Hey there I got a 92 spfi loyale with ea82. I just recently started loosing coolant. Checked the coolant reservoir and getting the slow stream of bubbles.   I know this is one of the classic signs of a head gasket failure. But I just did the head gaskets last summer using the felpro kit. I also thought I remember reading that intake manifold gasket failure can result in the slow stream of bubbles too. However, I didn't learn about the importance of using OEM intake manifold gaskets, so I used the cheap ones included with the felpro kit, which leads me to suspect them rather than the headgaskets. Is this wishful thinking? How can I distinguish which has failed? For what its worth, no mixing of oil and coolant. Just loss of coolant. I'm really not wanting to do the intake manifold gasket, haha but compared to doing the headgaskets again its a pretty attractive option. 

 

 

Intake. Just did my intake, (EA81, but same symptoms) and made the mistake of using cheap auto store gaskets. Going to replace with dealer.

I have only seen the bubbles with failing head gaskets. The intake is under vacuum, so coolant gets sucked in and burned. Along with the Bubbling, does it keep pushing coolant into the overflow bottle? Typically, with failing headgaskets, it will eventually overflow the recovery bottle, and the upper radiator hose will be full of air.

Thanks for the replies. Coolant is not getting pushed into the overflow as far as I can tell. When I checked there was only a tad bit of coolant in the overflow bottle at all, and bubbles were coming up into. I also noticed that the coolant was really bubbly in the radiator too.

In that state, you can't tell. The bottle should be at the full mark when cold. NO air in the upper hose when cold. Run a few cycles with it wull, see what happens. Check level of bottle and air in upper hose before every start from cold. At least 4 to 6 cycles.

You can remove the camtower covers and do some retightening of the cylinder head bolts with a 17mm shorty x 3/8" socket.  Nothing is as good as removing the camtowers and retightening the cylinger head bolts.  At the radiator cap, if there is an accumulation of disintegrated head gasket material on the bottom side, then you have a head gasket leak.  You will probably also have black soot in the overflow bottle if you have leaky head gaskets.  If the exhaust blows white, then you either have an intake or exhaust port coolant leak.

But I used the felpro gaskets, your not supposed to need to retorq the head bolts i thought...or is that optimistic advertizing?  I'll check the radiator cap for head gasket material, but I'm still unclear how to distinguish whether its a head gasket or intake gasket. Haha by the time you get the camtowers off your just about there to doing the headgaskets themselves...I see some white smoke coming out the exhaust but not a ton...

I have used the Felpro gask3ts, not re torqued. No problem. BUT if ty 2 coolant is allowed to get low - that is, near empty bottle and air in the top radiator hose, or lower, and run the car slighly over normal operating temperature head gaskets begin to fail.

 

The intake gaskets and the custom oring for the throttle body are famous for slowly dissappearing Coolant.

 

At this point, the only way to know if you have cooked the head gaskets, or just some other mystery leak is fill, monitor levels for a half dozen drives, from cold to hot, and back.

Does your coolant smell like exhaust?   If so, it's a HG leak.

I go 5# torque over on the Felpro PT gaskets.

First setting is 35#.  Second trip is 45#. Then 55#.

I work my way from inside to outside.

Did you use the 9592 PT gaskets?

Well I may have lucked out on this one! I found a pinhole leak in a hose coming off the back of the intake. Swapped it out this morning. Hopefully that's the only place I'm loosing coolant. Not seeing any bubbles now...can a leaky hose explain bubbles before? Note that I saw bubbles coming up from a near empty coolant reservoir after driving a bit...

 

I'm really crossing my fingers on this one! I'll keep an eye on it and report back. 

 

And not sure which felpro gaskets I used. Tried to search for an original thread I posted when I did the hg a while back but the usmb search function can't handle it.