Heater hose/waterfall sound

[Chris R]

I would have put this in my other thread, but I felt it was a bit more urgent.

I've been hearing the waterfall sound behind my dash for awhile now. But there's a coolant leak behind the dash that puts water into the floorboard, it soaks it. It's a big deal, but it won't hurt the engine as long as I pay attention to the coolant level. The engine has never given me any problems.

But last night I got a wiff of my exhaust, and it smelled pretty sweet.

So would that leak affect my exhaust at all? Or are these just two problems?

I'm planning to try and do some tests if it's a BHG, but unfortunately the closest town with an autoparts store is about 30 miles away. With a possibly BHG, I don't feel comfortable driving it that far for fear of blowing the gasket and destorying the motor.

I did not notice any smoke, but it was take. I'll take a better look today.

The could also been running a tad bit rich.

 

[JesseH]

the water on the floorboard is a leaking heater core, and that can be your "waterfall" sound right there, if its not too cold in your area you can bypass the heater core....the good part is you wont have coolant taking its toll on your interior and everything else behind your dash, the bad part is you wouldnt have heat. Although, you could just do it the right way and replace the heater core

Before doing that though check your coolant hoses that go through the firewall to the heater core, if they are leaking they can squirt coolant though the firewall and drip down. that is an easy fix.

As for the smell in your exhaust, it might not be BHG, first check your oil and see if it looks like a "milkshake" or has any contaminants in it, check your coolant too. The best possible thing to do would be get a compresson tester and that will help answer your problem pretty easily.

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

Could just be coolant dripping on the exhaust and blowing back. Take a look on the passenger side under neath the car and see if you can tell if it is leaking down on the pipes. You might want to check the rubber cap under the #6 exhaust, it has a habit of getting dried out and leaking at first then bursting.

If you can get ahold of a compression tester wouldn't hurt to check it if it's not leaking on the exhaust. But first I'd bypass the heater core and see if it's leaking anywere else.

 

[Chris R]

I checked the oil and there wasn't anything unusual, looks like just castrol syntec should.

I'll grab a compression test kit and see if that helps. We also plan on pulling out one of the spark plugs and seeing if that shows anything.

And if nothing shows up with either of those, I'll probably just bypass the heater core (won't be a winter car anyways) any see what that does.

Thanks guys. I'll keep you updated.

 

[Nick M]

You have a coolant leak. The sound is air in the system. Fix the leak.

 

[Chris R]

You have a coolant leak. The sound is air in the system. Fix the leak.

My dad smelled the exhaust and said that it smelled more like a car running really rich. So in the next couple days I'm going to grab a new oxygen sensor and see where that gets me.

I think you guys are right on the leak being the only problem here. My oil is clean as hell. But, just in case, what could I look for on the spark plugs to indicate that it's burning coolant?

 

[JesseH]

My dad smelled the exhaust and said that it smelled more like a car running really rich. So in the next couple days I'm going to grab a new oxygen sensor and see where that gets me.

I think you guys are right on the leak being the only problem here. My oil is clean as hell. But, just in case, what could I look for on the spark plugs to indicate that it's burning coolant?

the only real for sure answer your going to get is if you do a compresson test, its easy to do and even the 25$ actron one will give you a ball park range of what your in.

 

[supraman508]

I would have put this in my other thread, but I felt it was a bit more urgent.

I've been hearing the waterfall sound behind my dash for awhile now. But there's a coolant leak behind the dash that puts water into the floorboard, it soaks it. It's a big deal, but it won't hurt the engine as long as I pay attention to the coolant level. The engine has never given me any problems.

But last night I got a wiff of my exhaust, and it smelled pretty sweet.

So would that leak affect my exhaust at all? Or are these just two problems?

I'm planning to try and do some tests if it's a BHG, but unfortunately the closest town with an autoparts store is about 30 miles away. With a possibly BHG, I don't feel comfortable driving it that far for fear of blowing the gasket and destorying the motor.

I did not notice any smoke, but it was take. I'll take a better look today.

The could also been running a tad bit rich.

::bhg::brother.I had the same simptom.

 

[JesseH]

::bhg::brother.I had the same simptom.

the waterfall sound doesnt always mean BHG....

 

[Jervis Mcstabby]

I have a slight waterfall ever now and again and just did a compression test and the results were:
1.120
2.150
3.150
4.150
5.150
6.160

I have an MHG and no exhaust smoke, so I'm sure it's not BHG, but I still can't figure out were the water is going to and the air is coming from (checked all the hoses in the bay).

 

[Frank Rizzo]

An engine can burn/use coolant internally without being able to see it in the crankcase without a UOA or without ever emitting smoke from the tailpipe.

An engine can have a blown head gasket and still pass a cylinder compression test.

You want peace of mind? Do a block test.

 

[Chris R]

An engine can burn/use coolant internally without being able to see it in the crankcase without a UOA or without ever emitting smoke from the tailpipe.

An engine can have a blown head gasket and still pass a cylinder compression test.

You want peace of mind? Do a block test.

Alright. What's do I want to ask for at the auto parts store?

Just a block test?

 

[JesseH]

Alright. What's do I want to ask for at the auto parts store?

Just a block test?

well by that he means a leakdown tester...they are not too cheap if you want to do that your best bet would be try to find a buddy who has one.....but if you do a comp. test and you get straight numbers across the board chances are you are fine

 

[Chris R]

I doubt anyone around here would have one. And I don't think it's worth it going up to the Toyota dealership, they're a rip off. (they quoted me $1800 for replacing a headgasket, wtf?)

What about hydrocarbon testers? Are those the ones that test your coolant?