Tell tale signs of it being a gasket

[Santos]

Hey i'm kind of worried bout my car on account the radiator leak has just gone from ad to worst.

I only drive it in emergencies (ie when i miss the bus) and not for longer than 15mins or above 3500 revs (9 to 12 k's)

Now i'm worried about having blown the head gasket... is this hard to do?

Basically she has a lot of steam wheni pull over (though it is all coming from the radiator, i put a piece of cardborad to divide the steam this after noon and the steam only came off the radiator)

All was fine into i got to the half way point at a traffic light and decided to turn it off so it could cool down.... It didn't start again not matter how many tries... hazard lights, a couple of angry ppl who swore abuses at me but didn't get out to help push the car across 4 lanes of traffic and a few minute later it started and i drove home on a nigh empty radiator.

So you can see why i'm stressing that i may have blown a head gasket.. but i can't tell .


I kept an eyeon the temperature gage and it never exceeded 3/4 (the upper half of halfway... never went near the red zone.. but then again if i had no liquid in it would the themostat work?)
I have checked the oil (which is clean and not milky)
It's not blowing any white smoke (or any shade of gray)
I'm not sure of what sort of noises i meant to be looking for. (seems to rev fine, no lag in power when drivindg over short distance)


Any one here give me any other indicator on how i might work outthe engines condition (second owner, passed NRMA report with flying colours last august, oil changed in begining of february... if any of that helps)

I'm buying a new radiator as soon as the long weekend ends..


Thanks all

[DamTriton]

Seriously it sounds more like a radiator that has just had it, and it may be easier and cheaper in the long run to address this problem first. Take it to a radiator shop and get it fixed, or replaced (wreckers, OL wanted list?) with a second hand one (20 mins work).

To check for cyl-coolant leaks:
Start the car up at home with the radiator cap off and let it come up to temp. Now look in the radiator as you blip the accelerator cable and look for air bubbles (with eye protection). You should see the radiator level drop with minimal bubbles if everything is OK, and relatively large "poppers" coming to the surface if there is a cyl-coolant leak.

You are correct in exluding a coolant-oil leak.

If you identify a cyl-coolant leak get a hold of a compression tester which will give you a pretty much definitive answer. The cyl with the lowest pressur is likely to be your culprit. Confirm this by pulling the spark plugs and looking at them, that one will be a different color to the others.

[superzuki]

turning the car off to "let it cool" doesnt realy work as wen u turn it off the coolant stops flowing around the engine so idling will cool it beter than turning it off. the engine will cool down after time but it is beter to let it idle if the temp is high...