Failed bubble test, now what?

[72rockcruiser]

CRAP!

Not in the budget right now, time or money wise. I am getting married in 6 weeks.

So Went to go to the store last night, and the Cruiser is missing horribly, kinda feels like bad plug wires, but worse. First thing I thought of was headgasket. Just did a bubble test, and (I guess) it failed. There are some bubbles coming from the overflow when the engine was running, not like a stream of bubbles, but one and then a second or two (timewise), then another. What else can I check to make sure its popped before I tear into this thing? I dont have access to air to do a leakdown test.

Also I guess I need one of those headgasket DVDs. Who has those again?

Thanks for all the help from this site!!

I will get it handled, just BAD timing.

Back to the garage.

 

[Thermodyn]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. I hope you can get it fixed in between all the wedding prep.

Idaho Doug sells the head gasket DVD you seek.

 

[ranma21]

First of all, congratulation to you and your soon to be wife =) Did you open the radiator cap or any coolant leak somewhere? If the air gets into the syetem. It is normal to have some bubble till it clears out all the air in the system. Is your truck over heated? Any sign of excessive white smoke coming out from the exhaust? From my experience, a bubble a second for a prolong period of time, it could be HG. So becareful, do not push the truck too far and make things worse.

 

[IdahoDoug]

To confirm your situation, you could pull the spark plugs and if you find either coolant sprays out when you crank the spark plug-less engine (definite HG) or one spark plug is cleaner than the rest from coolant/steam cleaning (99%) then you've confirmed. If you have not opened the radiator recently and the engine is putting out bubbles then I'd say this is also a high probability confirmation. Sending a sample to Blackstone Labs is a 100% confirmation, but would take a couple days if overnighted.

DougM

 

[shelfboy1]

1 check dip stick for water content .oil and water mix when heated. 2 if water comes out your radiator overflow when you run it the gasket is probably blown to the water jacket .3 if you can do compression test, if the compression is the same on 2 cylinders next to each other its probably blown between the cylinders .or if you can do it safely run the motor and pull the plug wires 1 at a time and see which cylinder,s is not firing.white smoke coming from the tail pipe and loss of water all idicate a bad gasket.on most any car i worked on when the stat opened there was always buble or 2.until you go step by step and eliminate the problems until you know for sure what it is i wouldnt speculate good luck

 

[72rockcruiser]

# 6 cyl (far back) is dead. Pulled the plug wire when its running. No change. I pulled the plug too, it looked fine.

It has not overheated since I have owned it. 2.5 years 32K miles.

Edit: no white smoke, oil looks fine. It was a fair bit (3-4qts) low on coolant, but I havent checked it in probably over a year.

Just got back from Autozone, bought a compression tester. going to ck compression now.

 

[jlg32281]

Go back to Autozone, you got the wrong tool. Go back and get the "block tester," it will let you know if the HG is gone or if you have a leak somewhere else.

 

[72rockcruiser]

Compression test is ~ 180 across board. Does that rule out head gasket?

 

[72rockcruiser]

Go back to Autozone, you got the wrong tool. Go back and get the "block tester," it will let you know if the HG is gone or if you have a leak somewhere else.

Doesnt this require compressed air? I dont have a compressor.

 

[retrofive]

I dont believe so. They are AKA "sniffers". Open you rad cap, drop of dye on a filter and pump a few times, the dye will change color if its going or blown. Kinda like a prego test . (Correct me if Im wrong on this method, Ive only read the procedure).

Im not sure about compression reading resulting in a blown HG. When i thought mine was blown I had consistent number across board (155) and other said based on that it didny look like it was blown.... Just my .02.

 

[Atoyot1031]

FYI, I had a head gasket leak between my #3 & #4 cylinders on my old 22R that was not noticeable on a compression test. It leaked slightly between the two cylinders, made it run crappy, but I lived with it for months (including wheeling trips), until I finally tore it down to find the problem. Moral of the story: Compression test won't always show gasket failure & gasket failure is not always sign of imminent failure.

HOWEVER, if I knew I had a head gasket failure, I would not drive the vehicle and risk trashing the entire engine.

My .02.

 

[jlg32281]

Doesnt this require compressed air? I dont have a compressor.

It doesn't require any compressed air. It's the "sniffer" as some call it. It's super easy to use, just follow the instructions. It takes 1 minute to do the test. The deposit is $20, I just rented it last week. You will have to buy a bottle of the testing solution. I think a bottle is about $7 and it's enough to do about 10 tests, so hang on to the left over solution. I test every used car I buy and it's just good to have so when problems like this come up, you can rule out the really expensive repairs. Good luck, keep us posted.

 

[72rockcruiser]

From a song about tragedy impending, we're gonna move swiftly to a song about tragedy narrowly averted. ...



Fixed it. The stupid heater valve at the firewall was leaking into the spark plug tube, and fouled the # 6 plug. I put a new plug in # 6, good to go! (I just did all of them @ 155K.) That explains the coolant loss, and the miss, and now the truck runs better Than I ever remember. Whew!

 

[retrofive]

From a song about tragedy impending, we're gonna move swiftly to a song about tragedy narrowly averted. ...



Fixed it. The stupid heater valve at the firewall was leaking into the spark plug tube, and fouled the # 6 plug. I put a new plug in # 6, good to go! (I just did all of them @ 155K.) That explains the coolant loss, and the miss, and now the truck runs better Than I ever remember. Whew!

Not sure I could read another HG job thread LOL j/k

 

[Atoyot1031]

I love misdiagnosis that goes from worst case scenario to , no big deal!

Congrats on the big event!

 

[IdahoDoug]

FYI, a compression test won't discover or rule out a H/G. A leakdown test will help, but this may be the test you're thinking of that requires compressed air source. It's also a bit more complex.

DougM