This is really bothering me now. When I crank my car I smell coolant. When I come to a stop I smell coolant. I have a leak and I am not sure where it is. I am not leaving puddles when I park. Today I noticed that while the car is running and up to temp. my coolant in the reservoir is bubbling...it looks like the bubbles are starting at that nipple where the overflow line hooks up to the overflow reservoir. What in the world could cause this? I don't think this is normal but if it is please let me know and I will look for the leak somewhere else. I have not replaced the radiator cap but I plan on doing that after work today. Any suggestions? This is really bothering me because it is ruing my brand new carbon fiber hood...the coolant is seaping into the hood from the bottom and creating a haze under the clear coat. Thanks for any help.

-Carson

*this is happening on my 95 gxe

 

You have a blown head gasket.

 

are you saying this because you have experience with this? Why would a blown head gasket make my coolant bubble? The only other experience I have with a blown head gasket was in my first car...a plymouth carvelle, and it smoked like crazy when it blew the head gasket. To my knowlege the car is not smoking/white smoking from the tial pipe.

 

The gasket is broken between the combustion chamber and a coolant flow path. Every time the effected cylinder fires a small amount of combustion gas is being pushed passed the faulty head gasket into the coolant path. The bubbling in your cooling system is actually combustion gas escaping from the system.

 

He's absolutely correct...Cooolant boiling in reservoir...Blown head gasket.
It sucks but at least your not in Falusia, Iraq. Everthing is relative

 

You're right, everything is relative. My engine was making some nasty sounds this morning, but I still got my legs!

 

should I even take it to a mechanic? Or is a blown head gasket the only thing this can be?

 

Ask a mechanic to perform a leak down test. This will confirm the diagnostic of a blown gasket.

 

so is a leak down test something different than a pressure test (sorry if this is a dumb question)? I had a pressure test done and the shop could not find any leaks, but they also said they could not diagnose a internal coolant leak with this pressure test.

Also last night the car started getting hot on my way to the gym, so I turned the heat on full blast (it was blowing cold), and babied the car back home and the temp came down while I was going back. So after the car cooled down I went back out to check what was going on. I pop the hood and the resiviour is up to the MAX point with coolant....so I am thinking what the heck? I pop the radiator cap and a bunch of air goes rushing back toward the coolant resivour, and sure enough it needed about half a gallon of water. Why would the radiator not be pulling in coolant from the resivour when it is getting low?

 

could be air in the radiator.

 

yeah I agree with that, but why would it not pull from the overflow when it gets low? I know I have an internal coolant leak because I am loosing coolant and a pressure test turned up no external leaks.

 

I would recommend that you top off you coolant with distilled water.

The remove the radiator cap, let the car run in park for 45 mins with no radiator cap. You should see air bubbles being released.

Reinstall radiator cap once no more bubbles are present, after at least 30 min. plus.

 

I am confused as to what this would do, if I have a blown head gasket the air will never stop coming in. Also mind you I am loosing coolant, so if I am reading your recomendation correct I think all I would be doing is wasting gas.

 

Are you sure that your head gasket is blown? If not, you could try this before going to a mechanic. It was only a suggestion, since I had similar symptoms this past summer.

 

no I am not positive. Were you loosing coolant? Was your coolant bubbling in your resivoir? Just wondering, this would be great if it was all it was. Let me know, I am very curious now.

 

blown head gasket no if ands or buts.


my car was doing the same thing.
no heater. coolant would flow into the reservoir but would not go back into the raditor after the car cooled down. i got a block tester off a tool truck.
$50 bucks. thing looks like a turcket baster with two chambers. you put a special chemical in the chambers and pump the tester and if you have a blown head gasket the liquid will change green.

sorry bro

 

You have a blow head gasket, the combustion chamber gases are pressurizing your cooling system and pushing all the coolant out!

 

+1 to what NJ just said and if u are really unsure of this get a tailpipe sniffer like for an inspection from your local shop...have them put it up to the coolant resivour and check for gasses. it will come up as a failed inspection due to the phlorocarbons present. we did this to my friends truck and sure enough blown head gasket

 

Face the truth and admit it: blown head gasket. That explains the air in the cooling system, and why the heater has no hot air.

 

just curious, what can cause a blown head gasket?

 

thanks for the input guys, I guess I should start pricing a head gasket replacement before I take my other car off the road for the winter, since this one is my beater now.