Overheating issues and a mechanic's suggestion to change the head gasket?
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Overheating issues and a mechanic's suggestion to change the head gasket?
So below are the details of my overheating issue (bear with me as I am putting in some context):
The Context
I have a 2000 dodge ram van 1500 with 172000 miles I bought 2 months ago and put 10000 miles on it. I had a tune up done, water pump and radiator changed, new oil and antifreeze put it.
Recently on a road trip the car began overheating. The gauge showed the temp was above the mid line at the 3/4 mark and began to act erratic. I was far from home so kept driving, making sure to stop and let the car cool when the gauge went too high. Eventually the gauge began to creep too high and wouldn't lower so I stopped at a mechanics shop; by then the antifeeze was boiling (there were NO LEAKS under the car as far as I could tell).
Mechanic took a look and after some tests concluded that the cooling system was running at very high pressure caused by a bad head gasket that was letting antifreeze leak into the engine. Since I was still far from home he recommended I put some KSEAL and nurse it home. Kseal worked perfectly and I didn't even have to stop as the temperature remained at the 1/4 mark all the way.
The Question
The car is running fine with the kseal for now but based on what the mechanic said I should either get a new motor or go through the process of replacing the gasket and potentially rebuilding the engine. In my experience if antifreeze is leaking into the engine I should have white smoke in my tailpipe or milky cream in my oil no? How would I go about testing this myself to confirm its the head gasket? I want to make sure before I go tearing through the engine and I'd prefer to avoid paying someone for a diagnosis. Appreciate the help
The Context
I have a 2000 dodge ram van 1500 with 172000 miles I bought 2 months ago and put 10000 miles on it. I had a tune up done, water pump and radiator changed, new oil and antifreeze put it.
Recently on a road trip the car began overheating. The gauge showed the temp was above the mid line at the 3/4 mark and began to act erratic. I was far from home so kept driving, making sure to stop and let the car cool when the gauge went too high. Eventually the gauge began to creep too high and wouldn't lower so I stopped at a mechanics shop; by then the antifeeze was boiling (there were NO LEAKS under the car as far as I could tell).
Mechanic took a look and after some tests concluded that the cooling system was running at very high pressure caused by a bad head gasket that was letting antifreeze leak into the engine. Since I was still far from home he recommended I put some KSEAL and nurse it home. Kseal worked perfectly and I didn't even have to stop as the temperature remained at the 1/4 mark all the way.
The Question
The car is running fine with the kseal for now but based on what the mechanic said I should either get a new motor or go through the process of replacing the gasket and potentially rebuilding the engine. In my experience if antifreeze is leaking into the engine I should have white smoke in my tailpipe or milky cream in my oil no? How would I go about testing this myself to confirm its the head gasket? I want to make sure before I go tearing through the engine and I'd prefer to avoid paying someone for a diagnosis. Appreciate the help
