NAPA dude said, no BHG, just replace valve cover gasket

2104 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Junkie, Jun 27, 2003

SUPRAMIR

Discussion Starter · Jun 26, 2003

i went to napa today to find out about a head gasket on my mk2, and the napa dude came outside and looked at my engine. he said that its oil leaking, because the valve cover gasket is blown. he said that if the HG was blown, the engine would idle ruff and its idling pretty smooth. any comments on this? and also im losing about 2 cups of coolant every 2-3 days. he said in case of a BHG, i would be losing tons of coolant a day. what do you all experts think?

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CRF_Rider

· #2 · Jun 26, 2003

Is it dripping coolant?

Do your spark plugs look white (check them all)?

If it isnt dripping coolant and one or more of your spark plugs are white then it is a BHG.

Hope it isnt though.

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SUPRAMIR

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 26, 2003

no im not dripping any coolant, havent checked the plugs yet. this weekend maybe.

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Dave A.

· #4 · Jun 26, 2003

Are you sure that no dripping is taking place?? Check that suicide bypass hose underneath the intake runners and see if it's soaked with greasy grime and dripping coolant. Can you smell antifreeze when you open the hood??
What's making you think that you might have a BHG?

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dragon16

· #5 · Jun 26, 2003

Supramir - Sounds like you may have a problem that's similar to mine. I'm obviously burning coolant, but not much. I know this because one of my spark plugs is white-ish. You can check out the thread entitled "Supposed blown HG" for the details if you're interested, but basically long story short, I almost refuse to believe that my HG is blown because I have almost ideal compression on all cylinders. It might be worth while for you to check this also. Good indicator. Also, check for bubbling in your radiator with the engine running. Let me know what you come up with - it might help me solve my problem as well. Good Luck!

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Dave A.

· #6 · Jun 26, 2003

Check the coolant overflow bottle for bubbles while the engine is running. If there's a coolant leak into one or more cylinders, then the cooling system pressure will increase enough to cause the pressure relief valve in the radiator cap to open and allow gases to flow into the bottle. Rev the engine up to a fast idle and see if that causes any bubbles in the bottle.

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SupraFiend

· #7 · Jun 26, 2003

dragon16, you can't go by a compression check alone to determine if you have a BHG. I've seen slightly blown hgs before. In some cases, the temperture expansion from running or stressing the engine will open up the leak in the gasket, and the car will start burning coolant. But once it cools down and you do a compression check, the temps have returned to normal and the leak goes away. Compression is normal in that case. With this particular car I'm talking about, it would sometimes blow tons of white smoke out the tail pipe and sometimes it would run for days completely normal. 2 mechanics have looked at this car and said it has no bhg, yet sometimes it blows white smoke like nuts and it goes through a bunch of coolant.

The best way to check for a bhg is keeping an eye on the tailpipe for white smoke, white depoists on the plugs and bubbles in the cooling system like was already mentioned.

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Digilog

· #8 · Jun 26, 2003

I agree with SupraFiend I had almost the exact same problem with my white 85. I can only think of one other reason besides BHG you would have coolant on your spark plug would be a cracked head (lets hope not) and it leaking coolant into the cylinder. Unless you have a broken/damaged coolant line spraying coolant on top of your spark plug vally but that would mean 1 there is coolant all over your head and you would probably notice and you whoul also have a bad seal with the plug in that cylinder.

Carl

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Junkie

· #9 · Jun 27, 2003

This is the one of the best examples,I have seen,for runninf Toyota Red AF.If it's a leak,it will show you where the coolant is coming from.If no visible pink residue,it's definately burning it somewhere

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