Has my head gasket gone
 

Car has been running rough and i have changed other components in my uest to fix it, but im thinking head gasket. At the moment car is idling fine.

There is alot of water coming out the exhaust, like ALOT, steam aswell if i rev it.

Listening at the tailpipes i can hear alot of water slooshing about?

The water level in the coolant reservoir has dropped right down low, even though i have topped it up. It doesnt seem to be loosing any more though, its just sitting right down low.

Things i have done recently to try fix the rough running:
fitted new coolant temp sensor
fitted new crank sensor

but now im thinking HG.

I have videos of the water and id like to upload them but i dont know how?

Heres a pic of what looks like the head gasket? What do you think?

Thanks

temp guage was reading low, hence i fitted a new coolant temp sensor, now it reads half way and is working fine. car does not overheat.

no visible oil in coolant or coolant in oil.

I'd be getting a "sniff test" done at a decent garage. Cheap and will tell you instantly.

Have you had any work done on the coolant system that might have induced an airlock?

He's removed the coolant temp sensor so it's probably airlocked.

Hi thanks for your replies. yes indeed, i fitted a new coolant temp sensor as the guage, sometimes, was not reading high enough and coupled with the rough running thought it would be prudent thingto do.

Car has 160,000 miles

So if i have airlocked it, what does this mean? can this explain why lots of water is coming out of the exhaust?

Thanks


Sorry im not that well versed with these cars/engines (its my girlfriends)

Lots of water will come out at initial cold start especially in this cold weather so I wouldn't worry about that.
its just condensation.

Basically, as you've removed the sensor. Air has gotten in. So you would've needed to bleed the coolant system of air. I found that with the header tank cap off that burping it is the best method. Basically keep squeezing the top radiator hose until your happy that there's no more air in the system. Just keep on eye on the expansion tank bottle for the next week, and see how it goes :)

Do the top and bottom radiator hoses and heater hoses get hot when the gauge is reading normal ? as it maybe a thermostat problem if they dont.
And you will get a lot of condensation/water vapor out of the tailpipe in this colder weather when the hot exhaust gas hits the cooler air outside.
Take it the car in question is a non turbo ?

No known way to effectively bleed the coolant system.
Follow my method for how to, and drain/start again.

thanks for your optimistic replies!

Yes non-turbo 2002 2.0 sport.

ok so yes minimal air will have entered the cooling system - put my finger in the hole whilst undoing the coolant temp sensor so coolant loss will have been at a minimum. I will run with what you are saying though. So, I'll remove rad cap and let car warm up then will keep squeezing top rad hose.

I will also check top and bottom rad hose and will get back to you.

car is now out of mot and tax so is on sorn and will not be driven much at all. if it is HG then car wont be going anywhere for a while.

Alcazar, for ref, might I ask where I find your how-to.

Thanks all.

What part of "there is no known effective way of bleeding the Impreza coolant system" have you NOT understood????

Drain it and use my method, (do a search), to refill.

I've been a mechanic for 10 years, I think I know what I'm talking about ;)...

Ah...right...the famed, "It worked on my RSTurbo, so why doesn't it/wouldn't it work on an Impreza?" argument.:cuckoo:

I've actually owned impreza's for all of my driving life and it works perfectly every time with no problems :)

Whatever.
If I had £1 for everyone who's tried it and ended up with HG failure, I'd be a rich man.

But hey...not your cars...keep on giving out your cr@p advice, YOU won't have to pay when it goes pear shaped for them, will you?

Haha! How is it "crap" advise?. I've said that I've found it the best method do bleed the subaru cooling system. Doesn't mean it's "crap advise". Come back to me when you've actually worked on a car... ;)

*advice

I think you're a little off the mark there mate, whilst I am sure your method works for you (and others), in my time I have met alot of people who seem to do it all differently, maybe even me? And how I do it works too.

