1992 3.1 chevy loosing about 1 gal every 1000 mi through exaust but not in the oil yet. Would tightening the heads help put off having to repair it?
2006-09-10 17:58:03 · 20 answers · asked by Red 5 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
are you sure it is head gasket? We have seen many of these engines lose coolant due to blown or leaking intake manifold gaskets/might be worth checking out as this is much easier and cheaper to fix
2006-09-10 18:01:50 · answer #1 · answered by Kentuckygearhead 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You have an old car.
Old cars need more love than new cars.
If your car needs a head gasket, better to man up and do it than not. It's a V-6 so it's more complicated than it is hard. The only real tricky part is resetting the manifold. You have to sneak up on the bolts and do all of them all at the same time little by little. If you bolt down the manifold on one head first, the other side will have a vacuum leak no matter how tight you torque it down.
But. If you're truly broke (and I thoroughly understand), you can take out the inner rubber gasket on your radiator cap so you're not running any pressure, remove the thermostat so you're running as cool as possible, put black pepper in the radiator water and hope it plugs the place where water is getting into the cylinder(s).
By running a no-pressure cooling system, you will overheat at a lower temperature, so be real careful to monitor the temp guage. If all you have is an idiot light, you may find yourself in a world of hurt in a real quick hurry.
Eventually you'll have to replace that gasket, hopefully this can get you by until you put the money together to do it right.
2006-09-10 18:16:10 · answer #2 · answered by s2scrm 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Tightening the head bolts won't help at all. Take off the radiator cap while it's running, not when its super hot or you'll burn the fark out of yerself, to see if you have air bubbles coming up in the water. That could mean a cracked head. If so then call Pick a Part and send it to Chevy Heaven. Then go out and buy a Toyota Truck. Them trucks last 4-ever and a day.
2006-09-10 18:07:36 · answer #3 · answered by Justa_Honay_Guy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would not suggest tightening the bolts. Change the head gasket and stop wasting your money on oil.
2006-09-10 18:02:35 · answer #4 · answered by Teacher 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it wont help put it off. If I were you, I would just spend the $35-$40 on a new head gasket. It will save you money down the road.
2006-09-10 18:06:42 · answer #5 · answered by BethSmith 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No. What you want to do is loosen the head bolts to relieve pressure and prevent that 'blowout' effect.
This will also have the dual effect of ruining the engine and proveing your imbecility should you take such a suggestion seriously. (No offense here...just practiceing.).
2006-09-10 18:09:09 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No it means it is blown headgasket coolent gets into the cylinder and then threw the valve to your intake.
2016-03-27 06:35:20 · answer #7 · answered by Greta 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no.the only way to stop it is change the gasket.also it would pay you to take it to a machine shop and have the head shaved for straightness,to make sure its not warped.
2006-09-10 19:27:11 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just in case you haven't gotten the status quo on your question..........No! It will not help your problem. If it is blown, fix it. That is the only solution.
2006-09-10 18:19:32 · answer #9 · answered by yugie29 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, doing that can actually cause some more costly repairs later on. best to replace it, sorry. best of luck.
2006-09-10 18:00:32 · answer #10 · answered by Lori B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