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| Head Gasket Trouble | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 31 2015, 03:22 AM (1,002 Views) | |
| mt999999 | Dec 31 2015, 03:22 AM Post #1 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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Well, I've been suspecting (and denying) it for months, but I've got a blown head gasket on my Metro. It's been using little bits of coolant for a few months; enough to empty the reservoir weekly. It likes to steam under the hood when I get home every night after work, so I assumed it was a leak somewhere. It starts to over heat from time to time, I blamed bubbles in the system. On the way out to meet Freegeo and Myredvert today, it suddenly got significantly worse, as I realized at the halfway point of my 3 hour journey. I used 3/4 of a gallon of water and coolant with several stops on the way there. The system was so pressurized, that it wouldn't even pull coolant from the reservoir; it just pushed it out of the overflow. I barely limped it off of the highway in front of a cloud of white steam and into a parking lot in Columbus. When I attempted to start it 10 minutes later, it eventually started, but raw coolant started POURING out of a couple small holes in the exhaust system, into a stream on the ground. Anyway, thank God for AAA and good friends! While I wasn't able to get any work done today, I had it towed to Johnny's place for a head gasket job (just a couple of miles over my free 200 mile tow), and Mike was awesome enough to go three hours out of his way to give me a ride home, to drive another 4 hours home on top of that.
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| Memphis metro | Dec 31 2015, 04:56 AM Post #2 |
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When it comes down to the nut cutting, it is Johnny for the job. |
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| Freeman | Dec 31 2015, 06:47 AM Post #3 |
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The Family Man
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Head gaskets are easy! I did my first one in a long afternoon. At least, they are easy on inline engines (IMO). I've never worked on anything V shaped. Sucks that you blew a headgasket. Just hope that nothing is warped. Does your metro have a steel/iron/not-aluminum block? I don't really know much about the motors anymore. Milling a head is easy and affordable (if needed), head gaskets are cheap, and head bolts are cheap. A top end gasket set is suggested, but not necessary, but is still not a bank breaker. Mike sounds like a real MVP. A full shift of driving. |
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| Memphis metro | Dec 31 2015, 07:24 AM Post #4 |
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Repairing a severely overheated engine is not always easy though. |
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| Freeman | Dec 31 2015, 09:36 AM Post #5 |
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The Family Man
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I totally agree. Severely overheated could have warped any number of things and definitely require machining for aluminum heads/blocks. |
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| mt999999 | Dec 31 2015, 11:35 AM Post #6 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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Luckily, the car is clean and rust free, and it wasn't rebuilt very long ago. I'm not sure if the head gasket is of my own fault or not, but the issue has been there for a while. We were going to tear into it in the Ihop parking lot, but decided that wasn't the best idea, in the case that the block was warped, or if anything else came up. I'm hoping the block isn't damaged, I haven't let it go too far. It's been near over heating a few times for a few months, but it's never hit the red section before on the temperature gauge. I'm assuming that the near overheating was a sign of exhaust being forced into the cooling system. |
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| Freeman | Dec 31 2015, 12:03 PM Post #7 |
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The Family Man
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Car temp gauges are notoriously inaccurate and slow to react. I overheated my Civic once. The heater hose burst and it blew most of the coolant out. I noticed the gauge shoot up when I took off from the light. It's a lot like the narrow band O2 sensors that cars have. They are very limited in their range and they aren't very accurate. |
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| Memphis metro | Dec 31 2015, 12:15 PM Post #8 |
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Usually the loss of coolant causes the overheating. |
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| mt999999 | Dec 31 2015, 12:22 PM Post #9 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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Of course, but I constantly kept it topped off. The cooling system was so pressurized with exhaust gas that it was bubbling steadily into the reservoir, making it impossible to keep air out of the system. I didn't realize it until nearly 2 hours from home... |
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| Murf 59 | Dec 31 2015, 12:24 PM Post #10 |
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John will get it squared away for you. No worries. |
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| 68custom | Dec 31 2015, 12:52 PM Post #11 |
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aluminium does not take kindly to over heating. good thing there are spare parts out there. |
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| cwatkin | Dec 31 2015, 01:09 PM Post #12 |
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All the G series engines are aluminum. I had this happen too. I had been losing coolant. The first issue was that the O-ring behind the water pump was leaking. I kept it topped off and it never got really hot although it did get a tad warmer than usual. I fixed the O-ring but I guess the damage was done. I didn't lose any coolant for a while (I checked frequently for like a month) and then one day it started to run a tad warm. I looked in the radiator and it was low. The system was purging out the reservoir but I never saw any bubbles, EVER. I just kept adding coolant and driving but towards the last month or so, I noticed the rate of loss increasing. I was checking and added at least every 3 days. It was only a cup or so but still. Then one day I pulled up to a job and noticed the car running a little hot. I let it cool and added maybe 2 cups of water that time. Then I barely made it home and the system had purged itself. I took backroads and let it coast with the engine off and the key in the on position as much as I could. I would just roll start the car and get it going fast enough again, then turn it off and coast. It seems that my head gasket leak was intermittent at first which is odd. There were a couple times the engine just totally ran like crap and I blamed a busted vacuum line I found. I suspect some coolant got into a cylinder and caused this but mostly it seemed to be exhaust pressurizing the coolant. I understand the overheating even with full coolant is caused by the pressure. The coolant can't circulate correctly and ends up causing this, even if the system is full. Conor |
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| mt999999 | Dec 31 2015, 02:26 PM Post #13 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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I had a very similar issue, with the intermittent thing. It just got bad very quickly, all the sudden. |
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| mt999999 | Jan 9 2016, 12:31 AM Post #14 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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After a 3 - 3.5 hour round trip, my Metro is back home, running better than ever! No coolant loss, steam, or studdering. The block was not cracked or warped at all; just a new head gasket and cam/crank seal. A shiny clean engine too. Awesomeness! Thanks a million to Johnny! ![]() Pictures and updates to come to my project thread later, when I'm back on the high-speed net. |
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| Johnny Mullet | Jan 9 2016, 07:19 AM Post #15 |
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Fear the Mullet
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Glad it was nothing major! Glad I could help
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Awesomeness! Thanks a million to Johnny!

7:30 PM Jul 10