Junk In My Coolant

[SlowWhite]

So I've been trying to figure out why my cars pushing coolant.

And yesterday I started the car with the radiator cap off to let the bubbles out.

and noticed after like 1 minute or so that I'd get "1" small bubble ever 3-4 seconds.

And each time it happened it would come up with a bunch of Junk/Crud.

Looked like the crap that sits in the bottom of your overflow tank but it was coming out of the motor?


What do I do to get ride of this stuff? and what is it? Also with the 1 bubble ever 3-4 seconds does that mean I have a blown headgasket?

[1ViciousGSX]

Could be left over machining solvents and lubricants coming up from inside of the block.

As far as the bubbles go, what temp was the engine at when it was bubbling?

[SlowWhite]

idle - engine temp was probably about 150 or so?

I let it cool down all the way to see if it would suck coolant back into the thermostat, then I started it up.

From Start to finish it was only running for 3 minutes at idle.

[JET]

Sounds like a blown head gasket. The crud could be oil, but we can check it out tonight when you get to my place.

[SlowWhite]

There's no oil in the coolant?

I'm thinking it's the crud from my overflow tank since I've been using it to fill up the coolant when ever it would get low (my radiator cap was bad) so I replaced it yesterday or the day before.

But I'm also wondering if that crud builds up in the motor or radiator like it does in the coolant bottle?

I'm thinking it's probably time to clean/Flush the system? (which sucks cause I just threw out all that stuff to do it last month even though all of the flush stuff was still new/unopened)

What's strange is in the past when I blew a headgasket (ie: pin hole sized) it would bubble up a white film and be almost a constant bubbling (really small bubbles but still constant/alot)

where as this there is 1 bubble every 3-4 seconds and when it's not bubbling it's looks completely normal?

Jet I have a new thermostat that I can swap in tonight when I come up there.

I'll just have to get some more water wetter or something from QPR.

I've been battling this heating issue since I first put my car together. It's almost acting as if one of the coolant passeges are clogged and it's only allowing a minor bit of coolant to get by (ie: like a Clogged Drain) and that's what the bubbles are from?

[A//// Guy]

You supposed to fill coolant in the overflow tank.. thats why it has a low and high on the bottle. Just make sure its clean, wash it out and also flush your coolant and see. Check for coolant if you do an oil change.

[SlowWhite]

I know the overflow tank has to be around 1/2 full - I'm not that blonde. :stick:


Like I said the coolant gets pushed into the overflow tank filling it up to just about the top of the overflow (not quite)


And that amount of Coolant is enough to leave the thermostat housing empty of coolant.

so everytime I go take off the radiator cap I just empty the overflow tank back into the thermostat housing, and when it's full again. I always around 1/2 full on the overflow tank just like when I started.

There is no oil in the coolant checked again on lunch break.

[Goat Blower]

Still sounds like a headgasket. There doesn't have to be oil in the coolant for that to be the problem. Do a compression test with the radiator cap off.

[SlowWhite]

what will that do? (never heard of doing it that way... just wondering what's the reasoning?)

[Enes]

if there is a leak it will show less of a compression..

what you can do is also do is preasurize the coolant system with a gauge on there and see if it leaks.. if the preasure drops over time you do have some kind of a leak somewhere
and if you don't see it anywhere on the ground, or in your car it most likely looks like its in your engine..

-E

[Enes]

you can also do compression test while you have the gauge hooked up on the coolant side, and when the engine cranks there should be NO gauge muvement at all.

-E

[SlowWhite]

NO smoke what so ever, out the exhaust at any time even at WOT.


What I don't get is since we put this car together I've had this heating issues (2 summers of this crap)

I've replaced my head gasket 3 times. And replaced the Head with a new one, I've replaced the thermost 4 times, and put on 3 radiator caps.

And Nothings Changed during that time. I've always run hot, and I've always had to fill up my coolant when the temps went up. And like everyone seen my car doesn't smoke at idle, cruise, or WOT...

[Enes]

tried different radiator? how did you clean your current one?

-E

[1ViciousGSX]

Screw the compression tester hose into each spark plug hole and apply direct air pressure to each cylinder one at a time with the cap removed. If you see bubbles, you have a problem.

[SlowWhite]

Never cleaned it. - I actually found my Coolant Cleaning stuff/flush stuff. And I brought that with me. Don't know what all it intalls but at least i have it if need be.


My current Radiator has 164K miles on it. - But I took my aircompressor and lightly blew air through the fins so that the junk got blown out (did that when I was first trying to figure out the problem?)

I am planning on buying a fluidyne shortly - but it's just a matter of Time & Money when that happens?

I was thinking that the Gunk might be from something that's clogging the system?

The only problem would be where would that be possible? and what possibly could it be?

I know we had problems with my Heater core when we first assembled the car. Where the coolant would leak into the car.

but we found out it was coming from the lines that go into the fire wall.... They attachement points weren't round so when we put the hose's on there the clamps weren't creating a good seal. So we had to take the hose's off and round out them Heater Core lines. After that I haven't had coolant leak into the car or from that area since.


The only other things I've changed in my set up is the Magnus SMI. I had to lengthen the Lines that go to the TB and I'm also now running a 1G TB instead of a 2G one?

Otherwise I can't think of anything else that's been changed since this motor was in my GS-T that pertains to coolant system?

A/C's gone?

[SlowWhite]

Originally posted by 1ViciousGSX@Jul 30 2004, 01:19 PM
Screw the compression tester hose into each spark plug hole and apply direct air pressure to each cylinder one at a time with the cap removed. If you see bubbles, you have a problem.

do I do it with only 1 spark plug out at a time? or all 4 out and then 1 at a time?

[Enes]

all of them out.. makes it easier to turn .. plus that way you can isolate which cilynder is leaking ..

It would take time for the bubles to come around out.. so i say just keep it preasurized at X preasure and watch the gauge while you are doing the compression testing.. both gauges that is...

and your engine compression should be at 160+ or whatever...
but your coolant preasure should be the same, not raised or droped..



-E

[1ViciousGSX]

Originally posted by SlowWhite+Jul 30 2004, 01:24 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SlowWhite @ Jul 30 2004, 01:24 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-1ViciousGSX@Jul 30 2004, 01:19 PM
Screw the compression tester hose into each spark plug hole and apply direct air pressure to each cylinder one at a time with the cap removed. If you see bubbles, you have a problem.

do I do it with only 1 spark plug out at a time? or all 4 out and then 1 at a time? [/b][/quote]
All out, 1 cylinder at a time. Crank the piston down to the bottom of the bore first, just in case you have a hairline crack down in the bore somewhere. Pressure it up with compressed air and let it sit for awhile and see what happens.

Don't crank it over, let the compressed air do the work for you.