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Exhaust bubbles in the radiator

1055 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  capnfred, 
holly609
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I had a smoking problem until warm up and also overheating in traffic. One plug was steam cleaned on right side. Replaced the head gasket on that side and it was fixed. 2000 miles later I had the same problem with the left side. Again replaced the head gasket and seemed to have solved all of the symptoms. Except that I still have the exhaust bubbles in the radiator with a slow loss of coolent. Compression is 170 in all four. No water in the oil. A slight overheating in traffic (it rides up to the middle of the gage). Runs great with no vibration. No smoking cold or hot. Just the bubbles and slow loss of coolent. I'm afraid of either a cracked block, warped head, or maybe I didn't clean the surface or scratched the surface during the previous job. Do these things need to retorqued at some point? Is there anything anyone can suggest for testing? Can a warped head be fixed? Can a cracked block be visualized with heads off? What next? Thanks guys (and the occasional gal).
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O
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I don't consider a temp reading halfway up the gauge in traffic as an overheating issue. my 1200 runs between 5 and 7 bars in traffic, depending on outside temperature.

But, the exhaust bubbles in the coolant and loss of coolant are an issue.

I have never had the exhaust bubble thing going on, but can you really smell exhaust in the coolant? If its just air in the system causing the bubbles, I suspect something like a bad radiator cap, coolant tubes, or water pump.
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sandiegobrass
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holly609 wrote:
...Except that I still have the exhaust bubbles in the radiator with a slow loss of coolent. Compression is 170 in all four. No water in the oil. A slight overheating in traffic...... Do these things need to retorqued at some point? Is there anything anyone can suggest for testing? Can a warped head be fixed? Can a cracked block be visualized with heads off? What next? Thanks guys (and the occasional gal).
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1- Exhaust bubbles are an issue..and can be without any other significant symptoms (like my 1100 for example).. My method of testing was to air up each cylinder (like doing a blow down leak test) and looking for bubbles in the coolant tank (or radiator).. I found where it was that way.. there was no evidence on the plugs or exhaust.

2- Retourqe after heating up ( after a fewhours or a few days) is recommended but not a necessity. Probably much more important is proper lubircation of the head bolts (moly paste recommended, but at least a moly grease)during intial torquing.. This is often overlooked. Retorquing cannot fix this oversight. Some get by with only oil lube...

3- warped heads are easily fixed by "skimming"them.. (at amachine shop) or you can do ityourself with avery flat surface and some wet and dry. Severely warped heads (not likely) should be replaced.

4- Cracked heads and blocks are rare... deal with that after all other things are eliminated..
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holly609
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Thanks. I'm going to try the air up each cylinder test and see what I come up with. I did use the moly on both sides and torqued three times in the suggested pattern in three steps increasing the torques equally until at the spec desired. As for the over heating, it hasn't gotten any worse than about 3/5ths up on the gauge. I guess that isn't so bad but it was running cooler before. Still no smoke or water in the oil. Thanks again.
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C
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Sandie, Air up the cylinders, what a great idea!!!



All these years I have been messing around with engines and never thought of that one.



I have to remeber that, great idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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M
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hi have been reading about your prob. you refer to airing up each cylinder what do you mean by that how is it done and what does it solve??

thx gumby
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sandiegobrass
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gumby wrote:
hi have been reading about your prob. you refer to airing up each cylinder what do you mean by that how is it done and what does it solve??

thx gumby
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See you other post, but repeated below

By using a special sparkpug adapter that can be connected to compressed air (available from autosupply or sears, in a compression testingkit), pressure can be applied to a cylinder when the valves are closed (at Top dead center). Usually this test is used to look for leak down past the rings or through the closed valves, but in the case I mentioned, I also used it to find what cylinder(s) were leaking gases back into the coolant.. When I pressurized the offending cylinder, air bubbled up through the coolant.
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R
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might be able to do this as well with a rubber tipped nossel held tight
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sandiegobrass
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rcmatt007 wrote:
might be able to do this as well with a rubber tipped nossel held tight
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Good idea.. but might have to hold it for a bit, until the air works itself out of the engine..
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holly609
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I used a compression testing device with the schrader valve removed. At TDC on each cylinder I applied about 110 lbs of air. The result? Nada! Nothing! So I'm going to try again and let each one sit a bit longer as suggested by Sandiegobrass. If I get the same result I will be bummed. I guess that would mean a cracked head up past where the exhaust exits through the valve. If it were a cracked block into the cylinder wall it would have to be below where the piston is when it is at TDC but not so low as to allow water into the oil. So it means a teardown to find it. Dag nabbit!
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C
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do I understand that you get no bubbles in the coolant using the leakdown method?, hmmmmmmm with the pressure applied to the cyl under test, slowly turn the crank letting the piston slide down on the power strok, the valves should remain closed until after BDC this would eliminate the possibility of a leak in the sleeve (very unlikely).... I had a smiliar problem on my Magna, replaced the head gasket, solved the exhaust gas problem, BTW did not have a compression problem, had a hard start, cold miss, and disappearing coolant... what finally led me to diagnose the problem was overheating....due to loss of coolant. Trying to think of any other place the exhaust gases interface with coolant, but the head is the only place I can think of......good luck

capn
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