Please help is it head gasket ??

[Goundry]

I have a 14 plate 2.2… anyways I noticed the header tank had been going up and down and under pressure I couldn’t remove the cap at one point… when the caps off and vans ticking over there’s loads of bubbles been released.. the vans using no coolant and no oil.. I’ve done a sniff test and the blue liquid didn’t change colour…. There was a fair bit of sludge on the coolant cap I wiped it off a few weeks ago and it’s not as bad now… aww and the vans never over headed.. it does smoke on a cold start but I’ve had the dpf removed and it’s got 125k on the clock so surely this is expected?? The vans never runs loverly but obviously somethings going on… any help would be greatly appreciated.

[metalworker0]

ive just done a search of ebay

and the sniff test fluid for diesel is RED the sniff test for petrol is BLUE.

So you need to do the sniff test again with the correct fluid.

In the mean time a cheap test is a rubber glove secured to the header tank in place of the normal cap

on a cold engine (first run of the day) it should not inflate strait away.

that should keep you busy ..for the next few days.
come back and tell us the results

all the best.mark

[Goundry]

Appreciate the response mate, I’ve double checked on the add and it stats it’s for lpg diesel and petrol. I’ve watch a fair few videos on yt aswell and they all have blue liquid, I’ll order a red kit just to be sure.

[Goundry]

Just done the glove test the glove didn’t blow up.

[metalworker0]

well the header tank level does go up and down with different temperatures .. that's why its called an expansion tank.

The next thing to do is to bypass the EGR cooler ....usually the a leak from this would go down the exhaust or intro the combustion chamber ...but with the expansion tank pressure cap removed, then it may bubble

So to rule it out ..connect together the pipes that feed the egr.

if bubbles stop ... you know its that .

Rather than go into detail over and over, with every which and what or if, I wrote this a while back ..
hope it helps - note water escaping from somewhere will possibly cause air in the system, which will bleed out.
Note head gaskets are funny things when they go ..they can start off slowly and go on for a year or more or fail strait away spectacularly ..the slow ones can be tricky to diagnose and keep you guessing for months as to what it is.

Main pointers are
Water in the oil.. turns it mucky brown colour on old oil ..mustard colour on new oil
Oil in the header tank - can also be caused by oil cooler failure
Lots of what looks like mayonnaise when you take the oil filler cap off .
hissing and gurgling sounds


well you need few tools to check it properly

But first bypass the EGR cooler by connecting together the coolers inlet and outlet hoses.



Tool 1
A coolant system pressure tester,

If when pumped up with a the coolant system pressure tester, if it then t looses pressure ..meaning with test started at 15 psi and goes to zero within say one min ..then there is an internal leak somewhere ..that's if if you cannot see external ones.

Possible places for hidden leaks are
1. Head gasket --- can go strait into combustion chamber and out the exhaust or into engine oil , engine oil will take on a different colour from milky white to dark mustard brown... and there will be cream mayonnaise in the rocker cover oil filler area.
2. EGR cooler
3. Oil cooler - usually leaks oil into the coolant though, but pipes to it may leak.
4. Heater core - right inside the dash ..will be noticed by wet carpets ..steamed up windows or sweet smell of antifreeze inside car.
5. Water pump weep hole
6. Coreplug rotted, hidden behind the bell housing - my last car had this ..note i don't know if a transit has such a core plug hidden away. (just checked it does not ..but check other core plugs)

if the cooling system pressure tester does not loose pressure..then there is no leak...on the static test ..and the vans own pressure cap should be checked.

if that's ok ..move onto engine running pressure test with cold engine.

other notes ..a slow weep of coolant can often be seen as a build of crusty salts at the leak point, often the same colour as the antifreeze.

Tool 2. - a compression tester

This compression tester has many diagnostic uses:

Diagnose a faulty head gasket blowing between cylinders

Tool 3 a sniff tester

or buy one of those coolant combustion gasses tester kits

INSTRUCTIONS from description


100ml Bottle ( 50ml for Tests + 50ml Free for Flushing )

- easy, fast and inexpensive way of detecting combustion leaks in cars and motorbikes.

