Possible Blown Head Gasket? (need guidance)

[frdstang93]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the Turbo Buick world but have waited a long time to get a Grand National. My dream came true last Friday, this car has 65,000 miles on it and is in great shape. Last night I was out and got in it a couple time and afterwards the car started to overheat, now there is clearly moisture coming from the exhaust. Is this common and what head gaskets would yall recommend (if it is head gaskets)? I am going to start tearing it down but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[GNguy]

whoa man, dont tear anything down yet....Do you have any scan tools? Scanmaster, directscan? before you jump the gun get a scan tool to see whats going on.

 

[frdstang93]

I have no check engine lights and the exhaust smells like antifreeze, I just pulled the plugs and the plug from the rear cylinder on the pasenger side has antifreeze on it. Could it be the intake gasket?

 

[forzfed]

What's all done to the car? Is it bone stock? Is the rad still original? What about the fuel pump? If it is a head gasket don't use the cheap felpro they pop really easy, use the original GM ones.

 

[frdstang93]

The car has a T66 turbo, it has the original radiaor. From what I can tell it has all of the general upgrades but nothing extreme. What numbers should I look for if I do a commpression test?

 

[forzfed]

That's a decent size turbo, so a bad batch of gas and some detonation could definitely take out your head gasket. Do you have a vac gauge on the car? Depending on how bad the gasket is, you should see a decrease in your vac. Stock compression is around 150psi.

 

[frdstang93]

I just finished a compression test and all cylinders are holding between 120 and 125. What should I check next?

 

[forzfed]

Compression seems fine. Is there oil in the coolant? What about coolant in the oil? Is your coolant level going down? If so, you could put some dye in it and try to see where it is leaking. You could also give it a leak down test.

As for moisture coming out of the exhaust, it is pretty common this time of year.

 

[frdstang93]

Oh and I checked the oil and there is no sign of water in the oil.

 

[frdstang93]

Yeah I checked both no sign of either, what oil do you suggest for these cars. BTW the plugs looked like hell and some of em werent even that tight.

 

[forzfed]

When I blew my head gasket my oil was clear but I could see oil floating on the top of my coolant when I took the rad cap off. And I went from 18" of vac to 0" while idling.

 

[frdstang93]

Ok, I will do a vaccum test and see what that gets me. Oh and one more thing, what plugs would you suggest that I run in it?

 

[Otto J]

Once back together make sure your careful to figure out why it blew them or the next set will blow in short term

 

[forzfed]

Are you actually losing anti-freeze? I took a big chunk out of my head gasket, that is why I lost so much vac. What do your plugs look like?

What plugs does the car have now? I would probably use a Delco CR42, but it depends on the rest of your combo.

 

[frdstang93]

The plugs were autolite 25's and they didnt look to good but the previous owner drove it with a bad TPS. I am trying to verify the turbo is truly a T66 but I am having trouble finding any markings. I just topped the antifreeze of last night and havent driven it enough to confirm how much or if its using any at all.

 

[frdstang93]

Could this problem be the intake gasket? I have checked compression(all cylinders held at 120), there is not water in the oil and vice versa, I have narrowed it down to the rear cylinder on the passenger side(the plug is wet with antifreeze). Any light shed would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GNguy]

Does not sound like you blew anything, but to be sure I would do a leak down test...just to be sure. I believe I run(and some other on this site) autolite cr43 spark plugs or something like that. I havent really read everything but what symptoms is it having that leads you to believe its a blown hg?

 

[frdstang93]

It is has white smoke coming out of the exhaust.

 

[frdstang93]

So I went ahead and pulled the head on the passenger side and sure enough the head gasket was blown, the gasket blew out on the rear cylinder towards the water jacket behind the rear cylinder. Thankfully everything else looks great on the bottom end, forzfed recommended the GM gaskets, where is a good place to get them. Thanks for all of your help on this.