does this sound like my head gasket is bad ? ~any help please?

Question

I just bought my car from a dealership in beg. of july. Its a 94 Camry. It had 101,200 miles when i bought it- its now Dec. and there is 106,046 miles. Recently I checked my radiator b/c it seemed i was loosing fluid on the ground, it was half full. Few days later i checked it again..it was empty and it had clumps of brown stuff around the radiator cap. i took it to the place where i bought it bc they said it was a new radiator. they told me the radiator was fine and that the pressure was fine too and that it wasn't leaking. I asked how did it loose fluid so fast and they told me that my engine was consuming too much, and it said it may be the head gasket but he wasn't sure. I felt like he wasn't telling me everything, and not telling me something that he knew was wrong. The overflow tank also had the brown stuff in it and he said that was oil, and thats why he thought the gasket was "maybe" blown. my car has never overheated .. yet.. anyone have this problem or can help? thnx!

Answer 1

My truck has has a variety of radiator problems recently. I had a leak or so I thought in the upper hose replaced it, there was rust on the radiator...replaced it and the lower hose while I had the radiator off. I am still loosing fluid although not nearly as fast....I have decided that it is either the Heater Control valve or the heater core. I had that same brown clumps and had to have my system flushed about three times to even get a good flush.....the amount of brown stuff that came out was unreal. All of this to say that see where the fluid is coming from. You could have a stuck thermostat and it is burning it off too. Do you smell burning anti-freeze? Has any of it leaked onto the floorboard. Check your oil....if there isnt water there then most likely it isnt your head gasket.

Answer 2

Not telling what the dealer had repaired prior. You can do a compression check to each cylinder which may help to diagnose. you can also Pressure check the cooling system. If it is coming out on the ground it may be a simple as a hose loose or bad. Maybe the waterpump has gone bad. Check your oil for color a tan or milky color represents water in the oil.
If your lucky you can flush the cooling system and repair a simple coolant leak. Toyota engines hold up well so have it checked by a reputable mechanic to be sure what is going on.

Answer 3

Check your oil. If your oil looks like chocolate milk, or there is condensation near the top of the dipstick, your head gasket is shot.

If you are losing THAT much coolant, that your radiator is empty in a couple of days, I wouldn't take that car back from the dealership until they fix it.

Answer 4

Ray gave you good advice. I'd only add that your temperature gauge might be broken. You can check the gauge yourself once it's warm- use a cooking gauge (tell your wife at your own peril) in the radiator. If the gauges agree, forget the gauge problem. If not, then deal with that, too. Good luck.

Answer 5

sounds to me like you were taken for a ride,, it has Barrs stop leak in it which will turn the water brown because of the oils and stop leak in it,,

take it to a good shop they can pressure test your system and tell you whether the head is gone or not, then sue the other guy for lying

Answer 6

it might be blown gasket

if you are not leaking any coolant anywhere then it has to be blown head gasket otherwise it oculd be water pump water pump gasket hoses but if you are not leaking coolant then it is head gasket

Answer 7

You need a Head, Job.

Answer 8

Or..aluminum heads are known to crack also.