Mod Details

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Symptoms

Do you have oil in your coolant? Coolant in your oil? Losing coolant? Air locks in the coolant system? Car running like a piece of shit?

Good news, your head gasket might be screwed.

The head gasket sits between the main block and the head. The main block holds the pistons. The head holds the valves.

If you have run low on coolant and over heated the engine, the head can warp and reduce the clamping force on the gasket. The compression in the cylinders can push the gasket out of position and damage it. The oil pressure and coolant pressure can also push the gasket out of position but it’s unlikely. If the head is warped, the coolant and oil channels can pour into each other or into the engine.

Checking The Head Gasket

The obvious thing to do would be to dismantle the engine, take the head off, check it’s flat with a straight edge and visually check the gasket for damage, missing parts or obvious traces of contamination. That’s really long winded though and the above symptoms don’t necessarily mean your head gasket has failed.

Quick Checking The Head Gasket

This is another reason why science is awesome. We are going to use a colour changing liquid.