Is this a blown headgasket? Opinions needed quick.

[MusPuppis]

 

The above pictures are of some of the antifreeze I ladeled out of the vehicle. It has a bizarre odor. I cant smell any oil, but it doesnt really smell like antifreeze either, heh. If I kinda spin it around in that little cup you can see two distinct liquids, one thinner that will slosh around the edges and the heavier liquid that kinda sits in the middle of the cup.

 

The car is a 95 Taurus w. a 3.0 6 cylinder.

 

Originally the car was being worked on (not by me) because the heater wasnt blowing hot air.. They were replacing the thermostat (*shrug*) but called me down when it was still blowing cold air. Maybe I'm stupid, but if the thermostat wasnt working the damn engine would overheat, it wouldnt run fine with the exception of the heater dieing.

 

Either way..

 

The car drives fine and at idle it sounds fine. I dont see any smoke and it doesnt feel like it has any loss of power through a bad cylinder or anything. No detectable miss or anything. If you rev it a little bit though (No tach in it, but I'd guess around 3k-ish) you can hear some slosh from the valve covers. The clatter doesnt happen at low RPM though. Regardless this would lead me to beleive that the oil is contaminated. I pulled the dipstick to check the oil level and what little I got off that didnt look, smell or feel odd though. I'm gonna drain some off the pan in a few.

 

Anyway, opinions? I dont really see what else would cause the anti-freeze to look this way.. Its not rust in the system, I've seen that numerous times and this certainly isnt rust. Just seems weird if a gasket is blown that its not smoking or losing power or anything.

[wigenOut-S30]

To me it looks like Rusty water and antifreeze. but thats just a guess.. Might want to do a leakdown or compression test on the motor. maybe flush the radiator and put all new coolent in it.. run it for a while and see if it turns the same in a couple of days.. How long has it been since the radiator was flushed?

[MusPuppis]

How long has it been since the radiator was flushed?

 

I have no idea. The car was serviced (I think..) about 3 months back at the Ford dealership it was purchased from.

 

Its not rusty water though. Ive dealt with that before and it wasnt like this at all.

[Workinprogress]

I would really investigate the oil, if its mixing at all then there may be serious bearing problems that you havent seen yet if they keep running it like that.

I was thinking just rusty colored water.

[MusPuppis]

I was thinking just rusty colored water.

 

 

Thats what I thought when I first saw it, and maybe I'm wrong and thats what it actually is, but in reality its a dark brown color, like oil, not the orange-ish that it appears as in the pics (flash caught it I guess) and not the same texture as anti-freeze is normally.

 

I'll report back when I get a look at the oil.

[technicalninja]

Could be tranny fluid from the cooler in the radiator.

[MusPuppis]

Could be tranny fluid from the cooler in the radiator.

 

 

Hm.. That would actually explain the smell. I wasnt able to place the odor till you said that.. Smells alot like tranny fluid.

[technicalninja]

Difficult to clean out of the cooling system. Mixture of bleach and water followed by multiple flushings seems to work best. Messy and nasty. Pretty common occurance. Need to inspect tranny fluid as well as after car is turned off pressure drops off the tranny cooler faster than pressure drops off the cooling system and antifreeze can get into the tranny. BAD BAD BAD

[MusPuppis]

Thanks for the info, I'll pass it along to the owner of the car. Knowing these poeple theres a good chance I'll get a phone call before long asking me to come pick them up because the car gave out one em and they dont know why =/

[SuperKid]

Originally the car was being worked on (not by me) because the heater wasnt blowing hot air.. They were replacing the thermostat (*shrug*) but called me down when it was still blowing cold air. Maybe I'm stupid' date=' but if the thermostat wasnt working the damn engine would overheat, it wouldnt run fine with the exception of the heater dieing.[/quote']

 

This isn't exactly about your problem. I just wanted to comment about this quote. My truck ('90 F150 5.0 EFI) didn't blow hot air, and it was determined that the thermostat was bad. The problem was that the thermostat was stuck open. The truck didn't overheat because coolant was still able to circulate. But, because the engine didn't reach normal operating temperatures before coolant began circulating, the coolant didn't get hot and therefore the heater blew cold air. Also, the temperature guage always said cold. That is all I wanted to say. I hope you solve your problem!

[MusPuppis]

I tested the thermostat in a pot upstairs and it was opening an closing just fine.

 

Ive known a couple cars to have the t-stat stuck open, or just not installed and though the air was cold there was some temperature to it. Not alot, but it was hotter than the outside air atleast, once the engine warmed up a little bit.

 

I passed along the info I got here and they took the car. As far as I know their driving it around with no intention of looking in to the problem.. I tried to convey how serious it could *potentially* be, but was more or less ignored.

 

Thanks regardless though folks.

