Blown head gasket?

[Sneezy6]

Just pulled it in the garage when I got home from work and heard a bubbling sound coming from the radiator resivior. It is a long steady stream of bubbles, that I can only assume because of no coolant on the ground, is a head gasket leak. Is it the cylinder pressure escaping from my engine through the coolant system? Car runs 22lbs of boost after the E85 conversion on an 87k motor. Anyone experience this before?

 

[psycho6cyl]

Yupp sounds like a hg. Do a search

 

[No disintegrations]

Yupp sounds like a hg. Do a search

+1 on head gasket. If the bubbles never stop then yes compression is going in the system though a leak path. But thinking back on it, it also could be overheating and the coolant boiled. Verify radiator and cap are good.

What was the coolant temp at that time?

 

[Sneezy6]

Coolant temp was 168 when i was shutting it down.

 

[ek02]

Run it with the radiator cap off and see if there are bubbles in the coolant. A Block Check fluid tester or a four gas analyzer probe at the filler neck will detect carbon monoxide to confirm it. Another test is to put a pressure tester on the radiator for a few hours, then pull the plugs and crank it over to see if any coolant gets blown out of a cylinder, or you can start it and see if the engine misses for a few moments.

 

[robzombie]

Sad to say it's a 90% chance of HG failure.

Bubbles in the rad at 168* is a sure sign that the heads need to come off.

 

[Sneezy6]

Started it cold when I woke up, no smoke at all upon starting. Checked the oil and doesn't appear to have coolant mixed in. I will pressure test the cylinders on my days off. Appreciate all the responses. When I get it figured out, I will update the post.

 

[ek02]

If you have a compressor and a fitting to put air in the cylinders, hook it up and look for bubbles in the recovery tank. The gasket may be just starting to leak and you can catch it before it puts water in the oil.

 

[Sneezy6]

I would like to first say how important the diagnosis process is to avoid throwing money at problems! Turns out it was a bad radiator cap. Hell of a lot cheaper than head gaskets.