Blown Head Gasket (was:Power loss and white smoke)

[L DC]

Greville,

I believe you're right about the hardness in the
cooling hoses is due to gases leaking in and also
because of water not circulating properly (in the case
of a bad/blown head gasket).

I'm not an expert on the matter but in the case of my
car, it was clear cut; the head gasket had gone south
due to the oil mixing with water evidence.

You mentioned your head gasket was replaced barely 3
1/2 years ago?

The head gasket in my car--('87 VW Quantum
Syncro--same drive train as the 4KQ)-- went south due
to the bursting of a heater hose while cruising at
85MPH in 90* weather on a very humid day. Head gasket
was the original, never been replaced.

I saw the H2O temperature needle in the gauge climb to
overheat, so immediately pulled over, but it was too
late. The engine had bled to death, not one drop of
water left in the cooling system, dooming the head
gasket.

If my eyes would have been fixated on the H2O
temperature sensor during that drive, perhaps I would
have stopped in time and, thus, save the head gasket
and cylinder head. 

Temperature sensors, when in working order, are good
as long as liquid is present and circulating properly
where they're (sensors) embedded.

Thinking back on my mishap, the H2O temperature sensor
was giving me an accurate reading of the H2O
temperature prior to the incident. 

But what happens when you deplete the system of the
liquid?

You get a false reading.

Again, if I had my eyes on the temp gauge, I can
imagine I would have been able to see, say, a sudden
drop in the needle, due to the absence of H2O,
followed by a rise in the needle, as it did and I
happened to notice, with reading based on just pure
engine heat, coming mostly from cylinder head?

Who knows? 

And also, who the heck drives with their eyes fixated
on any of the gauges anyway?

One of my friends suggested installing a H2O pressure
sensor containing both, visual and audible features.
But does such device exist?

-Best Regards,

Louis



--- Greville Bowles <gbowles at cansafe.com> wrote:

> Thanks Louis. I will definitely check the hoses the
> next time I have the car running. I assume that the 
> hardness is due to exhaust gas pressure leaking into

> the cooling system and the foam is due to coolant 
> leaking into the oil. I have changed the oil and I 
> didn't see any problem with it. 
 
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Mr. Greville H. Bowles
> Ralston CanSafe
> 525 Glengarry Cres.
> Fergus, Ontario  N1M 2W8
> Phone: (519) 787-1297  Ext. 39
> Fax:   (519) 787-3732
> E-mail:   gbowles at cansafe.com
> www.cansafe.com
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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