I've been noticing my coolant is REAL dirty inside the overflow tank. So today I decide to change the coolant. When I'm draining it out, I see some small brown clumps floating around. Great... no actually ****!!! This is really leaning toward a leaky head gasket. I've also been noticing my oil level going down but it doesn't look a milkshake. Is it possible to loose oil into the coolant but still not get any water in the oil?? Very odd. Now how in the hell do I determine WHICH head is leaking?? Or could it be something else?? Anyone!!! WTF else could go wrong?? I already replaced the back side headgasket. I guess the front side just now went?? argg. I'm really starting to hate this car. WTF have I NOT done so far. Geeez

So far: VTCs, Exhaust manifold studs, rear head gasket, 2 clutch jobs, cleaned/balanced injectors,brake job, cv joints. Someone give me a gun..

 

probably is the front gasket...if u recently replaced back it was matter a time b4 front goes

 

Well if it IS a head gasket, the front will be easier to do, but still a PITA.

 

You have to check your plugs for anti freeze on them. Also if you do a compression test this will tell you if you have a coolant leak somewhere. Actually check your oil, when my headgasket blew I could see the coolant in my oil, on the dipstick. The only thing I can suggest is flushing the entire cooling system and using all new parts. But if you have to take the heads off get them massaged .

 

It's possible to leak "one way but not the other". but like Ari said, check the plugs... see what color they are. Check to also see if you can see oil on the white part of the plug. But I think like Ari said, you could sent the head to have it worked ok. ;-)

-Shing

 

Thanks guys, I'll check the plugs. But I'm thinking if the leak is only one way oil --> coolant, there may not be any indication on the plugs. So far the oil looks okay, abeit low though.

 

This is almost certainly a bad head gasket, and it is urgent that you make the repair. Even though you haven't seen the tell-tale "milky emulsion", coolant will soon contaminate your oil (if it hasn't already). This leads to big trouble, quickly.

When one head gasket fails (due to age, temperature cycling, warped cylinder head, etc.) the other gasket is close to end-of-life. In my opinion, it always makes sense to replace both. Right now, you are wishing you had.

Assuming your back-bank head gasket was a quality part and was torqued correctly, the probabilities point to the front-bank gasket as the villain in this drama.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I was debating that one when I replace the rear. BTW I only replaced the rear becuase I had to take the head off, not beucase the gasket failed. I used a Nissan gasket and torqued as per the Nissan fsm. To the best of my ability anyway. thanks for the info.

 

saying you fixed something to the best of your ability greatly undermines your skills....



Just thought I would try and make you feel better....

Good luck this evening, may the VE gods be with you....

 

Thanks Bill. Daniel brings up a good point, I hope it doesn't degrade too fast, I gotta clear up the wife's honda first. (she said so) It runs great though. If it's the rear bank, that means I did something wrong and probably should not attempt it again. If it's the front bank, then I gotta call Kaleb and "have me some fun" 'Predator'. Sad thing is 1/2 of the gaskets I have to replace are new anyway. shesh.