Overheating & Head Gasket (confirmed head gasket)

[jakey]

UPDATE: 18/09/13:

Mechanic had radiator tested and deemed it '35%' blocked - so this sounds like probable cause - not sure what caused it though

Will pick it up tonight and 'suck it and see' - fingers are still crossed!

[jakey]

UPDATE 20/09/13:

Took car for a good run last night - now have slightly different findings. The temperatuers are still going up to 3/4 (or a wee bit more than that), but the car seems to be able to cool it back down more effectively than before. I put this down the the radiator being fixed.

So from what I can tell, the issue itself still remains but the car is now better at fixing itself?

I cry now.

[chris12]

Sorry to hear about both your cars. I'm not very mechanically minded, but I have had overheating problems in my old Falcon and it took months to diagnose. It's such a drag and really annoying.

Reading this thread and wanting to purchase a 3.0 has made me slightly nervous, mainly due to the massive costs involved in getting it all fixed.

[Dropz]

If the radiator was blocked chances are high that the heater core is too.

[jakey]

Booked in for Wednesday we're going to bypass the heater core and see if that tells any signs. Is there anything else worth suggesting to Ross? I suppose he's meant to be the expert but he just can't seem to put he's finger on this one....

Cheers

[Dropz]

Heating issues like this I'd be looking at; cooling fans both cycle correctly, thermostat fitted correctly, leaks obviously, rad cap, radiator and heater core, temp sensor failing, or heads.

[jakey]

cooling fans both cycle correctly, - tune confirms these come on early
thermostat fitted correctly, - Has been replaced
leaks obviously, - Pressure test passed
rad cap, - replaced with new one
radiator and heater core, - radiator found to be 35% blocked, cleansed/flushed (has improved the issue) - Heater Core still remains!!
temp sensor failing, - unlikely ?
or heads. -praying it is not

[KiDo_Tuning]

UPDATE: 18/09/13:

Mechanic had radiator tested and deemed it '35%' blocked - so this sounds like probable cause - not sure what caused it though

Will pick it up tonight and 'suck it and see' - fingers are still crossed!

That was my suspicion, blocked radiator and a dodgey thermostat which combined may have caused engine damage. However, as much as I hate to use these product, it might be worth suggesting a coolant sealant product. It is a bandaid fix atleast to give you time to save money for a proper fix. Be aware that once the coolant is drained, the radiato core, heater core and engine need to be properly flushed with water before the heads come off to ensure the chemiweld does not cause any blockages once it dries while the heads are off and then blocks stuff once the heads are fixed and coolant is flowing again.

There is a product called Chemiweld but the the best one I have seen is the Holden Ecotec V6 commodore Water Pump Pellets sold by Holden. Crush up 3 pellets and add to the cooling system and give yourself a year or so of motoring.

[jakey]

UPDATE: 18/09/13:

Mechanic had radiator tested and deemed it '35%' blocked - so this sounds like probable cause - not sure what caused it though

Will pick it up tonight and 'suck it and see' - fingers are still crossed!

That was my suspicion, blocked radiator and a dodgey thermostat which combined may have caused engine damage. However, as much as I hate to use these product, it might be worth suggesting a coolant sealant product. It is a bandaid fix atleast to give you time to save money for a proper fix. Be aware that once the coolant is drained, the radiato core, heater core and engine need to be properly flushed with water before the heads come off to ensure the chemiweld does not cause any blockages once it dries while the heads are off and then blocks stuff once the heads are fixed and coolant is flowing again.

There is a product called Chemiweld but the the best one I have seen is the Holden Ecotec V6 commodore Water Pump Pellets sold by Holden. Crush up 3 pellets and add to the cooling system and give yourself a year or so of motoring.

I really want to avoid that as much as possible. If I end up going down that path it will be followed closely by a trade-in -Hopefully I don't have to do it.

[Monkey]

The head gasket thing is a huge PITA. Very few get to experience it tho

Ross @ Cromwood (my mechanic) said he's never seen one of my cars do a head gasket, and he does a lot of Subarus..

On the other hand, they do around one 4cyl 2.5L Subaru HG per week

[Tradewind]

UPDATE: 18/09/13:

Mechanic had radiator tested and deemed it '35%' blocked - so this sounds like probable cause - not sure what caused it though

Will pick it up tonight and 'suck it and see' - fingers are still crossed!

