head gasket

[simone1032]

how do you know if it has blown?

[KebabMeister]

There's three main parts that the head gasket is there for:

To seal compression from the combustion chamber.

To seal oil (engine block to engine head)

To seal coolant jackets.

There are different ways on how it can fail.  It can leak oil/coolant externally which would be seen from the head gasket area (but not from above it).

It can also leak oil/coolant internally too.  This would appear as blue/white smoke respectively.  Check your coolant level and oil level.

Loss of compression.  The head gasket can fail between the cylinders and you would notice this as a misfire.  A compression test would be required to identify which cylinder is misfiring.  The gasket can also fail between the cylinder and a coolant jacket and this would effectively mean that gases (from compression) are leaking into the coolant.  The coolant expansion tank would be getting a lot of bubbles/pressure.

Do you think your head gasket has blown?  Symptons?

[landie]

You will generally find that you are losing rapid amounts of engine coolant.

[KebabMeister]

Head gasket can still be blown without losing coolant I might add.

[l_h_kings]

When your credit card bill goes up by �500.

[F UP ALFA]

Check your dipstick if it is brown and not just oil your head gasket has blown so if your oil and water has mixed then you know you have to replace your head gasket