Clunkerball Run in a 1990 Festiva

[Clunkerball Run]

Perfect. I am going to go try right now. I will let you know how it turns out. Would air in system cause the leak at the passenger hose going into the heater core?

[FestYboy]

no, air will not cause a leak, but overpressure can cause a leak. also a leak can cause air (just not the other way round).

[Clunkerball Run]

I filled the radiator using the funnel and leaving extra in the funnel. I left the raditor cap off and as soon as the engine started turning over coolant shot out of the open tube. What do I need to do now?

[91mcnasty]

Wat open tube?

[Clunkerball Run]

Where the radiator cap goes. I left it off like instructed and had the funnel in it with coolant in the funnel. As soon as i tried to start the engine coolant shot out of the open radiator cap tube and up through the funnel since I had left off the cap. What causes that?

[Clunkerball Run]

guys, i really need some help here. Car gets up to operating temp and the top hose from the radiator gets hot. the bottom hose going into the radiator does not get hot. Air and coolant are lightly bubbling out of the radiator cap. Eventually, the overflow tube above the overflow container blows steam. The heater vents on the floor wont work and the car is getting hot. It appears coolant is not circulating through the heater core or the engine. Again, here is what I have done: replaced t-stat, replaced water pump (and yes, the belt is on and the pulley is turning), filled radiator completely up. I have tried to run the car without the radiator cap on and coolant bubbles/shoots everywhere. I have also disconnected the small u-shaped hose by the fan shroud when cold and coolant without any bubbles comes out. We leave for the Clunkerball Run in 5 days and I am now pulling my hair out. Please help!!!!

Chuck

[FestYboy]

ah HA!!! you sir have a blown head gasket and the PO was kind enough to fill the rad full of stop leak. get a new rad and head gasket and you're back up and running.

[Movin]

Just in case you have a bad or backwards t stat, remove it, fill and see if coolant circulates. This time the cooling fan should come on before you get steam.

[FestYboy]

a backward t-stat should present itself with a cold top hose and the temmp gauge spiking. also, there should be no air bubbles appon start-up and especially no coolent explosions.

[Clunkerball Run]

Update: I flushed the heater core and filled the radiator back up. I left the radiator cap off this time. It bubbled and shot coolant like crazy then just lightly bubbled (a small bubble every 3-5 seconds). I let it idle and get up to operating temp and put the cap back on. I drove it and after a few minutes the heater kind of worked (blew slightly warm air). I felt all the hoses and the top and bottom radiator hoses were hot and both hoses going to the heater core were warm/hot. The bad news, the car is blowing a mild to medium amount of white smoke and it did not stop when i drove it and got it very warm. The radiator cap did hiss and blew steam after the drive. However, the temp gauge in the car never register hotter than just slightly past the middle on the hot side. With the smoke and the bubbling, is it for sure a head gasket? Shouldn't there be coolant in my oil (oil is perfect, no coolant). If it is a head gasket.....That Blows! (pun intended). If that's it, is there a thread on here about changing a head gasket? Besides a head gasket, what else will I need to replace (any other gaskets? Head bolts)?

Thanks guys!

[FestYboy]

yea, that a head gasket. there are several threads on doing a head gasket. i've done several myself. advice: clean before you dissasemble and then clean while it's apart. copper gasket spray is your friend, and you can use it everywhere and not wory about overspray either.

if you really wan to be sneaky about it (after you really clean things off) you just need to remove the timing belt, exhaust manifold, valve cover and the lower intake support to get to the gasket. no fuel lines, no wires, no coolent hoses. only downfall of that aproach is that you really can't clean the block or head as all that allows you to do is remove the gasket and replace it.

for this trip, remove the head and intake as an assembly (disconnect harness, fuel and coolent lines) and take some time to really get things clean.

[htchbck]

To add to that, I have done them before without even taking the exhaust mani off. Just unbolt header from downpipe and use the header and intake as handles to lift the head off

[Clunkerball Run]

But shouldn't there be coolant in my oil if the head gasket is blown?

[FestYboy]

no, common misconception. what you have is a gap between the fire ring and a coolent passage allowing combustion gasses into the coolent system. you can have oil in your coolent if there is a gap between coolent and oil pressure passages. the only way you'd get coolent in your oil is if the coolent passages fed to a gap at the oil return tubes (rather uncommon, as the engine is usually shut down before this happens).

[Clunkerball Run]

Head gasket it is then. I will start on the project tonight and let you all know if that fixes the problem. Is there anything else I should do to the car/engine while I have the head and valve cover off?