Signs of a crapped out or crapping out head gasket?

[RS12Turbo]

Just curious what the tale tale signs of a blown or going head gasket are?

My engine pulls strong, and idles perfect. No over cooling or over heating. Spark plugs looked good about 300 miles ago. Compression was 160 on all 4 about 300 miles ago. No visual oil in the coolant, and no visual coolant on the dipstick.

The reason why I am questioning is because I keep smelling coolant while driving coming through the air vents. I checked the passenger side floor, and there are no signs of a leaky heater core. No coolant puddles on the garage floor either. I'm thinking the coolant smell might be coming from the valve cover breather vapors, and then getting sucked through the air vents........sound possible? Also I had to top off the coolant overflow bottle a few hundred miles after I installed the motor, but I figure I might just had air bubbles in the system after filling the radiator, and it needed topping off from that. Also this morning there was a fresh green oily spot on the floor. I've been cleaning the floor with straight simple green, so the area is kinda green anyways.....so I'm hoping the oil spot just picked up some of the color. I guess I need to clean the floor off, so I can get a clean catch sample . Thanks for any help

[jdm_master_X]

coolant mixing with the oil and really inconsistent compression numbers.

[rico05]

CA is notorious for leaking coolant from the fun lines under the intake mani, the turbo coolant lines, and right at the oil cooler. Check your clamps. $5 says you just have an external leak. I get them seemingly monthly.

[r34 gtr]

yeah, mine seems to use coolant and it smells funny in a different way every time i drive it. its just part of the ca18 experience. i know my head gasket isnt blown because its absolutely indestructable. copper treated mls gasket ftw!! just ignore it. if you get coolant in your oil or the other way around, then i might worry.

[RS12Turbo]

yeah, mine seems to use coolant and it smells funny in a different way every time i drive it. its just part of the ca18 experience.

Hmmm, I dunno about that........if it keeps getting low on coolant and not leaking externally anywhere.....doesn't that mean it's being burned off somewhere, or leaking internally?

So if the head gasket is on it's way out......will this always show low or unequal compression numbers? Does that always hold true?

[r34 gtr]

if nothing is leaking, and nothing is mixing i would not worry about it.

[float_6969]

Hmmm, I dunno about that........if it keeps getting low on coolant and not leaking externally anywhere.....doesn't that mean it's being burned off somewhere, or leaking internally?

So if the head gasket is on it's way out......will this always show low or unequal compression numbers? Does that always hold true?

no

[RS12Turbo]

no

No on which.......1st or 2nd question?

[rico05]

Get the car to NOT (normal operating temperature), or until you smell the coolant. Now, see if it is comming from the tailpipe (with a white cloud) or if the smell is localized to the engine compartment. If it is under the hood, there is an external leak. If it is from the exhaust, you are burning it.

I actually popped a hose last night being a jackoff. My rear tires are BALD, and I kinda romped it to 8K+ for all of first then shifted to second and took it back beyond 8k and took one out. LOL. No biggie. These motors are so damn tough (knock on wood)!

[RS12Turbo]

No leaks that I can find in the engine bay........no drips making it to the ground. The coolant smell I can only smell when I pop the hood after driving, and when driving with the vent on, set anywhere in the red heater section. No white smoke from the tail pipe, but a little bit of blue after it idles for like 20 minutes which is I think bad seals in the t25g since it did the same thing when it was on my ca18et

[r34 gtr]

sounds peachy to me. go have a few drinks and forget it happened. the CA tends to fix itself too, so you might get lucky.

[RS12Turbo]

Haha......yeah, I know I'm being over paranoid.....especially after my remaned ca18et that I dumped money into only made it to 12k miles before I bent a rod. What a pos and well learned lesson there

[boost_boy]

You guys are all dumb-@sses . Just kidding guys, seriously, your coolant smell is possibly coming from a slowly failing heater core. Engine coolant doesn't hide very well in the engine bay and especially leaking into your combustion chambers, however, it can easily get ghost under you dash while leaking into your carpet. Check it out because that's usually where the coolant smell comes from especially through the vents.

Dee

[RS12Turbo]

Thats what I originally thought, but so far the carpet is dry.That did happen on my old 810 years ago......and it was a huge mess

[float_6969]

I'll bet it's the heater core. I smelled coolant in my car for WEEKS before the core finally started leaking bad enough to get coolant into the interior. I kept scouring the engine compartment trying to find a leaking hose, but it was the core the hole time.

Be prepared though, the only way to do it on the S13 is to remove the dash and the entire HVAC crap. Once you actually get to heater core, it's very easy to get out, just a little clip holding it.

Good luck!