Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I am not really sure what is happeneing to my suzuki... but the engine was running so sweet and its frustrating at what is happening now...

I recently drained the cooling system of coolant, and replaced the thermostat...after doing this I put the coolant back in the radiator -filled her up, then let the engine run with the radiator cap off, until the thermostat opened up, constantly topping it up with water. Bubbles rose to the top before the thermostat opened, which is normal... but what happened after puzzled me...

After the thermostat opened, and the car engine was definately warm, I noticed with the radiator cap off, bubbles were coming up from the radiator...??!, I then put the cap on, and went for a drive to give it a real warm up... I checked the engine again after and stangley enough the resevior tank (plastic one) had blown the top, I noticed with the cap on, there were bubbles rising in the plastic tank as well...?

I am thinking a leaking head gasket, but if anyone can suggest a problem, please let me know as I wanted to get this suzuki back on the road before rego ran out....

Thanks, any help appreciated.

Martin

That sounds very much like blown head gasket to me!

Forgot to mention. If you have a blown head gasket, be careful starting the engine after it has been left for a while. What can happen is sufficient water can leak into the offending cylinder, and the piston is some where between the beginning of the intake stroke and the top of the compression stroke, the engine can hydrolock. If the starter motor is the only thing turn the motor when this happens then the chance for damage is very slim, but if another cylinder fires before the lock, the chance of damage increases damatically.

Some radiator places have a little sniffer they put near the open rad cap when the engine is running. It will detect if there is gas in the coolant, thus telling whether you have a leak somewhere.

Looks like a head gasket to me. Don't stress too much, if it's running OK just replace the gasket. Check the head while you have it off though.

Its called a Tee-Kay tester and it uses chemicals that are sensitive to carbon monoxide the colour of the chemicals change colour when CO2 is present. The best way is to compression test each cylinder to measure the specific pressure and check variance between the cylinders. If you need more info give us a call....