How can I tell if my 1992 Ford Taurus has a bad head gasket?

Question

I changed Themomostat but still do not have heat.Seem to be loosing coolant- I checked the oil it is red/brown and at times seems to be leaking from the cat. At initial start up there is a little white/gray smoke. The guage comes close to overheating but stays just below the red line, fan works and water pump are fine. Both hoses in and out of heater core are hot. Has not lost power but will become jump at idle or will stall in neutral.

Answer 1

i own a repair shop,and if your loosing more than a quart a day in anti freeze it is a head gasket,it will burn that much through the engine and not hurt it,all you,ll see from it is a little steam once in a while if that,as far as the heat goes you may have bad heat control valve causing the heater not to be good on it .or a clogged heater core may be causing this,you can have a pressure check ran on it to see if its loosing pressure and this will tell you more about it,good luck i hope this help,s.

Answer 2

Is there any leak on the floor after you park there for a few hours? That is usually an indicator that some seals are brittle or frayed.

If no heat in your car, your hoses have a major leak or not even connected.Some repair shops will push a hose out of the way and forget to put it back. Check for missing connecting hoses, holes where you cant see them etc.
Why would the gauge go up to almost overheat? Thats not right. Bring it to the Ford people or phone their hot line.

Answer 3

Pull the plugs look for water or completly clean tips . Run a compression test should be between 10 to15 lbs differance (at MOST) on all cylinders. Pull the cap off the radiator and look for bubbles, when warm. If there are it is just starting. Napa also sells a combustion gas tester. just get one and follow the instructions (cheaper than a head gasket and good to have !!). one other thing if it is leaking exhaust by the cat It could be plugged, and that will cause slight over heat and the other problems you talk of. See what happens good luck

Answer 4

With the engine cold, take off the rad cap slowly and make sure the rad is full. Start the engine and watch the rad. If a/freeze gushes out like a mini geyser, the head gasket's gone. Where if antifreeze can enter the cylinders, compression gasses can enter the cooling system. A certain way also is to take out your spark plugs and take a look. If a/f is getting in, the end of the plug will be extremely clean with no carbon or other deposits since it is steam cleaning itself. If all the plugs are a reddish beige to light black, the problem may be your intake manifold.

Answer 5

If a head gaskit is leaking between adjacent cylinders, there will be a low reading on each of those cylinders when you do a compression test.
If the head gaskit is leaking into a water cooling duct, then you will see air bubbles on the surface of the water in the top of the radiator tank.
If the head gaskit is leaking to the outside, you will likely hear it, also there will be a low compression test reading on the cylinder
that is leaking.
If you don't have a compression gauge, then go to your garage or service centre and ask for a compression test of all cylinders.
There should be no more than 5 p.s.i. difference between each cylinder.

Answer 6

Small leaks can be sealed, but not in the head gasket. The added pressure from the piston will blow out any sealant you try. Just bite the bullet and have it fixed properly. Sealants are iffy at best, and terrible at worst. Also, where would you put the sealer? In the oil? The radiator? It all depends on where the leak is coming from. And if it's leaking compression outside the engine (not into the coolant or oil), the you're out of luck, anyway.

Answer 7

With the car running at temp. take off the Raidaitor cap and see if you can see fine little bubbles coming up to the surface, if so you have a blown head gasket.

Second way is via a compression tester and the cars maintance manual with the minimum compression specs.

If it is stalling in neutral i would think it is a head gasket or broken rings, because it is losing compression.

Good Luck!

Answer 8

when the car is cold remove the radiator cap start the engine with the coolant full if it blows out of the radiator like a fountain you probably have a bad head gasket> it coul also be that you have air trapped in the cooling system if this is the case let the car run with radiator cap of until there are no bublles coming out if bubbles continually come out more than likely head gasket

Answer 9

Water in the oil will usually look milkey. Check the compression. Any two adjoining cylinders that show an unusually low reading indicate a blown head gasket.

Answer 10

if its a 3.8l engine these engines are self destructing for headgaskets there is tsbs on these engines if it is look for white smoke and check plugs compression check and use a air lift system and chemical test to confirm results . oh and if is a 3.8l trash it dont fix it it will only last about 100 000km on average