[skipzoomie]

What I've seen in the past is a heater core plugged. Disconnect the heater hoses and flush the heater core with a garden hose. As to the discolored coolant it could be the natural deterioration of the coolant and all of the other contaminates that naturally occur in the system. In older cars, regardless of the maintenance, some "GUNK" just naturally forms and flushing wont get all of it out.

[MusPuppis]

I got an update on the car today.

 

 

The brand-new antifreeze that got put in at my house is just about as contaminated as stuff that got taken out. They still havent taken it to anyone to look at it. I told em to bring it by to me and I'll get a sample of all the fluids, check the heater core hoses and go over it.

 

Doubt they will, they'd rather just drive it into the ground =/

[Here comes trouble]

oil and antifreeze will not mix readily and the oil will find it's way and accumulate to the underneath of the radiator cap as a puss substance and will get blown out thru the overflow tube after driving. You may have had an "airlock" in heater hose from the heater core to engine block. I just burped my old 620 Datsun pick-up to get the hot water into the heater core and there was oil in the cooling system from a prior bown head gasket. You may have a very rusted up heater core with a replacement radiator or flushed radiator fix without anything done to the heater core by leaving the heater valve closed. Buy a flush kit and get some Electrosol dishwashing detergent and introduce it to the cooling system to wash the radiator and heater core. Coolant in the oil will appear as almost microscopic air bubbles on top of oil on dipstick.. Exhaust and coolant mixed will cause extreme radiator pressure and coolant will gurgle over with radiator cap removed with engine running. The warm Kentucky climate may have allowed this vehicle to be driven year around with only water as a coolant to cause what I suspect .............. this rust contamination now contained in the heater core..

[MusPuppis]

this rust contamination now contained in the heater core..

 

The car has always had (atleast since it was purchased 6 years ago) anti-freeze and water, not just pure water. Before it was purchased it spent its life as a leased vehicle through Man O' War Ford.

 

I am 150% positive it is NOT rust in the water. I've seen that before and had it on two of my vehicles. This is nothing like it in any way. Its thick, oily (more so than anti-freeze) has a bizarre and foul odor (similar, as mentioned, to auto tranny fluid). The picture is misleading.. The flash caught the crap and made it look alot more orange that it really is. Its a dark reddish-brown. There is also two distinct liquids in it that arent mixing. I can see a thinner liquid, yellow-ish green on the outside, where the brown/red thicker gunk sits in the middle of the cup. There is also a film that builds up on top.

 

The oil (through the cap and dipstick) shows no signs of contamination. The anti-freeze/gunk will bubble over the cap if you remove it with the engine running.

[Workinprogress]

I thought that pressurizing the coolant system was a sign of a blown head gasket.

[MatMan]

One thing you may wish to look into, is soluble oil.

 

I had a '66 3/4 ton Ford with a 390 someone had put about 2 quarts of that stuff in the radiator. I guess they were trying for the water wetter effect. Anyway, I had a bunch of brownish green gook in my radiator water. I thought it was a blown head, but not with the pull that motor had.

 

my 0.02

[BrandonsZ]

I thought that pressurizing the coolant system was a sign of a blown head gasket.

 

98% Yes, or 2% cracked head.

 

 

 

 

 

90% I believe the problem is a leaking head, that's where oil can be pressurized into the water without water in the oil pan. (need a new head gasket)

 

9% the tranny fluid is getting into the radiator (need a new radiator in this case)

 

1% cracked head or block, in this case sorry dude.

[PeterZ]

I know the 3.8 L motors lost head gaskets at 80,000 miles. You will find "baby diaper" looking material on the inside of the valve cover. You can take off the oil filler cap and find it there too. If there's oil getting into the coolant there's probably coolant getting into the oil. I did a few of the 3.8 and only one 3.0 head gasket in the late 90s before I changed carreers. The gaskets usually leak about 6 months after an overheating. The gasket compresses from the heat expansion after a few months the gasket finally allows water and oil to bridge. Driving the car will evaporate the water from the bottomof the oil pan but the steam rises and collects on the underside of the valve cover. Some Fords don't vent well and there's a little much inside the filler cap. If you run your finger on the inside of the valve cover and get a finger full of $#!+ you're done. PS watch for sharp edges.

[BrandonsZ]

I know the 3.8 L motors lost head gaskets at 80,000 miles. You will find "baby diaper" looking material on the inside of the valve cover. You can take off the oil filler cap and find it there too. If there's oil getting into the coolant there's probably coolant getting into the oil. I did a few of the 3.8 and only one 3.0 head gasket in the late 90s before I changed carreers. The gaskets usually leak about 6 months after an overheating. The gasket compresses from the heat expansion after a few months the gasket finally allows water and oil to bridge. Driving the car will evaporate the water from the bottomof the oil pan but the steam rises and collects on the underside of the valve cover. Some Fords don't vent well and there's a little much inside the filler cap. If you run your finger on the inside of the valve cover and get a finger full of $#!+ you're done. PS watch for sharp edges.