Hey guys this is my sister in laws car, she thinks she blew a head gasket and before she junked it i wanted to take a look at it, long story short. gave a once over on the fluids (trans clean, engine oil clean on dipstick and oil cap) i took off the radiator cap near the thermostat housing and noticed an almost chocolate milk looking gunk all over. the thermostat was broken inside so i swapped it out and it runs fine now. but that nasty fluid is still going through the cooling system. i understand it's oil mixing with coolant and the hoses seem ok. it's not billowing smoke, she just got the car so i'm wondering if someone tried to throw stop leak in it and just made small problems worse?

 

i could really use some help on this diagnosis

 

Do a quick compression check with all four spark plugs pulled and see if all 4 are within spec and that all 4 are within 10% of each other. 150 psi is the minimum a semi-healthy motor would be at. It should be somewhere around 175 to 190psi. So a healthy head gasket would be something like 180, 175, 185, 180.

Sounds like the head gasket is toast. You will usually get oil in the water intrusion and/or water in the oil as the first symptom. it depends on where the breakdown occurs as to which you will see first.

If you have the capability, a leak down test will also let you know the health of the valves. If the head gasket is blown, you really need to go ahead and have the head cleaned, checked, decked, and redone. Machine shop costs vary from $150 to $300 depending on what is needed and who does it.

 

If its an auto, the trans fluid can push through into the coolant if the cooler sprung a leak. Usually the coolant will have a pink or red color to it if that's the case. Even if you dont find coolant in the oil, the head gasket could still be the issue, same with the trans you may not find coolant in the trans. A leak down test with the radiator cap off will show you if its the head gasket, or a hydrocarbon test.

 

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