Bad head gasket symptoms

[Avery4]

I believe My 05 Honda Civic may have a bad head gasket or cracked/warped head or block because it has been overheated due to low coolant, bubbles, bad hoses, cooling fans not coming on, etc. The car was immediately pulled over and turned off to prevent damage. The scary part is that the coolant pressurizes to slightly higher than normal levels and the pressure does not go away even once it completely cools down for 24 hours. It still sprays coolant when I take the cap off and hoses are still hard. This is new since the last overheat. I do not know if it has a bad hose causing air to enter or what. No steam from under the bonnet or out the exhaust. No oil in radiator or coolant in oil. No blow by into oil. What do you guys think about this?

 

[ISO55000]

Making sure I understand you in context

This over pressurizing is now happening every time the car is driven post overheat event?

If that's correct I can tell you with 100% certainty that combustion gas is getting into the cooling fluid and that you have a major repair.( could be cracked gasket, cracked head, cracked block, warpage or any combination)

Sorry

 

[wormwood1978]

My Equinox had a bad head gasket. No oil in the radiator or coolant in the oil from what I could tell. Exhaust kinda looked a little off but I wasn't sure. My repair shop did not think I had a head gasket issue. I used this to help determine I had coolant coming out my exhaust:
http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-75500-Combus...n+leak+detector

Autozone and possibly AAP may have this tool or a similar tool available for loan.

 

[Dave Sherman]

If it's holding pressure after shutdown, then it would be the exact opposite; the head gasket is holding pressure. If exhaust is getting into the cooling system, then it would go the other way once the engine stops and there's no exhaust pressure. If the oil level isn't mysteriously going up and turning milky, you don't have billowy clouds of white coming out the exhaust, and it's not still overheating, then chances are the gasket is fine. I've had cars hold pressure long after they've cooled off, that's not so unusual.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Avery4
...it has been overheated due to low coolant, bubbles, bad hoses, cooling fans not coming on, etc.


Alright. There's a lot going on here. Have you verified all of the above? Is the coolant indeed low? Are there bubbles in the coolant? Do you have external leaks from your hoses? Are your cooling fans not coming on? I don't know from this sentence if you're asking for possible causes or if you are stating these as fact.

If your cooling system holds pressure, that sure seems like a good sign. But I'm interested in your answers to the above before any further diagnosis.

 

[PandaBear]

The combustion gas is getting into the cooling system. Yup, you have a warp head / bad gasket. Aluminum head warp pretty much instantly as it overheats or runs low on coolant. Mine didn't even get to the red zone, just slightly past the typical middle section, and it already warped as soon as I turn off the engine after seeing it for a few seconds.

 

[wormwood1978]

Originally Posted By: Dave Sherman
If it's holding pressure after shutdown, then it would be the exact opposite; the head gasket is holding pressure. If exhaust is getting into the cooling system, then it would go the other way once the engine stops and there's no exhaust pressure. If the oil level isn't mysteriously going up and turning milky, you don't have billowy clouds of white coming out the exhaust, and it's not still overheating, then chances are the gasket is fine. I've had cars hold pressure long after they've cooled off, that's not so unusual.


I disagree here. With my vehicle, the coolant system I believe is pressurized and remained pressurized despite coolant constantly going down. Also, I did not have the typical billowing white smoke or milky substance under the oil cap. My symptoms were coolant always going down, no obvious leaks and the exhaust looked a little off (tough to tell in December/January when it was cold). The one fortunate thing is that my my head was not warped despite my wife overheating the vehicle.

 

[kschachn]

Unfortunately I agree with this, by the time you see it overheating is usually too late to save it.

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
The combustion gas is getting into the cooling system. Yup, you have a warp head / bad gasket. Aluminum head warp pretty much instantly as it overheats or runs low on coolant. Mine didn't even get to the red zone, just slightly past the typical middle section, and it already warped as soon as I turn off the engine after seeing it for a few seconds.

 

[Avery4]

The temp never got to the red. I always pulled over and delt with it as SOON as it got above normal. It once got to half and there was nowhere to pull over. I had to go another 1 mile and pulled it over asap. It got to 3\4 twice, but because the fans did not come on. Bad fan switch. It had coolant in it. It got TO half before from blown hose, but I put it in neutral, shut it and coasted to the side of the road to prevent damage. It never took that long to depressurize before it overheated. What do you think?

 

[Nate1979]

Isn't the easiest to just do a coolant combustion gas test?

