coolant question

[boggs1227]

hey all ,today i was checking the coolant and took the cap off and notived what looked like a greenish clear gel like substance caked up under the cap where the rubber gasket is .what the heck is this gunk !?! i have never seen anything like this before in all my years so i'm at a lose.

does this mean my head gaskets have gone or a small leak in them ?
i looked at the coolant and i could not really tell if it had oil in it but i know it's got the intake leak .

thanks

 

[marragtop]

What does the overflow bottle look like, and when was the last time the system was flushed?

 

[SwaintaN]

never had that problem, but it sounds like a leak, the fluid that is leaking back into it, is drying out quickly when its conformed with the antifreeze and making the gel, sounds like a oil leak, in the old Escort i had, i had a leak into the oil, and it created a thick substance, which might be what your referring to, the head gasket was shot, replaced the gaskets, flushed the system and ran new all through, no more thick gel like crap, hope that helps, it was on an escort, so not sure if it helped.

 

[boggs1227]

i have been noticeing that the level in the overflow has been going down a little more latelly ...i useally keep it abouta inch above the line .i did check my oil and no discoloration and the coolant was flush about 12k ago ( basiclly when i bought it i flushed it really good .

the overflow looks ok and i could not find any of it in there .

so yall think it's a head gasket problem and if it's a small leak in the head gasket do you think that when i pull the heads i should not really bother with haveing them re-surfaced ...since the motor has never been over heated since i have been driveing it ?

 

[mikeinri]

Not that I'm an expert, but I haven't personally heard of anyone pulling the heads and NOT having them machined. Even if it's not "needed" it's (relatively) cheap insurance against having to do the job twice.

Mike

 

[boggs1227]

good point .... i was wondering about that myself ...thinking that if i never over heated the block that the heads would not need it ..makes sence tho .just could not figure out why i got ecto plasma around the rad cap ...almost looked like green fish eggs (caviar) .....weird