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Blown head gasket

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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 01:17 PM
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Default Blown head gasket

First of all before anyone tells me to use the search button, I have search, but I have addition questions to ask.

Recently I have been over heating with coolany boiling/spilling out of the neck of the coolany resivor tank. I started the car (cold) multiple times with the radiator cap off to fill the radiator as the car heats up. Each and everytime I do this, I have air bubbles coming to the surface. I checked the oil and the oil is thin, runny and looks like there is coolant mixed in, plus it smells like coolant (dead give away).

Anyways, my question is when I take my heads off to replace the gaskets, is there anything else I should replace. My car has 108k miles and the engine is all stock. I am not sure if the head(s) are cracked, so I am not sure if those are needing to be replaced. But just wanted to know if there is anything else I should replace while I have the heads off. Thanks.
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 01:19 PM
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TFS heads should go in place of the OEM's
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 02:10 PM
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like i said before Chris, your heads should be fine... "IF" anything "cracked" it would be the block... but if you just blew a head gasket, then that's all you really need to worry about fixing. Just replace it and move on...

BUT, like I said before, this would be a prime opportunity for a H/C swap

you need to start pulling some stuff apart so we can find the actual cause of the problem...
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 02:27 PM
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Since you're going to be taking it all apart, why not pick up some better heads. At the least, a set of stock 243's...
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 03:26 PM
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Well its either h/c package or a cam and long tube headers
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 04:03 PM
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Even if you do cam and headers only you should replace the springs also. Do not replace the cam and not do the springs your asking for trouble.
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 04:07 PM
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Originally Posted by 02*C5
Even if you do cam and headers only you should replace the springs also. Do not replace the cam and not do the springs your asking for trouble.
Yes I know, thanks. Im just saying its gonna be one or the other
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 06:01 PM
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Originally Posted by uLs1a
Well its either h/c package or a cam and long tube headers
Id rather do heads/cam and leave the stock exhaust manifolds till you can afford headers. Trust me, tearing the motor apart 2 times isnt fun. Plus if you pull it apart twice you get to buy another set of head gaskets. So just do heads and a cam, then save for long tubes which arent very expensive these days.

As for the head gasket...when whoever put in the ls7 lifters did they replace the head gaskets that time or just spray some copper on them and reuse them? If they did that, then Id put my money on the shitty stockers giving out on you.
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 11:04 AM
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if your mixing coolant and oil it is going to be milky in color...sort of like a cafe mocha...lol
before ripping your car apart i would pressure check the cooling system...
kind of hard to do tests on an engine thats in pieces...
if in fact, your head gasket has lost its seal, you need to check the deck of the block and heads for straightness before putting them back on. or else it will happen again..
also, you need to address the issue of why it overheated and resolve it before putting any parts on, or the failure will repeat itself.
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Old Sep 8, 2009 | 03:27 PM
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Well I did the coolant pressure test. I put the tester on the radiator opening and started the car, I didnt get any pressure readng until it reached 210*. It got up to 6 pounds of pressure for a minute or two and then slowly dropped to 0 pounds and then slowly rose again to 6 pounds.
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Old Sep 8, 2009 | 03:37 PM
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Get that coolant out of your oil or it will eat up your bearings and you will be doing a motor soon.....
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Old Sep 8, 2009 | 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by uLs1a
Well I did the coolant pressure test. I put the tester on the radiator opening and started the car, I didnt get any pressure readng until it reached 210*. It got up to 6 pounds of pressure for a minute or two and then slowly dropped to 0 pounds and then slowly rose again to 6 pounds.
What kind of pressure test is that? With the engine off put the pressure tester on the radiator, pump it up to 15-17 psi (check the psi on the cap) and let it set to see if the pressure bleeds off. If you have a blown gasket you can find it with a compression test also.
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Old Sep 8, 2009 | 08:40 PM
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Originally Posted by BaddBird
What kind of pressure test is that? With the engine off put the pressure tester on the radiator, pump it up to 15-17 psi (check the psi on the cap) and let it set to see if the pressure bleeds off. If you have a blown gasket you can find it with a compression test also.
From what I heard is that you can do it that way OR if you have the car running while it on and if it goes up to like 15 pounds then you have a leak....
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Old Sep 12, 2009 | 01:16 AM
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Anyone else got any other ideas?
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Old Sep 12, 2009 | 12:17 PM
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did you read my post in your overheating thread?
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Old Sep 12, 2009 | 04:17 PM
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Yes Id did and I did the coolant leak test

Last edited by uLs1a; Sep 12, 2009 at 04:29 PM.
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