 

[UNC017]

Sounds to me like a head gasket problem. Not all head gasket failures will mix coolant with oil- there are plenty of points on most cylinder heads where a leak could be just into the coolant without involving any oil at all. And the pressure during combustion is orders of magnitude higher than the resudual pressure in the cooling system, so its no surprise that it doesn't leak back the other way and depressurize the cooling system.

One of these kits will tell you without a doubt:

http://www.sears.com/uview-combustion-bl...p;mktRedirect=y

 

[ISO55000]

Originally Posted By: Avery4
The temp never got to the red. I always pulled over and delt with it as SOON as it got above normal. It once got to half and there was nowhere to pull over. I had to go another 1 mile and pulled it over asap. It got to 3\4 twice, but because the fans did not come on. Bad fan switch. It had coolant in it. It got TO half before from blown hose, but I put it in neutral, shut it and coasted to the side of the road to prevent damage. It never took that long to depressurize before it overheated. What do you think?


None of that matters, let me explain because I might have been detailed enough to get the point across. Your engine is no different than any pressure vessel I test.

If your coolant is over pressurizing, the damage is there. Combustion gas is getting into the system. Nothing is going to change that.

From a fractology standpoint you may have a fissure in the block/head that would require something like UT or a X ray to see and opens when hot- closes when cold.

Fissures like that generally do not have 2 way flow because of the overpressure and crack characteristics so you will not see a "fluid exchange" until it propagates.

There wont be any oil in the water because this type crack is nowhere near any source oil galley.

There wont be any steam in the exhaust because the pressure is going into the cooling jacket, not the manifold.

A little "squeaker" (like we say in UT) will not transfer enough energy to cause a significant spike in pressure or temperature.

The problem is that all cracks propagate and eventually become big ones- its only a matter of time before yours fails as well.

Sorry but you need to be planning a major repair now because your hour glass just got turned. Failure is a certainty at this point.

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
The combustion gas is getting into the cooling system. Yup, you have a warp head / bad gasket. Aluminum head warp pretty much instantly as it overheats or runs low on coolant. Mine didn't even get to the red zone, just slightly past the typical middle section, and it already warped as soon as I turn off the engine after seeing it for a few seconds.


Me too!
When I would rev the engine with the hood open and radiator cap off it looks like a mt st helens eruption.
Then a week or so later my oil was a milkshake

 

[chrisri]

2005 Honda would probably be metal head gasket. So there's little chance that HG is only problem here. They usually last forever. You said in your first post that car overheated on several occasions so IMO you'll have cracked or wrapped head or engine block since it's probably made from aluminum as well.
New engine would probably be most costs effective.

 

[Avery4]

Is the head gasket, block or head likely the issue?

 

[kschachn]

I was going to point that out too. Sometimes the gasket itself is the problem but usually there is an underlying fault that causes the problem. Just replacing the gasket might get you a little reprieve but won't fix it.

Originally Posted By: chrisri
2005 Honda would probably be metal head gasket. So there's little chance that HG is only problem here. They usually last forever. You said in your first post that car overheated on several occasions so IMO you'll have cracked or wrapped head or engine block since it's probably made from aluminum as well.

 

[Sayjac]

Maintain 01 Civic EX (same gen) since new. When head gasket went bad, a few things happened. Most noticeable, AF began to bubble out of the coolant recovery tank at operating temp. Heater began to act weird, began to blow cold when supposed to be hot at idle or stopped. Only a slight difference (higher) in temp gauge though, really tough to tell anything from that.

Not sure if any those ring a bell but as mentioned if in doubt a combustion gas leak tester should give you a good idea if the head gasket is blown.

In my reading and research at the time, blown head gasket pretty common at some point on that generation Civic.

 

[ISO55000]

Originally Posted By: Avery4
Is the head gasket, block or head likely the issue?


Based on your description and the fact that you are describing a very small squeaker ( since it is not yet geysering your radiator)it may be too small to distinguish at this stage without a physical disassembly.

I hope that it winds up just being a head gasket because that's about the cheapest way out for you and a block would certainly justify a short or maybe long block if you didn't go all the way with a crate.

 

[kschachn]

To me a 10-year old Honda shouldn't need any one of those three replaced, but that doesn't say anything as to how it was driven or maintained. According to your post you have experienced multiple overheats, why is that? I've never overheated any of my cars, ever. What happened and what was done to fix/prevent it from happening again?

Originally Posted By: Avery4
Is the head gasket, block or head likely the issue?

 

[Kool1]

If you go to a shop, they can use the HC, CO exhaust sniffer at the radiator cap opening. If there is a presence of exhaust gas, the head MUST be removed for either a bad head gasket, cracked block or head.