Hi, I have a 92 Loyale. Just noticed today that the vacuum lines are nearly clogged with mayonnaise and she's started going through a lot of coolant.

Sounds like I may need a new head gasket? I am dreading what is lurking beneath the valve covers...

Any help would be great! Thanks.

the vacuum lines are nearly clogged with mayonnaise

 

this sounds epic

Just make sure you get the heads machined, or you'll be right back in the same boat. :-\

 

Jeff

Well before we go nuts spending money

 

How many miles are on the car.

 

Do you have any bubbles in the coolant

 

Change the PCV valve and clean out the hoses.

 

Get a compression test and pressure test of the cooling system. It's possible that the two are unrelated.

 

nipper

Is it in the oil pan too? If it's not on the dipstick, you may have an external leak. Or and intake gasket leak. Do you get steam out of the exhaust? I don't mean just at start up, all the time.

Do what nipper said, and run it.

Thanks for the responses.

- The engine has 150k miles.

- PCV valve is three months old and cleaned the hoses out last night. Runs much better, the engine runs well when accelerating, but kind of limps when cruising along (new plugs and wires). Could a vacuum leak be drawing moisture in?

- Will look into compression and pressure tests.

- Dipstick oil is clean.

- No steam or odour in exhaust.

Could be leaking at pressure when driving I suppose. The rad was just replaced, and there's no distinct evidence of a leak that I can see.

I will check around some more and update.

Thanks again for the help!

(I hope its not 'epic', MXTC!)

Also note the condition of the plugs when you pull them out for the compression test and what cylinder they came from. If one is cleaner then the other, then you have a suspect cylinder. If two are cleaner then the other two maybe a bad intake gasket (which i am starting to like).

 

Any bubbles in the coolant?

My Loyale looses about a quart of coolant in 8 days of driving to and from work, about 40 miles a day. It was losing more than that but I started popping it out of gear and coasting during decelleration and while going down hills. I guess that high vacuum in those conditions was pulling the coolant past a gasket somewhere. I intend to pull the engine and re-seal before spring.

Maybe try that and see if your coolant loss lessens.

ugh kinda sounds like what i was experiencing when my hg went out a couple yrs ago. i took it to my local shucks and they did a coolent check for free and told me it was toast so i went and got the parts and did it myself. i think in total it cost me like a hundred something out the door.

Okay, a pressure test shows the head gasket is leaking externally. Only under pressure, so it was diff to pinpoint the location. thanks all for the help.

You pressure tested the cooling system? Remember that the intake gaskets are also tested when you do this. They are replaced during a head gasket job, and often times it looks like new head gaskets fixed it when it was really just the new intake gaskets. Try them first.

Nice weather finally gave a chance to poke around. Have a visual on the HG leak. External leak (lower rear corner driver's side), plugs are fair.

Now just need to give the heads a go! Thanks for all the help.