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LIM/Blown head gasket/something else?? 97 GTP

Z

Zaephyr

New member
Hi there,

I've been searching the forums a little bit (and will some more after this in case I find a post with my problem). I've got what I think is the stereotypical blown head gasket on my mother's car and while I'm in town over the summer I'd like to get it fixed for her so that I can have my car back :-P. After the car's been running for a few minutes (~5 minutes usually) the temperature starts to rapidly rise and the car overheats and pours white smoke out of the engine compartment. After pulling the car over and letting it cool for a few hours I can start it back up (though not without a lot of trouble, like sometimes upwards of ten minutes before it'll start, but I think that's a different issue altogether) and drive it a little bit again. The car smells of what I believe is burnt coolant and the reservoir tank for the coolant is incredibly milky and thick like sludge/syrup. I was reading another post and it mentioned checking the oil dipstick for a milky color there as well and besides it looking like it needs to be changed it looks completely fine. Does anyone have any other tips for verifying the issue before I start a complete disassembly and start to replace the head gasket?

Like I said, I'm gonna lurk the forums some more and search around but this is my guess to the issue. Thanks a ton for any help! :-)

Chris
 


Head gaskets are almost never bad! Lower intake gasket and composite upper manifold are the problem 99% of the time.
 
Chris...

The overflow container is not a good one to use as a gauge of what is in the radiator. Stuff sits in that tank for years and can look pretty nasty. Plus in 97 that overflow hose goes through two mounts, an electrical loom and few other things..it's restrictive to say the least. I've often wondered how anything flowed through that hose.

I'd suggest pulling the plugs. A bad head gasket should have fouled or cleaned one plug.
Next is compression test. If all the cylinders are relatively the same, the HG's should be good.

If you are getting a lot of coolant smoke from the engine bay and not from the exhaust, then likely there is a leak in the radiator or another area.
I would suggest pressure testing the system. It is common for the plastic side tanks of our radiators to crack over the years and this can cause all kinds of issues as usually the crack only opens when the radiator is hot.
 
It was the LIM gaskets on my car once but another time, it was some pinhole leaks on (I think they are bypass elbows ) around the water pump. They are plastic and wouldn't leak until the engine got hot.
2002 GTP 177,000 miles.
 
Well I finally had time to check the compression and just in the front back I've got anywhere between ~65 and 90 PSI. So I'm thinking I'm gonna start the tear-down of engine and pull the head. Is there anything else I should do before this?
 
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