Subaru manual states how to do it (and I do it differently to their method) but yes, there is a known method, suprisingly, produced by the very manufacturer of the cars we know and love :)
Only thing is, they don't mention how to remove any airlocks, lol

https://preview.ibb.co/cbS1pb/cooling_system_method.jpg

Exactly.
Once it's airlocked, they don't say how to get it bled because THERE IS NO KNOWN WAY.

If there was, the manual would state it.

Been around these since 1998, worked on cars since 1968.
But as I said, those who post cr@p advice don't have to pay for their mistakes.

Out of here.

He's very grumpy about this topic, but he is right. You can't burp an airlock on a Subaru by squeezing the top hose.

Whenever I've bled/refilled my imprezas or any other car with a throttle cable is to rev the engine with the throttle cable by hand as filling the header tank.
Obviously only get a short time with cap off from cold but works for me.
can watch all the little bubbles rise up.
I always try and park upwards as well,so engine is highest point.

We've gone off topic a bit here. All I've said was that it's worked for me every single time on my own cars and on customers cars.

We all have our own way of doing it.

Personally i fill it right up at the reservoir and give the bottom hose a good squeeze, then fill up again. Then I run the engine with the cap off until the fan kicks in with the heater on full topping up as I go.

Alcazar - I have tried searching the technical topics archive and googling your name plus how to bleed impreza etc etc but nothing comes up? Could i trouble you for a link for this how to please? Thanks

well i have let car warm up to fans coming on. its idling fine. top and bottom hose both hot, as are the 2 thinner pipes that go through the bulkhead.

The heaters in the car blow hot too.

the coolant in the overflow bottle is staying put on the low level, so all the extra water i added must have just gone into the cooling system? (even though not much came out).

The amount of water coming out the tailpipes is not as concerning today as it has been.

I am going to drive car around later (i live on a farm) and will see if any of the terrible symptoms arise again.

there's a link to Alcazars method in water temp guage fitting, two threads down from this one. If the coolant level is on the min level mark when the car is hot I would at least top up to max level mark to save it sucking bottle empty when cold.
Trev

Here we go in case it helps anybody:

"Yes, drain from the rad drain plug, or remove bottom hose. Set heaters in car to hot while it drains, leave them there.

Inspect rad for the core turning to dust, if it's bad, replace it, internet ones are fine.

Use a decent quality anti-freeze, as at a motor factor for one suitable for an alloy engine and having anti-corrosion added. Dilution is usually 50/50.

Replace plug or bottom hose!!!

Remove the rearmost pipe from the metal header tank on top of thengine, remove the cap from said tank. Jam a funnel down that hose and fill SLOWLY via the funnel, do NOT allow it to gulp.

Watch for the header tank to fill, once it reaches the top, remove funnel and replace that pipe.

Now, with cap still off, start engine and allow to warm up until fan comes on. Watch for bubbles, top up or mop up as necessary.

Once fans start, switch off, replace cap, drive round block, leave to cool.
When cool, remove cap, check level, top up if necessary, replace cap, job's a good'un.

It takes a while, but bear in mind, THERE IS NO KNOWN WAY TO BLEED THE SYSTEM IF YOU AIRLOCK IT."

Did you replace the temp sensor because of the water in exhaust issue?

no i changed the temp sensor because it has been running very very rough recently and the coolant temp gauge in the car was reading too low when it should have been normal, so reading around the web, apparently they can cause running issues.

i checked both crank and cam sensor, the crank one had rusted itself to the oil pump it sits in, so that was another job ive done whilst we have 'given up on her'.

finally i put an old spare coil pack on and so far it hasn't played up at idle, but the amount of water coming out the tailpipe is insane, however the coolant level has now stabilised. i just need more time to drive the car around really to make a judgment. i think the hg is weeping though if you look at the pic.

ill have to do a comp test to see...

any other help is always appreciated though! i totally respect the experience that forum enthusiasts have.

Thanks

You don't yet say if you've had a sniff test done?