So my car was smoking a LOT and I was losing a lot of coolant really fast, and my exhaust smelled STRONGLY of antifreeze so I assumed that my head gaskets were toast. Right?

 

NO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we get to the interesting part. I filled it back up with coolant yesterday, put a new cap on the radiator......AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND VOILA! No smoke, no smell of antifreeze in the exhaust.

 

So basically, wtf? I dunno what I did or if this is just a temporary thing....

 

Can anybody help me out?

bad cap allows overpressure until something turns into old faithful

 

try that on a vw with 20 psi cooling system pressure

heater hose had a VERY SMALL leak, lots of fog out the back saw in the rear view mirror

The intake manifold gasket/s can fail, allowing coolant into the intake...

 

Never saw one intermittant though.

The intake manifold gasket/s can fail, allowing coolant into the intake...

 

Never saw one intermittant though.

 

 

Mine were sorta intermittant, until they actually blew out.

 

Running around town, no issue. Let it idle to long, (like to clear frost off windshield), or make a trip over say 15 miles, and she'd steam out the exhaust.

 

These were temporary "homemade" gaskets back when I 1st swapped the EA-82 intake onto my EA-81 engine. Proper Subaru intake gaskets, and she was good to go...

So what do you guys think I should do?

check the little hoses around the intake and the hose on the pump to the heather

So what do you guys think I should do?

 

 

3 ways coolant gets into combustion chamber'

 

Carb/throttle body to intake gasket,

 

intake to head gasket(s)

 

head gasket(s).

 

Myself, I would get the afore mention gaskets, ( actually get a valve grind set, has everything you need), and just start pulling things off, starting with the carb, then intake, then heads. Blown gasket is fairly obvious when you get to it.

Well i did go ahead and buy the whole head gasket "set" from Fel-pro, the one that's got like 20 something gaskets in it.

 

The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that I'm comfortable with doing a head gasket on a Sub, with what all it entails and such with pulling the timing belts and re-timing it and all that sort of thing. And I don't want to start pulling stuff apart thinking I can do it and then not be able to finish it you know?

 

Am I making this a bigger deal than it really is?

replied to worng thread

Edited March 28, 200917 yr by Gloyale

Well i did go ahead and buy the whole head gasket "set" from Fel-pro, the one that's got like 20 something gaskets in it.

 

The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that I'm comfortable with doing a head gasket on a Sub, with what all it entails and such with pulling the timing belts and re-timing it and all that sort of thing. And I don't want to start pulling stuff apart thinking I can do it and then not be able to finish it you know?

 

Am I making this a bigger deal than it really is?

 

 

Totally understandable. It can be a bit overwhelming of a job the first time. Maybe someone on here that lives close to you would be able to assist you.

 

Plus, there's other items to consider replacing while you're into it that far.

Not saying you have to do these, but it's some to consider. Especially if you have no clue as to when they were done last.

T-belts, tensioners, and idler pulleys,

oil pump, (maybe just reseal it),

water pump,

front crank seal. (I'd do that one atleast)

 

The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that I'm comfortable with doing a head gasket on a Sub, with what all it entails and such with pulling the timing belts and re-timing it and all that sort of thing.

 

The timing belts are no mystery - if you read the descriptions found in various threads & procedures here. Having replaced I don't know how many timing belts in 20 years, I have never had to adjust the timing.

 

If I had to guess, from experience, I'd say intake to heads gaskets are most likely.

 

If you haven't done things at theat level, maybe set out to do just the intake to head gaskets. A good way to get to the point of feeling comfortable taking on a big job is to do a few smaller ones first.

 

BE careful removing the bolts. Old steel bolts in aluminum are often stuck. I don't know how to learn this, other than the hard way, but I can usually feel if a bolt is turning & sticky or if it is twisting off. Stickyness is just resistance / friction to turning. If you are feeling a bit of springyness, you are aproaching the yeild point where it will twist off. Working CCW then CW and repeating, even if it is only a few degrees will gradually loosen and go a little further each time. Use patience, not force.

 

I have had the best luck running the engine to normal operating temperature first. While everything is still hot, drain the coolant (be careful, as the coolant should be under pressure - unless the leaks are really bad..), and work at loostening the manifold to head bolts. Penatrating oil helps also.

 

Reassemble with anti seize - I have found that I have to go to the lighter end of the torque specs due to the lubrication qualities of the compound.

BE careful removing the bolts. Old steel bolts in aluminum are often stuck. I don't know how to learn this, other than the hard way, but I can usually feel if a bolt is turning & sticky or if it is twisting off. Stickyness is just resistance / friction to turning. If you are feeling a bit of springyness, you are aproaching the yeild point where it will twist off. Working CCW then CW and repeating, even if it is only a few degrees will gradually loosen and go a little further each time. Use patience, not force.

 

man i think learning that the hard way is a right of passage, i once had a 73 porsche 911T come into a shop i used to work at needed a new exhaust said "ok" every bolt came out nice and easy but that last one snap! ended up having to helicoil it, very unsatisfing doing that luckily it came back for a complete rebuild so we weilded the head up and retapped it.

 

as for the head gaskets, dont let it overwhelm you, that's when you start screwing up, just take it one bolt at time, taking note of where everything went, how it came apart. once you get down to block clean and replace and reasemble just as it came apart and dont worry time is cake, plenty of post on it. i even have a print out on timeing from "All Tech" very descriptive, if you'd like me to scan and post it for you.

I had a similar issue. After replacing the head gaskets and the intake gaskets I was still shooting coolant out of the exhaust. It turned out to be the carb base gasket.

Now having read Bob's post there, I feel the need to mention that I can smell fuel from inside the car on startup. I hadn't realized that the two problems were possibly related, so I didn't mention it earlier.