How to Diagnose a Blown Cylinder Head Gasket
A blown head gasket will make your car or truck run rough, misfire and will over time become virtually undrivable. The problem is that these symptoms can apply to a blown head gasket as well as other car problems such as fuel or electrical issues. However, there are some fairly cost-effective, do-it-yourself ways to diagnose whether a head gasket is blown. If none of these solutions gives you the definitive answer you are looking for, allow a qualified service technician to do the testing for you.
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Instructions
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Start your vehicle and allow it to run until it is fully warmed up. At this point, observe the exhaust gases coming from the exhaust pipe. A blown head gasket will allow radiator coolant into the engine combustion chambers. The gases will be burned up and come out as white steam. If you see a white exhaust, smell it. If it smells "sweet," the chances are that you have a blown head gasket.
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Check your radiator fluid when the engine is cold. If you notice that the fluid level is never full no matter how much you add coolant to it, you either have a leak in the system or the head gasket is blown. A way to confirm this is to notice the color of the coolant. If it is brownish, much like the color of chocolate milk, and you have been losing fluid, it is most likely a blown head gasket.
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Attach a combustion leak tester to the neck of your radiator, where the filler cap resides. Using the supplied rubber bulb, pump in some of the blue test liquid supplied, and allow it to bubble through the coolant. If the coolant suddenly turns yellow, that is a sign that exhaust gases are present in the coolant, and the only way they can get there is from a blown head gasket.
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Tips & Warnings
All of these self diagnoses procedures are not 100 percent foolproof. Only an automotive service technician with professional equipment can give you an assured 100 percent answer as to whether your head gasket is blown or not.
References
- Photo Credit custom car1 image by Bhupesh Shah from Fotolia.com
