pressure. Second is that your fuel/air mix and exhaust gases are entering the water jacket through a breach in the head gasket. That, though, would also give your coolant an obvious "milkshake" appearance & consistency. No, there are three.įirst is that your motor oil is entering the water jacket through a breach in the head gasket - the motor oil is under higher pressure than the coolant should ever be, so it'd pressurize the coolant. no, there's probably nothing you can try before you invest in a head gasket. Just want to see some preliminary opinions of whether this is just something that can happen or a sign of something serious.In direct answer to your question. I'm wondering if the timing belt replacement was shoddy, if the gaskets are leaking. Never smelled anything weird (though hard to say, living in a city, sometimes during commute I get a wiff of gasoline but you can't tell if it's you or the truck in front throwing heavy exhaust smoke).īefore driving home, with the engine cold, might be a good chance to take off the radiator cap and see what level is like inside there. Never had any particular reason to suspect coolant leak. After a short, 2-mi drive from the gas station to work (with temp gauge quickly dropping to normal levels), checked again and the reservoir tank is now sitting right about the full line. No time to wait to cool and check radiator, so just topped up the reservoir tank to the tippy top (as in to near the cap). Checked under the hood and the reservoir tank was completely dry. Noticed today the engine was heating up much faster than usual, hit about 75% of the temp gauge during normal, commute driving. And according to dealer (bought car used around 90k) head gaskets were replaced shortly before I purchased, have the service receipt. Which I would assume if not a full flush is still a drain and fill of the coolant. Had the timing belt, including water pump and some old, corroded hoses replaced about 3 months ago since it seemed overdue.
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