95 SWB smells like coolant and blows air bubbles

[OkieRover]

Yep. Been there with my wife as well.
How many 117k mileage cars has she seen that didn't need some work?

[Kevin88RRC]

Originally Posted by kkrover

Now I just need to get my wife off my a$$ about it. She thinks it is a lemon, and I just keep telling her it's not a lemon, it's english.

Welcome to the club!!!

[TerryS]

Originally Posted by kkrover

Is it a good sign about the health, or PO care of the car, if OE head gaskets are still in it at 117k miles?

Not necessarily. They generally go between 90 - 130k miles, Some less, and some go further. What makes the difference is the quality of coolant and regular (+/- 20K) drain, flush, and replacement of antifreeze. To a large degree, a single serious overheating event will signal the end is near also, but this can also include sleeves getting loose. (commonly, but incorrectly refered to as 'dropped liners')

[sven]

FWIW, my 95 RRC had come composite gaskets from the factory. I re-did mine at 110k miles. Was 95 a split year for composite head gaskets?

[TerryS]

Originally Posted by sven

FWIW, my 95 RRC had come composite gaskets from the factory. I re-did mine at 110k miles. Was 95 a split year for composite head gaskets?

I don't know when in the year, but it was '95

[DougG]

Originally Posted by Greg M

Oh, okay, that was helpful.

Still sounds like you could be developing a head gasket problem since you've had it in for service but now its steady. Mine was shot when i bought it, and i had air bubbles and occasionlly it would build up enough to overflow the expansion tank onto the ground. Do this - start your engine from cold, take the cap off the expansion tank and watch for bubbles. There won't neccessarily be a constant flow but rather an regular "burp". If you see any, i can promise you that you have a headgasket problem. Take it back to your mechanic and have them do the test to confirm.

when you start from cold and are looking for "burps", how long should you wait before you start to see bubbles? I looked at my expansion tank for 3-5 minutes and no bubbles. This must be a good thing. I have a faint coolant smell inside the truck(88RRC 144K miles) when I'm driving it. Must be a leak somewhere externally.

[rqsall]

I never saw bubbles in the expansion tank until the gasket was on the verge of completely giving up, however, I did see them (small ones) in the radiator before that point. You may want to try running the engine with the top radiator plug off and look in there. Once the top hose starts to get warm, meaning your thermostat has opened to let coolant flow into the radiator, you should be able to tell.

[TerryS]

Originally Posted by DougG

when you start from cold and are looking for "burps", how long should you wait before you start to see bubbles? I looked at my expansion tank for 3-5 minutes and no bubbles. This must be a good thing. I have a faint coolant smell inside the truck(88RRC 144K miles) when I'm driving it. Must be a leak somewhere externally.

It can take a good while before the thermostat opens. LR electric temp guages are so worthless, you can't see the "event" but a good mechanical guage will go up, above operating temp, then suddenly drop below when the thermostat opens. The bubbles will not be huge burps, but fine fizz.

The coolant you're smelling inside the car may be from a leaking heater core. Personally, I'd rather do a head gasket job than a heater core any day of the week.

[DougG]

Originally Posted by TerryS

It can take a good while before the thermostat opens. LR electric temp guages are so worthless, you can't see the "event" but a good mechanical guage will go up, above operating temp, then suddenly drop below when the thermostat opens. The bubbles will not be huge burps, but fine fizz.

The coolant you're smelling inside the car may be from a leaking heater core. Personally, I'd rather do a head gasket job than a heater core any day of the week.

Well it sounds like I'll have to do both eventually. I've replaced my blend motors in my P38. It sounds like replacing the heater core is just as much fun. I've seen the heater core job on Okie's web site; is there a head gasket procedure anywhere that I could follow? I do have the workshop manual, but it doesn't specifically have a head gasket job in there. How much time do I have before these procedures NEED to be done? I have recently replaced all the coolant hoses, thermostat, temp sender, radiator, fan, and fan clutch. Can I wait for spring? Thanks.

