Head Gasket Question

[super_poser]

I have a 1994 Discovery with 155,000 miles on it. I have started to loose some water out of the expansion tank. I loose about 1 to 1 1/2 inches every 500 to 800 miles. I borrowed a pressurizing kit from Auto Zone to pump up and check for leaks, but the adaptors did not fit the expansion tank top. It was set-up for a regulator radiator. I have looked everywhere and have seen no antifreeze under the truck. My idle has started to run very rough. A couple of times when driving at highway speeds or on the trail the engine has missed or skipped a beat. I just tuned it up this weekend new plugs, pulg wires, rotor cap and button. The idle is still very rough. When I cranked it up tonight I reved the engine up a couple of times to 2500 rpm or so and went back to the tail pipe and had some drips of moisture on the end of the pipe. They did not look green like antifreeze. If I let it sit and idle for a while there will be a damp place on the asphalt where the exhaust has been blown. I am just wondering if this could be a head gasket? How can I test it or prove or disprove it. Thanks for reading all of this. Charles

 

[RoverChic]

Sounds like my "Big Problem" Charles. I have not lost any anti-freeze yet though in the expansion tank. Might want to see if there is any white/milky (brown) stuff near the engine --exhaust manifolds. I have found this near my left side driver's side exhaust manifold. According to my mechanic I do have a leak ( anti- freeze) however it is not that severe.. YET. Keep us posted as to what you find out please. My disco is a 1998 with 75k miles on it. Hope this helps...
Melissa N
P.S. Also my uncle is a race car driver so I ask his crew ??'s a lot of the time. He said that a head gasket does not typically just blow. The car/rover has to usually over-heat first and this can in turn cause a gasket to go south. He also mentioned that the level on the dipstick will rise (over time) if in fact the coolant is mixing with oil.

 

[Roverhound]

Condensation from the exhaust is a by-product of combustion. What you describe doesn't sound like a head gasket. You will notice a sweetish smell if antifreeze is blowing out your exhaust.
Check your oil for discoloration. If antifreeze is mixing with it it will appear milky and like roverchic said the level will rise.
There are lots of places that antifreeze can leak from that may be hard to spot, just keep looking, hopefully it's not a head gasket.
Good luck

 

[campbell]

I had an '89 Supra a few years ago. They were prone to blowing head gaskets. The things that I was told to look for are:
-White smoke from the eghaust (and not because it is cold outside)
-A coolant smell from the eghaust. The way to check this is to hold a rag over the tailpipe for a few seconds (make sure it is not too hot). If you smell coolant, you may have a blown head gasket.
I am not sure that a misfire is a result of a blown head gasket. A loss of power, I could see.
I here the blown head gasket worry quite-a-bit on the LR groups. Are these engines known to blow head gaskets?

 

[super_poser]

I have not noticed the oil level rising. I changed the oil this weekend and it did not appear milky. I did have it run hot about a year ago on a trail ride at Winrock Tn. When I noticed that it was hot which could not have been more than 15 to 30 min. I turned the heater on and the temp. came down. It did get so hot that the aux fans came on to help cool down. The viscous fan clutch had gone bad. It only showed up when you were in a pull up hill. I am gonna keep looking. Charles

 

[discomike]

Charles,
A couple of thoughts for you. Take your truck to any shop you trust and ask them to do a chemical test on your coolant for a blown head gasket. The other good test involves using an exhaust sniffer at the coolnt recovery bottle, if there is a leak it will show up by reading the exhaust in the vapor coming off from the coolant.
Headgaskets leak in different ways, coolant into the cylinder area, coolant into the oil, coolant out onto the engine as a coolant leak, exhaust leaking into the coolant or oil, oil leaking into the coolant or showing up as an oil leak.
So go have someone check it for you, by mileage you are probably going to replace the gaskets and do a valve job while you're in there.
Good luck and get back on the trails quickly.
Mike J.

 

[JJMyerz]

Charles, I loose the same amount. I have traced it to every coolant line being faulty. Clean your engine then pay close attention for a week.

 

[super_poser]

I figured out why I had such a rough idle. I had lost a blade on the radiator cooling fan !!!!! Don't know when (probably right before it started to idle rough DUH!!!) or how. I am very fortunate it did not sling itself apart. Guess now I am going shopping. Charles Allen

 

[joey]

Buy a nice metal one and don't worry about it again or replace it with an electric....

 

[super_poser]

Yea I was was looking on another bulletin board and some guys had used a metal one from Autozone. I think the clutch might be toast because it has some wobble in it. Not very surprising though, it ran about 600 miles shaking from the fan and it was used when I got it. Charles