91 V6 Foaming Coolant BHG?

[Jmak170]

My ES250's with the V6 2VZ-FE temp gage doesn't work and my fans stay on constantly but i have not driven the car since ive gotten it two weeks ago so last night i took the cap off the radiator to see if the fluid was cycling and it sure was cycling but it was foaming white and it wouldn't go away the oil doesn't look milky and I pulled the vavle cover no white build up. So my question is has the head gasket blown or am i just getting exhaust in the coolant?

Thanks for your help

[white90dx]

If you are getting bubbles/exhaust in the coolant, you have a blown headgasket. When you have bubbles in the coolant, you can also often have coolant sucked into the cylinders leading to a misfire, etc.

It can leak in different places, so there are various possible symptoms. You don't always get coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant or bubbles in the coolant or coolant or oil leaking externally, but they are all possibilities.

-Charlie

[Jimnist]

I have a BHG too and didn't realise it until a couple of days ago when i took the rad cap off and started it. I;ve always had a few symptoms - rough idle, steam/sometimes drips of water from exhaust and coolant disappearing with no external leaks. I just never put the two together xD

I;ve been driving the car like this for about a year now lol.

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by Jimnist

I have a BHG too and didn't realise it until a couple of days ago when i took the rad cap off and started it. I;ve always had a few symptoms - rough idle, steam/sometimes drips of water from exhaust and coolant disappearing with no external leaks. I just never put the two together xD

I;ve been driving the car like this for about a year now lol.

Drips of water out the exhaust is normal and expected (required by the combustion process, actually...).

If it smells sweet, then its coolant.

-Charlie

[Jimnist]

Originally Posted by white90dx

Drips of water out the exhaust is normal and expected (required by the combustion process, actually...).

If it smells sweet, then its coolant.

-Charlie

I guess it smells a bit sweet as it doesn't smell like normal exhaust. Definitely have a BHG since you mentioned the misfire when coolant gets sucked into the cylinder. That 'rough idle' i sometimes get is the coolant going in(and misfiring, because when it happens, i see a fair amount of water dripping from the exhaust. When i idles smooth, there's no water after it's warmed up.

And sorry Jmak for sort of hijacking your thread. If you have a compression tester handy, check each cylinder. That way, you can find out which bank has the blown head gasket. Although a leak-down test would be better, but you'll most probably have to take it to a shop for that.

[Jmak170]

Originally Posted by Jimnist

I guess it smells a bit sweet as it doesn't smell like normal exhaust. Definitely have a BHG since you mentioned the misfire when coolant gets sucked into the cylinder. That 'rough idle' i sometimes get is the coolant going in(and misfiring, because when it happens, i see a fair amount of water dripping from the exhaust. When i idles smooth, there's no water after it's warmed up.

And sorry Jmak for sort of hijacking your thread. If you have a compression tester handy, check each cylinder. That way, you can find out which bank has the blown head gasket. Although a leak-down test would be better, but you'll most probably have to take it to a shop for that.

Its all good Jimnist the more info the better...I started pulling the engine apart today to replace both Head Gaskets for piece of mind ill keep you all posted on my progress thanks again for all of your help fellas!

[Jimnist]

So what's it like working on the rear bank of the 2VZ? The 3VZ looks like a nightmare :O

[Jmak170]

Originally Posted by Jimnist

So what's it like working on the rear bank of the 2VZ? The 3VZ looks like a nightmare :O

working on the back bank has proven to be a pain thus far i am debating on weather or not to just relpace the whole engine with a lower mileage one it seems it might just be easier at least to me...