what would a blown head gasket sound like??

skydivr7673

Registered User
My 95 5-speed just recently started sounding like I have an exhaust leak near the pass. side manifold....and tonight, when I shut the car off, I heard a hissing noise coming from the area of the engine that is near the front passenger side wheel/hub. This noise, I found, was a leak in the coolant system. It was losing pressure and spraying some coolant around. The coolant was sprayed onto the splash guard behind the tire and also on the sway bar, etc etc. I am not sure if there is any hose or coolant line that is in this area--anyone know?

I do believe that it has an exhaust leak, because the car is lowered, and it did drag the underside pretty hard the other day when leaving a steeper driveway. I have not yet had the chance to get under the car, but hopefully I will get under it tomorrow. At last check, I found no coolant in my oil, and the car starts fine, runs normally, and accellerates normally. The first indication I had of a coolant issue was when the low coolant light came on today. The temp has never gotten into the red on this car as long as I have owned it. Any thoughts?
 
The begining stages of HG failure you should notice that your overflow will have excessive coolent in it when it is still cool, you could also see air bubbles as well. Later stages car will be running like crap and you should see white "smoke" steam coming out the tail pipes. At this point you need to drain the remaining coolent, drain the oil & replace HG's.
 
ok, I got a chance to take a look this morning. There is definitely a coolant leak--on the passenger side. If you were to draw a line between the wheel hubs up front, the coolant is dripping down from a spot a little behind that line, on the passenger side. I have not yet gotten under the car.

I was told that a blown head gasket will cause air bubbles to appear in the radiator as soon as the engine is running. So I topped off the coolant, left the cap off, and started the engine. No bubbles came up. I am not familiar with the coolant system, so I do not know what is in that area of the engine. I do know that the water pump is working, because more coolant comes out when the engine is revved than at idle. The last time I came across something like this, it was with my Ranger 4x4 and it turned out to be the timing cover gasket. But I dont know how the 3.0L V6 compares to the 3.8 SC....

EDIT--I only asked about the hg issue because the car is beginning to run a bit rougher, but the more I think about it, it is probably just time for new plugs and wires...at least I hope that's it...
 
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