- works with PETROL/DIESEL/LPG engines (blue fluid for PETROL, red fluid for DIESEL)

- compatible with radiators and expansion tanks

- rubber bung (bottom diameter: 31mm , 45mm - top diameter)

HOW DOES IT WORK?

When combustion leak is present, a small amount of combustion gas goes into the cooling system which can be easily detected by this simple device. In presence of these gases, the test fluid will change colour to yellow.

TEST RESULT: yes i know this test uses the blue fluid ...but that was before i knew about the red stuff

If the test fluid changes the colour to:

- YELLOW, the combustion leak is present.

- STAYS BLUE, combustion leak IS NOT PRESENT during the test.

- GREEN , unclear, combustion leak could be present (50/50)

HOW TO PERFORM THE TEST:

(Before each use, flush the tester with fresh fluid )

1. Unscrew the coolant cap to release the pressure but leave it on. To avoid splashes and burns during the task, make sure the engine is cold!

2. Start the engine and leave it on for a few minutes to warm it up. (the coolant must be warm and circulating)

3. Fill the tester with supplied test fluid (2ml per test)

4. Insert the tester into the radiator's or expansion's tank inlet and observe bubbles in the chambers. You can increase the number of bubbles by accelerating the engine. Be aware that the tester is without a filter; accelerating could induce coolant droplets or fog into the device and falsify the test result. In this case, the test fluid will stay blue.

5. Don't perform the test for longer than 5 minutes. Heat is harmful to test fluid and can change the colour to green.

NOTE: Dispose of the used test fluid (even if not changed the colour), never mix it with a fresh one as it could affect the sensitivity of the whole batch.

There are other things you can spend money on ..or just wait until, one day it will fail "good style" that failure date may be days , months or years away, but if it has it in the oil ..Head gasket must be changed, if you have the faulty block, then that must be changed.

Note the above test can also be done quickly at an mot test station or garage with the emissions tester probe .

There is also a very rough test that costs nothing

Tool 4 . The glove test
Put a rubber glove in the header tank instead of pressure cap ..if it inflates in seconds on a cold engine its the head gasket.


all the best.mark

[Goundry]

Thanks for all the help mark, bypassed the egr this morning and unfortunately the header is still bubbling… looks like a new. Head gasket gutted.

[metalworker0]

Well at 125,000, you have some thinking to do .that is ; .if you are going to replace the cam chain at the same time ..worth looking to see how much the tensioner is extended when you take the camchain cover off, they are usually good for 180,000.

OR, you could put some sealer in it and keep an eye on it, you may get another year out of it ..then you may not, that's how fickle they can be. My old triumph stag limped in this mode for 4 years- lol

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280632033402?

As regards tests ....You say: not using coolant, if it was me, even with the bubbling i would still be wandering and holding out for something more definite, I've done it a couple of times, right up to the point where it goes completely. but that's me in the past experiencing this ..and is why i'm able to give answers ion this subject.
If you decide to drive it until that point, you need AA or RAC cover with the relay option .
but that would be you, repeating my guinea pig phase.

in old days when engines didn't have torque to yield bolts, people would try loosening head bolts and re-torqueing ..i don't know how that would work out on something modern

all the best.mark

[Goundry]

Really really appreciate your advice mark youv been 1000 time more helpful then the two garages I visited today… the two garages they couldn’t off been more chauk and cheese one was immaculate the other was more your typical backstreet garage all though he is a transit specialist and had tools everywhere he comes with great recommendation from people I know.. he was showing me engines he’s on fitting headgaskets and they was just lay in the middles of the shop, but he knows his stuff… anyways I mentioned the head sealer again I’ve heard people get a lot of time out of this but they was both against it saying it clogs everything up ie heater matrix etc etc… I’m honestly lost at this point the van isn’t a work van it’s a family van crew cab so it’s not abused every day I’m lucky if it do 5k a year init..

I still can’t believe it’s gone with it not over heating etc i towed our caravan 250 miles a few weeks ago to our knew site and it didn’t flacker then..