how do you know if your head gasket is blown?

Answer 1

water in your oil. it will make it cloudy looking

Answer 2

Combustion gasses will be leaking. Most commonly they leak into the water because the water has coroded the gasket and weakened it. This can be detected by looking into the radiator. If you see bubbles, that's the leak. They can leak into another cylinder which will make the engine run extremely rough in short time. They can leak to the outside. Feel the gasket area and you'll find it. Double check with a small amount of soapy water. Combustion gasses rarely leak into the oil unless it's right at an oil passage, besides the motor is cooled by the oil there. Do a compression test to locate the cylinder. You could just have a cracked head too, or a cracked block. Happy wrenching!

Answer 3

Many different things can happen if you have blown a head gasket. The easiest way is to see if things are mixing. If oil gets into the water, there will be a sludge like substance when you open the radiator cap. It will most likely be a tan or brown color (not to be confused with reddish-brown, which would be rust). If water gets into the oil, when you try to drain the oil from the oil pan, water will come out at first (since water is heavier than oil, it sinks to the bottom.) If water is getting into the combustion cycle, it can cause steam to come from the exhaust (not to be confused with the condensation you might see from it on a cold morning.) If oil is getting into the combustion cycle, smoke could come from the tailpipe. Be careful with this one though, because many things can cause the same symptoms. If you think your car could have a blown head gasket, have it checked by a reputable mechanic in your area.

Answer 4

if your engine is pressurizing the cooling system this is a good indication your head gskt is blown and to find out {with the engine off remove the radiator cap check the fluid level in the radiator fill rad if needed leave cap off start engine and when engine reaches opoerating temp look to see if the radiator fluid is being pushed out of the radiator by combustion gases [bubbles will appear] now this could also be an indication your cylinder head is cracked and unfortunatly both can happen your engine overheats

Answer 5

The surest way is to use a gas detector to detect exhaust gasses in you engine's coolant. This work every time and is the way the pro's do it. In general your cooling system cannot remove heat fast enough and in a short drive at highway speeds the engine will overheat. At idle speed the engine will return to normal coolant temperature.

Answer 6

if it a big leak, you can see white smoke coming out the exhaust tail pipe when the vehicle is running or miky color on the oil dipstick. small leak can be detected by using an gas emission analyzer machine

Answer 7

Your engine heats up too much which is trouble also on your cooler because that'll overheat and then crack/break.