Blow headgasket

[IronEagle119]

Blown headgasket

I've got the common signs of a blown headgasket, bubbles in the overflow bottle, exhaust sucked in a dollar and blew out, valve cover breather's and blowing out oil. Something that's bothered me is that I've never adjusted my boost lvl's over 15 PSI, and I always use 93 or 94 octane gas. How/why would I blow a head gasket with those lvl's of boost. I've never opened up my engine before, so is this something I'd be able to do myself if I could possibly find a friend to help me with this, or should I have it done professionally. Also, I didn't realize my gasket was blwon, but it's prolly been that way for a lil while now, I've checked the overflow tank before and not looked into the corner far enough to notice the bubbles, what other damage has possibly been done? If it has to be done profesionally, what does it usually cost to repair this, and if they go into the engine that far, is there anything else while it's that far torn apart that could/should be done to give a lil more performance/safety precautions and not totally drain the bank.

 

[GRANDNAT87]

Head gasket?

What color is your oil??
Does it look like a milk shake??
You need to pull your heads to see if there is any damage and you can do it yourself.
Rick K

 

[IronEagle119]

on the dipstick, the oil color is brownish/blackish color(3500 mi, time for an oil change). as for checking for milkshake, I have to pull the oil pan off right? I don't have time to do that right now, I have to go to work at 4. I'll give it a try, tomarrow when I get a chance. How much usually does it cost to have a compression check done?

 

[GRANDNAT87]

Head gasket?

YOU PROBABLY DO NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH YOUR MOTOR. YOUR OIL WOULD LOOK LIKE A CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE ON YOUR DIPSTICK. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PULL YOUR PAN FOR THIS. AS FOR BUBBLES IN YOUR COOLANT SYSTEM YOU PROBABLY HAVE A GASKET BLOWN IN YOUR WATER PORTS WITCH IS NOT A BIG DEAL.
YOU MEED TO PULL YOUR HEADS OFF AND SEE WHERE IT WAS LEAKING. NOT A BIG DEAL JUST TAKES A LITTLE LABOR TO CHANGE THEM OUT.
RICK KINWORTHY

 

[IronEagle119]

Ok, thats not bad then, I have been running really warm lately this summer. Could this be the reason I'm running hot? I've been trying to flush my radiator and changed my T-stat, but no luck I'm still reaching 200's on extremely hot days I'll park it for the rest of the day and leave her home. I gotta run to work now, but I'll check back later.

Thx

 

[dfisher]

Be careful mine was running a little hot like in the 200- 210 no signs of any trouble then went to the track and blow the steel ring in two not sure why but it came home on a wrecker. no big deal should be running this weekend good thing we have this large amount of rain that way the track is closed, I guess since they cant out run the car they will run there mouth saying there is another buick headed to the scrap yard. The onle place this car is headed is back to the track and pick up were I left off. Good luck.

 

[FJM568]

A blown head gasket does not mean that you will always have the milkshake looking oil or coolant...If the head gasket blows to the inside(lifter valley), the outside(outside of block), then you will not have a milkshake look as long as the blown gasket area does not intersect a coolant passage or oil return...The above two ways are the most common since the distance between the head bolts at the top and bottom are the longest, which makes clamping evenly across the longer distance much harder...

The other places the gasket could be blown is between cylinders...My last one was blown between #1 and #3 due to the wrong headgasket being installed by the shop that built my motor last...Needless to say, I'm doing all my own work now...

My whole point in this reply is for people not to make a statement that sounds as if one of the symptoms that is guaranteed in every blown head gasket is the milkshake looking oil...That is just not the case...And even if your oil does look like a milkshake, it MIGHT not be the head gasket either...It could be even a more severe problem...

As for IronEagle119's situation, it does sound like a blown headgasket into a coolant passage, but could also be as severe as a cracked head...But I would bet on the head gasket...

 

[drive805]

no water in oil blown headgasket

i have a blown haed gasket and no milkshake....my gasket blew into the #2 cylinder from the water jacket the whole edge of tthe gasket was gone at the water jacket mine was from a builder that didn't torque the gaskets corrrectly only have 2800 miles on the motor live and learn...as for doing it yourself it isn't that hard just take your time and make sure that you label all connections it pretty simple gaskets are about 80-100 bucks for the head kit to do a valve job is usually about 150 bucks or so depending on shops and usually about an afternoon apart and together hope this helps good luck

 

[IronEagle119]

Originally posted by FJM568

As for IronEagle119's situation, it does sound like a blown "headgasket into a coolant passage, but could also be as severe as a cracked head...

If that is the case, would it cause damage, besides the gasket floating around? I'm trying to think when I'd be able to change it, and what gaskets are the best/preffered head gaskets anything better to use besides the GM origionals?

 

[FJM568]

Either the stock head gaskets from GM or the FelPro 9441's would be my choice...

BTW, I don't know how the quote of my last post got messed up in your last post, but it isn't quite what I said if you compare to my last post...