finally got the new pads on the Imperza (2.2) and took off to bed them in ('95 auto) hot hot day so I had the ac on... after about 5 or 6 40 to 10 mph braking runs turned around to come home... realized the vents were blowing not so cold air...
got home opened hood there was a trace of smoke from the pass. side cyl. bank.. nothing else... let it sit a couple of hr. cranked it up/ ac great... shrugged shoulders and left it alone.
this morning I drove it to work 2 1/2 mi from work to the grocery store then home as I turned in the driveway I suddenly noticed the temp gauge was pegged...
got it up the drive, popped the hood ... more smoke from the pass. side cyl. bank.... no goop on the dipstick (at least not yet) (230k on the engine) when it cools more I'll open the rad.cap ... should I be making plans for a head gasket replacement ?
put a fork in her.. she's done.
hope ya'll are wrong... the latest update... (also a little back story) the car had sat n jack stands for about a mo..... nothing unusual about that.... but prior to going up in the air, there had been no issues at all ... temp gauge dead normal cold air ... in other words a perfectly good DD (except for the 22 - 24 mpg) after the pegged meter episode today, I let it cool off and opened the radiator cap... nothing there desert dry...
filled it with coolant and started it up, gauge immediately went half way up and stayed there, the fans came on later , as they should, and shut off as they should...
came back a couple of hrs later and popped the cap and had to add ~ another pint or so
started it up and let it run idle for about 20 min gauge ~ 1/3 up scale, cold air...
I'll drive it tomorrow and see what happens.. oh and there is still no goop on the dipstick
did I just get all the luck I'm likely to have this yr in one fell swoop...??? I hope I hope I hope
continuing .... drove it this morning, ~5 - 6 mi round trip...long enough to get the temp gauge up where it should be... didn't go any higher
after it cooled down, took the cap off and more coolant is needed... it's going somewhere, still no goop on the dipstick... there was the faint smell of coolant when I lifted the hood..
any thoughts about what ?... my original question.. head gasket ?
if its not on the ground after she sits overnight, then youre probably just purging air from the system everytime you drive it...if you still have to top it off everyday after a week, and its not under your car in the morning, then the ethylene glycol gnomes are stealing it while you sleep, and they suck
I'd check the thermostat just to be safe, It might be sticking closed occasionally. Swap in a new one to be sure. Maybe one of those "Fail-Safe" ones that if/when they fail, they stick open instead of closed.
nothing under the car (it's been raining) so it's hard to tell for sure
on the drive this morning you could "see" the thermostat open, in that the temp gauge didn't move for the first 2 - 3 mi then rose at a viewable pace to it's normal place .. about 1/2 way up the range..... but a new fail safe is good insurance ..
I'll top it off and drive some more ... hope you're right that it's just purging air pockets... hope one of them doesn't get "trapped" and then actually cause a head gasket..
Sounds just like what I had last week. A mysterious overheating turned out that my car was bone dry, even tho I topped the coolant off about 2 weeks ago. I went with a new T-stat, rad cap, and flush-n-fill. So far so good, but I'm not driving it untill I get suspension work done.
Good luck
Seems to be happening a lot lately. My father in law has a mildly customized 87 chevy c-10. He took it for a drive last weekend and it pegged the temp gauge. let it cool off some and got it home to find that the radiator was dry. No coolant in the oil or the floor and nothing noticeable in the exhaust...maybe it just evaporates...
The smoke that you originally saw came from somewhere or something. I'm thinking HG like most people. Could be a small crack (internally) in the head as well. Something made that car go dry.
Exactly what my S52 in my E30 did after we got it in and running.
Could never get the coolant system "purged" and over the course of about 8 days it used a half gallon of coolant. No sludge on the dipstick or oil in the coolant. It did finally let go the rest of the way home from work one day.
When we pulled the head, you could see the headgasket was corroded from poor maintenance right from the water jacket to the combustion chamber, so it was just burning it off until the leak got worse.
funny, my integra puked a little coolant out last week on the garage floor, topped it back up, now nothing. maybe there's something in the water.
Check for white smoke in the exhaust. If it's there, its a sure sign of a blown head gasket.
no white smoke... I drove the car to work this morning... forgot my badge (first time in > 10 yr...) turned around went home pulled in the driveway and saw steam coming out from under the hood... left it there and drove the Integra... mechanic at work suggested a leaking hose, or a "weeping" water pump... the pump is only 25 k old... I'll get home early enough tomorrow to check out the hoses... squeeze the hoses, mirrors to inspect, etc.. maybe even start replacing hoses .... another car guy (ok car gal... she grew up working in her Pop's garage) that it could be a freeze plug... hadn't thought of that.. don't even know where the freeze plugs are on a Impreza..
pigeon
HalfDork
8/2/10 8:45 p.m.
Pull the plugs. If one or more of them is really clean, it's being steam cleaned by the coolant flowing through the blown head gasket.
pigeon wrote:
Pull the plugs. If one or more of them is *really* clean, it's being steam cleaned by the coolant flowing through the blown head gasket.
Yup. But with 230K, should ANYbody be surprised with a head gasket snafu? I've seen 'em with way fewer miles than that.
For pity's sake, give the poor long suffering car a new pair of gaskets, hey!
good point on the plugs...
How old are your hoses anyway?
timing belt and water pump changed at 200 k by PO .. don't know about the hoses, next wk I'll do a pressure test and a compression test... could check the plugs now.. not at bad idea.... but I'm leaning away from head gasket though not dismissing the idea... the temp gauge acts perfectly normal ( as long as there is coolant) no blow back instant overheat like so many bhg's would show... we'll find out next wk
i had a car with bhg go 5k miles acting normal - i knew it was blown due to rust colored coolant that smelled like gas. it finally let go the rest of the way and overheated - 9 hours from home.
