Possible blown head gasket?

[YBCold]

right so i think i have some symptoms of a blown head gasket. i am getting some white smoke untill the car is hot. i suppose at that point it just vaporizes. i cant really describe it as sweet smelling it smells more bitter to me. not really smelling of petroleum products either. i checked my fluids and they seem ok. i also noticed it seems to loose coolant after driving for about an hour or so. i constantly have to top off.

i checked my oil dipstick and the oil looks ok but i found some residue under my oil cap (see picture) you tell me. BTW the residue also doesnt smell like coolant to me but maybe im mistaken or it might have different smell depending.

i still need to check the spark plugs and what not. i think. is there any thing else i can check to get a good diagnosis on the situation?

FULL SIZE PIX

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo178/cuagamailero/IMGP0947.jpg

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo178/cuagamailero/IMGP0955.jpg

 

[rookieshooter]

Check your compression. I bet it's low between to adjacent cylinders.

 

[YBCold]

Check your compression. I bet it's low between to adjacent cylinders.

k ill check it out. once i figure out how. i dont know my way around this too well but ill figure it out though.

 

[boggs1227]

i'm going to say small hole in the head gasket .maybe since you said that the oil looks fine on the dip stick but the cap looks like this then i bet a small hole is letting in just a tiny amount of water and due to the heat inside the engine the water is turning to vapor and rise's up to the cap where it collects and gets mixed with oil that is always on the cap .heat rise's and water with heat turns to steam so it rise's to the highest point on the engine ...the cap.

 

[YBCold]

its worth mentioning that my ploder had an overheating problem from mid summer 07 to 08. so bad that at times the engine would run while it was off. but one of the homeboys at the walmart told me to squish the vacuum hose to the FPR. *i think im not sure *and that killed it. then it sat dormant for the remainder of 08. and now i run it. so who knows maybe sitting like that or over heating finally caused fail.

 

[dogfriend]

Brown foam = coolant + oil

 

[YBCold]

Brown foam = coolant + oil

so it is a bad head gasket for sure?

 

[dogfriend]

Yep, I believe so. Either a blown gasket or cracked head.

When my 4cyl Ford Courier blew the head gasket, it left a huge puddle of brown foam all around the truck. White smoke is also a clue - the coolant + water will make white smoke when it gets in the combustion chamber(s). If you are losing coolant and its not leaking somewhere then it is going out the tailpipe.

 

[YBCold]

k thanks i will investigate. i was hoping this wouldnt happen. i am limited on tools and space but i will make it happen.

 

[rookieshooter]

Probably the small part of the gasket that lies between two adjacent cylinders. That's why you will most likely find two low readings on those two cylinders.
If you have at least a spark plug wrench pull all your plugs and check them out. The cylinder/cylinders with the blown head gasket will most likely have crud all over the spark plugs.
How about going to a local parts store and see if they will let you have a loaner compression guage.
You can even spine the engine and see if any water/oil comes flying out any cylinders with the spark plugs removed. I have even stuck my finger or thumb over hole and feel for compression as someone spun the engine over. The cylinders with compression will try to push and pull against your finger. Of course the ones without you feel almost nothing.
Then report back please.

 

[YBCold]

willl do. ill try to get some more tools. from what im reading in my hanes book the only tool i dont have is a compression gauage. and i dont have a tap and die set that i will need. so it might take me some time to post updates but i will eventually.

 

[YBCold]

i got a quote from a guy that fixes cars. hes is good he did my friends land rover. i told him to help with my head gasket issue. he quoted me about 850 USD ballpark. is that a good price???

 

[dogfriend]

I've never done one of the V6's, but I've done a couple of 4cyl (Toyota, Ford Courier). For someone who is good, I'm guessing it would take about a day (8 hrs) and the gaskets would cost between $50 - $100, so that seems like a reasonable price to me. Someone who has done one of these engines would know better though.

 

[rookieshooter]

The important thing you said was

hes is good (sic)

Case in point. My son paid a so so machinist to do his valve job on his Honda. When we put it back together it still had low compression. Turned out this guy did not seat the valves correctly and we had to tear it back down and find someone that was Good. So we spent about twice as much.

 

[droolmonkey]

i just finished replacing my both of my head gaskets yesterday on a 6cyl ohv, and as long as you have about 20 hours free in the next week or 2, you can make it happen. dont forget to tighten the head bolts/lower intake bolts in the proper sequence or your gonna be doing the same job again in about 6 months. ...if you have any questions, i will be happy to answer