noticed block pitted while doing head gasket change?

[gtsfirefighter]

Yes it is actually good advice, if coolant is being instantly pumped out when the engine is first started cold its a BHG.

If it was that bad I don't think he would've made it around the block, much less to work, unless he works next to his house. One of my three previous experiences with bhg would not allow me to drive 1/2 of a mile down the road before maxing out the temp gauge, yet at idle with the cap off, it did not spew coolant everywhere. Again, I was probably just lucky.

It is VERY obvious to be a BHG when coolant its literally pumping its self out of the rad at a progressive rate.

Also he drove the car to work the other day and parked it that night and a bunch of the coolant leaked out of the overflow tube any ideas if hes still having head gasket problems or if he just has a bunch of air in the system?

Apparently it was NOT very obvious. Otherwise, I don't think this thread would exist.

 

[enjoi.this]

Apparently it was NOT very obvious. Otherwise, I don't think this thread would exist.

If its not very obvious, can you give us another logical reason for coolant to be pushed from the radiator right at start up?

suprafan1993 just do a leak down test then you will know 100% if its the hg, too bad your bro would have to get rid of his car

 

[gtsfirefighter]

Update: I gave my brother a couple of the tips you guys suggested and he tried taking the cap off the radiator and letting it run and it did start to over flow.

Nowhere does he state coolant shot out "instantly" when it started. So, based on what the OP has stated, he took the cap off, let it run, and coolant came spilling out. As coolant heats up it expands and takes the path of least resistance.

UPDATE UPDATE!: I just received a phone call from him again and he said that after about 5 minutes the coolant stopped spilling over. Is this a good sign or is there just not enough coolant to spill over now he said he is still able to see the coolant in the radiator.

Most likely the thermostat opened up, but this is all third party info. Just because the radiator was full doesn't mean the system was. There may have been trapped air from any number of reasons.

If its not very obvious, can you give us another logical reason for coolant to be pushed from the radiator right at start up?

OP has never said that it did. Had he it would be different. I've stated your advice was not good strictly on what the op has stated. But a list of possible logical reasons? Personally I have never seen a compression leak so bad it pushed coolant out of the radiator "right at start up". But a cracked head, block, no torque on the head, forgotten head gasket ( I have seen that on a 350 V8 back in auto mechanics class in high school 20+ years ago, still didn't push water out of the radiator, just squirted out the sides and filled up the crankcase :biglaugh: ).

Suprafan, compression and/or leakdown test. If it's that bad you'll know then.
Otherwise, I'm done. Good luck :icon_bigg

 

[suprafan1993]

Well good news for now my brothers buddy had some kinda test where you add dye to something to detect the presence of exhaust gas in the coolant and it didn't change color. So as of now hes in the clear. He brought the car over and i took the cap off started it up and nothing spilled over. We let it run for about 25 mins there were a couple of air bubbles but not a bunch. So the next day he took it to his buddies to double check with that test and it showed up negative so i guess he got lucky as well blue jay.

 

[rayall01]

Well good news for now my brothers buddy had some kinda test where you add dye to something to detect the presence of exhaust gas in the coolant and it didn't change color. So as of now hes in the clear. He brought the car over and i took the cap off started it up and nothing spilled over. We let it run for about 25 mins there were a couple of air bubbles but not a bunch. So the next day he took it to his buddies to double check with that test and it showed up negative so i guess he got lucky as well blue jay.

Round and round we go. It's back to burping it!