That was my suspicion, blocked radiator and a dodgey thermostat which combined may have caused engine damage. However, as much as I hate to use these product, it might be worth suggesting a coolant sealant product. It is a bandaid fix atleast to give you time to save money for a proper fix. Be aware that once the coolant is drained, the radiato core, heater core and engine need to be properly flushed with water before the heads come off to ensure the chemiweld does not cause any blockages once it dries while the heads are off and then blocks stuff once the heads are fixed and coolant is flowing again.

There is a product called Chemiweld but the the best one I have seen is the Holden Ecotec V6 commodore Water Pump Pellets sold by Holden. Crush up 3 pellets and add to the cooling system and give yourself a year or so of motoring.

I really want to avoid that as much as possible. If I end up going down that path it will be followed closely by a trade-in -Hopefully I don't have to do it.

Updates Jakey??

[Tradewind]

UPDATE: 18/09/13:

Mechanic had radiator tested and deemed it '35%' blocked - so this sounds like probable cause - not sure what caused it though

Will pick it up tonight and 'suck it and see' - fingers are still crossed!

That was my suspicion, blocked radiator and a dodgey thermostat which combined may have caused engine damage. However, as much as I hate to use these product, it might be worth suggesting a coolant sealant product. It is a bandaid fix atleast to give you time to save money for a proper fix. Be aware that once the coolant is drained, the radiato core, heater core and engine need to be properly flushed with water before the heads come off to ensure the chemiweld does not cause any blockages once it dries while the heads are off and then blocks stuff once the heads are fixed and coolant is flowing again.

There is a product called Chemiweld but the the best one I have seen is the Holden Ecotec V6 commodore Water Pump Pellets sold by Holden. Crush up 3 pellets and add to the cooling system and give yourself a year or so of motoring.

Nice tips there, never heard of the water pump pellets before in my life!

[KiDo_Tuning]

Nice tips there, never heard of the water pump pellets before in my life!

Fitted from the factory and is what gives that brown muddy residue when the V6 water pump is on its way out. Water pump bearing would start to let go, would build up a harmonic vibration and leak a little which would leak the mud out

[jakey]

No Major Updates - waiting for back pocket to recover, my estimation is that car will go back to Ross next week.

I noticed that in the past few days that it was getting hotter quicker - part of me related it to warmer weather (yeah right, this is Melbourne).
Yesterday I noticed that the overflow bottle was really low so I filled it up and it was really low again today, so I filled up the radiator completely and also the overflow. Then tonight I had no issues with over heating.

So now I am curious as to weather there is some sort of leak and then lack of coolant in system is partially causing my woes - NO can't be because issue to start with was too much coolant in over-flow - not lack of!

Something else I noticed whilst filling up radiator was 'steam' from around the top of the radiator but not the cap, slightly below it (perhaps where the 'top' meets the fins, perhaps it was just some water spillage on something hot.. Thought I was on to something and then the steam disappeared - Could this be something tell-tale!!!???

Long story short - I think if it WAS the head gasket I would be having more trouble than I am.

Oh and seems my passenger central locking actuator has died. Fantastic

[Trinedy]

Hi everyone

I an exhibiting exactly the same symptoms as you all here and have finally come to the sad conclusion that im up for a head gasket that i really cant afford!!

Couple of points to note.

1: Radiator has been replaced - they said it was the radiator on the plus side the radiator is bigger that's been installed - so i have been told
2: thermostat has been replaced - TWICE!!
3: Coolant flushed twice

Short trips car gets to 50% temp and runs fine. Longer trips and then stopping for traffic/lights - goes up to 75% take off down the road and back down she goes to 50% - sometimes lower!!
Took it to my local mechanic who did a combustion gas test - 3 times to be sure and each time the liquid turned from blue to green - indicating a blown head gasket.

Before he starts ripping the heads off are there any other tests i should ask him to do to give me assurance that it is a HG? and also how will he determine if it's the passenger side or the drivers side? should i do both?

Cheers

PS: anyone want to buy a Black Liberty Wagon with a slightly blown HG LOL only 114,000 kms makes me want to cry