Signs of Blown Head Gasket

[jeffjbar]

What are some signs to look for to know if you have a bad head gasket. I know some of the obvious, coolant loss, coolant in oil, etc. But I am wondering if there is anything to look for on a routine basis to see signs of a small problem, before it turns into a big one.

[instarx]

White smoke when engine is cold (water in cylinder causing incomplete combustion)
Coolant smell in cold exhaust
Engine sometimes "binds" when starting (hydrolock in cylinder)
Exhaust bubbles in coolant tank when engine is running (cylinder blow-by into coolant system)
White water blobs on dipstick (small water leak into oil)
Oil level rises (big water leak into in oil)
Coolant pressure bleeds off overnight (leaks out through blown gasket)
Coolant running onto ground when engine is hot (blown out of coolant tank)
Loss of fuel economy, rough running, vibration, noisy (cylinder compression being lost)

Not all of these happen all the time, but all can be symptoms of a blown head gasket. Personally, my blown head gsket eventually caused 1,2,3,4,7,8,9. but started with 1 and 3.

[midniteplowboyy]

Mainly check your coolant level, if always at the same level, your probably good to go, you could have slight(very slight) compression leak and it might not blow any water out, as mentioned above check for bubbles idling, but if your seeing bubbles your probably already blowing water out the overflow.

Also make sure your low coolant light works, its your friend, my 93 did not work, now I'm paying for it.

You dont know where a good place to buy replacement heads do you, mines cracked?

[midniteplowboyy]

If yours holds true to two of mine, mileage wise you have about 150k left, time wise between now and the next five years.

Both of mine had around 200k on them when they went, my 94 has 192k so will see if that holds true for the third, but someone might have already replaced them before me, my 93 blew about a month ago right at 200k, 199,6??miles showing(almost made it,lol. My 92 blew prolly 5-6 years ago.

[irelandd]

Send your oil to blackstone labs. The will be able to detect small amounts of sodium and potassium easily and compare it to other 6.5 engines.