[OkieRover]

You might make it to Spring with new hoses. Check your top hose and see if it gets hard while the truck is running. That's a sign you got some pressure in there from the heads.

My buddy that helped me read a bunch from the RPI site and then pretty much did the job while I was at work on a Friday. All I helped with was washing parts and pulling and replacing the motors. After we were done he said he wished we'd have just done the heads IN THE TRUCK. Me too.

[rqsall]

Short answer: probably not

Long answer:

it is the same question I asked myself around october/november. I put some Bar's Leaks in it around november 15th. It even helped: I had no more coolant loss... so I drove it to my parents on christmas day, this is a little less than 100 miles (145 km). We made it... so we drove it back in the evening. Almost immediately the low coolant level came on. Noticed foam and a lot of pressure in the cooling system. Filled it up with coolant, 8 miles further up, low coolant light came on again. More foam and lots of pressure. Filled it up with my last spare amount, got some more at a gas station 30 miles further, just to be sure.
Added some more at this point, big bubbles came into the tank. Light didn't come on and the temperature gauge stayed dead in the middle. After about 60 miles (90km ) I heard a soft "plop". Didn't immidiately register, I was the only one in the car that heard it, and I'm hard of hearing, so I thought I'd imagined it. Seconds later, I looked in the rear view mirror and wondered where the fog all of a sudden came from... it took me maybe 5 microseconds to realize it came from under the car pulled it over. I just passed a breakdown service car of the national auto club when it happened and he followed me. Since I am a member he arranged free flatbed service to get us and the car home... I don't have a nice workshop so can only work on it in the weekends, because it's dark at 5pm here atm. Got the last head off yesterday. Gonna order the parts shortly. I have some questions about that, but I'll not hijack this thread for it Found the hose that eventually couldn't withstand the pressure. It was the one from the intake manifold to the pipes going into the heater.

All in all, since I put the Bar's Leaks in, it maybe drove 350 miles before it blew. We don't drive very often, holding out till spring would have suited me just fine though

Cheers.

[DougG]

And if the top hose doesn't get hard, and I don't have bubbles in my tank, can I assume that my head gaskets are OK for now. I have no overheating, just the smell of coolant inside the truck which I believe is the heater core. Can the heater core go bad on it's own, or is it always associated with the head?

[OkieRover]

The tank on my original was made of plastic. So it broke from pressure.
There are two hoses that go through the firewall into the core. So if your lucky the leak is in one of the hoses.

[Greg M]

Originally Posted by DougG

when you start from cold and are looking for "burps", how long should you wait before you start to see bubbles? I looked at my expansion tank for 3-5 minutes and no bubbles. This must be a good thing. I have a faint coolant smell inside the truck(88RRC 144K miles) when I'm driving it. Must be a leak somewhere externally.

Doug, I don't remember exactly. But all the signs that have been talked about in this thread were there. When i rebuilt my engine, both headgaskets appeared to be original and both were leaking for sure. My advice to anyone is to have it tested so you know for certain.

If you do have a blown headgasket, I wouldn't put off fixing it for very long. Even a small leak will slowly kill off the detergents in your oil and accelerate wear. I would refrain from all the over the counter medicaitons you can add to your coolant too. Personally i would only use that stuff to make it home from the bush. Anyway, there are some bad things that can happen if you have a badly blown gasket, and they usually happen at the worst possible moment. Good luck.

[DougG]

Originally Posted by OkieRover

The tank on my original was made of plastic. So it broke from pressure.
There are two hoses that go through the firewall into the core. So if your lucky the leak is in one of the hoses.

when I did the coolant hoses a few months ago, the only one I couldn't get to was the bottom hose that goes through the firewall to the core. I got the one above it, but couldn't get the clamp off the lower one, I'll have to try again. I'm also gonna look for bubbles while the engine is idling until it reaches normal temp.