snk-huntr

iTrader: (2)

Would oil around the head gasket and a bad hesitation that comes and goes be an indication of a leaking head gasket? When I take the radiator cap off when its at operating temp. just a little antifreeze runs out but didn't see much bubbling.
Thanks

dre2013

iTrader: (7)

any water in your oil? or oil in your coolant? white smoke?

95maroz28

iTrader: (21)

when my gasket was leaking/seeping it didnt have any water in the oil but under the valve covers there was some white sludge build up. it wasnt a bad leak but would hydro lock sometimes on cold start. im not too sure how oil would be leaking around the head gasket, maybe coolant. i noticed some oil around one of my head gasket areas but tracked it down to a valve cover leak. you lose any coolant? my coolant was being burned out the exhaust which was hardly noticable as it barely smoked. you take the cap off when its warm? another thing i noticed when it leaked was that when id cold start it with the cap off there was a slight constant bubbling that would come and go. after i replaced the head gaskets there wasnt any bubbling on cold start. if you think there may be a leak you could try to pressure test the radiator

Steve in Seattle

come again? it would hydro-lock "sometimes"? ok... and what exactly did you do with the broken con rods and piston crowns after it would "hydro-lock".

there's a difference between a dead starter not turning an engine and hydrolock. That white sludge is normal... it's just condensation and heavy deposits being pulled out of the oil at high temps. Unless its WIDESPREAD its not a problem.

coolant doesn't "smoke"... it steams. Head gaskets put a white wiff in the exhasut that's pretty noticeable, and a sweat smell that's unmistakable to anyone that's done a coolant swap. If you get blue smoke it's oil, black smoke is soot from unburnt gas.

that's completely normal for an engine that's up to temperure with no pressure in the coolant system... just boiling off coolant... BTW, don't do that to an engine you care about.

Agreed... a pressure test would be fine, but crawling underneath and looking for coolant drips would probably work just as welll... coolant does a good job at cleaning off dirt and oil on hoses and the k-member... if its leaking at all he'll probably see it underneath when the engines still hot (and by extenstion... the coolant is expanded/pressurized).

Steve in Seattle

Naw... like dre said... check the oil dipstick for a milky suspension of oil/water, or change your oil and see if theres a big orangish water slick on top. white steam in the exhaust is a pretty good indicator if it's a big leak (it'll look like a damn KISS concert with all the white steam kicking out), but at really low leakage it could look like normal condensation in the exhaust pipes.

I'd check the dipstick and go from there if you're concerned.

the leaking oil is just a indicator of a bad oil seal, nothing else. Unless it's "pooling" oil you should be fine... though it could be fixed depending where it is (i.e. valve train cover gaskets are easy to replace, intake manifold seals are a PITA but doable in your garage... HEAD gaskets are ugly, but not a likely suspect here).

Hesitation can be various things... dieing fuel pump comes to mind, and that usually won't throw a code either. Have to tested the fuel rail pressure at idle and after stabbing it to WOT? Do you have an codes in the PCM? (not all codes throw a service engine soon light)