# Is my head gasket blown?



## michaelkm8 (Aug 5, 2015)

Hello all,
As the title states I'm trying to figure out if my head gasket is blown. My oil does not look light brown like coffee with too much creamer in it. When I take off the radiator cap and start the car the fluid flows over just a bit and continues to overflow a bit. I am putting radiator fluid in about once a week. My car only starts if it has been sitting for a few hours. I have no issues while driving and I drive 90% highway miles. I drive for 17+ hours sometimes and never encounter any issues. Most recently was last week I drove two days 15 hours per day. My car is not overheating. Any help would be appreciated. Oh yes, and my car has 255k on it. 

One more thing I forgot. In addition I drained and replaced the coolant today because the heater is not working. I followed the guide to get rid of air bubble in the system: Lift the reservoir above the radiator, insert a metal loop between the rubber and metal part of the cap to force open the reservoir hole, run the car for an hour. However even after an hour there were still bubbles coming out constantly so I let it run for another 45 minutes and still a steady stream of bubbles.


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## michaelkm8 (Aug 5, 2015)

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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Seeing a constant supply of air bubbles in the coolant system as well as putting radiator coolant in about once a week is a good indicator of a possible blown head gasket; combustion gases pushing into the coolant system. Run a compression test on all cylinders; the compression specs are: standard - 181 psi, minimum - 153 psi.


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## yiddles72 (Dec 17, 2015)

ugh, good luck.

i came on here for a similar issue. Had a couple of rough starts maybe 2 months ago, got a cyl 2 misfire code. changed ignition coils and plugs, was ok for about 45 days then started acting up again. then yesterday notices temp gauge getting close to overheating then coming back down, tried to crank up heat to cool her down, no hot air blowing. pulled over, the coolant reservoir was almost empty. added water, was fine, got heat back. got home, noticed that reservoir level went down again, definitely losing coolant.

no obvious leaks, no puddles under car. also, my oil looks fine as well and not noticing any white smoke from exhaust. So...head gasket?


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## Please HelpMy Altima (Feb 22, 2016)

I am having the same issues as your having. Hard Start when Warm, and rough idle. Also, Heat only works sometimes. 

Iv changed spark plugs, Throttle position sensor, and Cam and crank sensor. In 2 weeks iv lost a tiny bit of coolant (went from max fill line on overflow tank to just below the min fill line on overflow tank). I also Removed rad cap and started car, however now Compression or fluid spewing out. Looked for white smoke out of tailpipe, none. I have also done a compression check and the results were cylinder 1- 145 psi, 2- 150 psi, 3- 150 psi, and 4-162 psi. They are all in between 15% of each other, but my theory is that even know the compression test (and all other tests) pass, the head gasket is still blown. It just has a very small leak of coolant into a cylinder, which explains the slow coolant loss. 

I think that if I don't find the issue soon, I am going to replace the Head gasket one day. The actual gasket is is only $65, but its the labor that costs a lot (like at the dealer or local shop), but I can do it myself, and I think it will take at least a day, (8 hours) comfortably. Ill post my results. If the Head gasket replacement doesn't work, I don't know where else to look!


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

You can buy kits that'll check for the presence of combustion gasses in the coolant, a dip-strip of sorts. Dip it in the coolant, strip changes color, combustion gasses present.
Other than that, if you've got a small coolant leak into a cylinder, you pull the spark plugs. A spark plug that's been sparking in the presence of coolant will likely be much cleaner than the rest of the plugs (eg. steam cleaned).


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## Please HelpMy Altima (Feb 22, 2016)

jdg said:


> You can buy kits that'll check for the presence of combustion gasses in the coolant, a dip-strip of sorts. Dip it in the coolant, strip changes color, combustion gasses present.


Wow that's pretty cool. Didn't even think about using test strips. Do you know where I can get that test kit? Autozone, Advanced auto, and oreilys is what is around me.


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