Hey guys, you can buy a kit for around $50 that will do the job of this gas analyzer that I am using in this video. Here is the link www.jbtoolsales.com/uview-560000-combustion-leak-detector-kit#oid=1014_1 and here is a video of me using it th-cam.com/users/edit?o=U&video_id=k5VVcNKAK6U
my suggestion: get the one with the hand pump bulb on it instead of the vacuum hose [the one you listsed has the vacuum hose and requires it to be hooked up to a vacuum source, ie, throttle body]. its IMO a better option. that way you dont have to worry about unhooking anything or finding a suitable vacuum location. just pump the bulb and go. napa usually carries it, or u can order it off amazon. its the same price. they also usually carry the fluid for about 7$. it has a shelf life.
Hi, I’m Rey Z. I had the same thing done to my 70 Impala last month I have a 350 engine. and the reading for the HC was 15. The smog guy and the mechanic said I had a blown head gasket. But when I took off the intake my intake gasket was blown.. because I had no water in my oil. on the valves. And no bubbles in my new radiator. Gasses was leaking throw my intake. I cleaned up the intake and replaced the old gasket with a new Fel-Pro gasket. Now my car doesn’t over heat and it runs beautifully.😇🙏🏽👍
I must say some of the derogatory comments on here towards Paul are completely out of order,I've been in the motor industry for over 30 years and have learned a lot from his videos,please show the guy the respect he deserves.
There always gona be haters even if you are doing good works the hater are gona come out of their misarable state of mind and try to spew some of that misery onto others
I've stepped up my game 10 fold as to quick diag points thanks to Scanner Danner. I'm a break down tech and I can tell if it's a go or not within about 20 mins these days. If I had wiring diagrams and parts I could almost guarantee a go for basic issues such as fuel pumps, starters and coils.
Good tip Jeff. I believe another one to watch out for is the GM 3800 engine. Not sure about the HCs in the coolant but all the other symptoms of a head gasket will be there
No problem man, all of those tests are good. I just found this one to be the quickest and most accurate. Although I've never used the "blue fluid kit". You know as well as I that all of the other tests you mentioned are NOT 100%. This one is. I have had many cars pass all of the conventional head gasket tests over the years with an early head gasket failure.
You are a true master of your craft ScannerDanner. I find all of your videos extremely informative and educational. Even though I will never be able to afford a full feature scanner like a Modis, I can still take something away from your videos. I really wish I could work with someone as knowledgeable as you, instead of all these pre-maddonas and hack-jobs, its very disillusioning and frustrating. Im saving up to buy your book, and thanks again for all you've done for the learning community.
"As a mechanic you should identify and eliminate problems first" what do you think I did? and it took me 5 minute to do it. there was no tailpipe white smoke, no milkiness in the oil and compression would have tested good too. (typical early stages of headgasket failure) why would you not want to do this easy test first? not sure what you are fighting me on here. simple test to do, present the customer with his options right away. No need to be a parts changer to figure out the problem
This is the second video of yours I watched, neither pertained to a problem I had in common, they just appealed to my intellectual principle by intrigue and interest. ...You, My friend, are now My favorite TH-cam Mechanic. Hopefully, I'll have a problem that You have covered. Until then, the educational value is very high. Thanks for knowing WTF you're talking about. Good job!
@@ScannerDanner My problem is that of compounding health ailments have developed into a "Catch 22" as a result of the vastly inferior Medical Profession associated with public healrh care in L.A. County, leaving Me in a state of immobility, frustration and suffering with no realistic expectation to ever receive the treatment I need. Thank you for your willingness to help though. Peace.
If you're hurting financially, email me at support@scannerdanner.com and I'll give you access to my premium channel for a few months while you are on the mend. Just trying to help out. Thanks!
@@ScannerDanner thank you for the offer, but I'm at like 15% of what my past abilities were physically. You have a good heart and a keen mind built into a strong character. If I have anything you can walk me through, I'll email you. Thanks again and thank you for being.
Yes, you can buy a test kit, kind of like a litmus test where your looking for the color of a test strip to change a certain color. I never used one but I know they are out there. In fact I think there are some videos on it on youtube.
Excellent test. Nice to see other techs using it. For those DIYers who can't afford an exhaust gas analyzer, there is also a kit that tests your coolant for HC cost about 80 dollars. Can be purchased from napa online
long crank startup and leaking oil (wet spots) near the head gasket area = confirmed blown head gasket in my case. I also experience loss of power and bad gas mileage. I love these videos. So much information!
if I was doing the repair I would most likely follow up this test with a leak down test. this way I would know exactly what cylinder and would be able to focus better in that area once the cylinder head was removed. also if I'm pulling 1 cylinder head off they're both coming off.
I had a vehicle that was passing the engine block test Everytime, no overheating, The overflow bottle was losing coolant on a consistent basis, I had to keep adding coolant. Turns out the headgasket was only bad on the coolant port at cylinder #1, so Raw fuel, plus coolant was just exiting the exhaust pipe and causing the pipe to glow red.
I used a bottle of Steel Seal to fix my head gasket, drained the coolant, removed the thermostat, flushed the cooling system really good, Then use a radiator cleaner to clean the cooling system , Make sure to flush out all the cleaner 100%, When engine is 100% cold add steel seal with distilled water, turn heater on high & let idle for 30 mins with the radiator cap off........Let it cool for 1 hour the let idle again for 30 mins with the radiator cap on...........next morning let it idle for another 30 mins then removed all water from the system to let the steel seal cure for 24 hours, Replace the thermostat, fill with coolant and your good to go. Mine has been running perfect for 70k miles now as i use the car for uber & lyft, Only cost me about $120 total.
Love these videos! So this test would be a good way to find a head gasket leak from the combustion chamber to the cooling jacket. However, it would be ineffective if the leak was between two neighboring cylinders, to an oil return passage, or to the outside of the head...would you use a standard compression test in the other cases?
CORRECTION TO THE VIDEO: The fact that there's milky color on the cap/dipstick does not determine whether you have a bad HG or not, and here's why: For every burnt unit of gasoline, the largest byproduct is water. Now some of that water gets by the piston rings and enters the crank case. This escaping of burnt gas is referred to as Blow-by. Now disregarding unburnt fuel and Nitrous Oxides, this gas is mainly CO2 and water. Mostly water even. And since it has just been burnt, it is still warm. Thus is a fair quantity of water vapor present in the crank case, and water vapor likes to condensate on the closest cold area. In many cases (depending upon engine design) the oil cap and the top of the dipstick are the coolest part of a warmed-up engine. And that's how and why you get the condensation on the dipstick/oil cap.
agree, sorry for the misquote. I did correct myself at 1:14 but didn't elaborate on why you cannot always rely on the milkiness of the oil cap. (I should have) I have seen many times what you are describing. Thank you!
the only time i've seen milkyness on the gas cap/dip stick is after my first blown piston/ring. or when the piston wall caved and my coolant mysteriously just fucking disappeared. left no trace. until i popped the oil pan off ahahaha. boost is awesome.
If the test youre doing isn't consistent, it shouldnt be done. It's a waste of time if the test only works 50% of the time. Why not use a more accurate test like displayed in the video? Waste less time and be more accurate? I'm no fool, I just dont waste my time.
I watch eric the car guy for fun sometimes i dont his nearly 1/4 as good as u u diagnos things in very logical ways learned alot from u and real fixes real fast program as well
good point, not sure I've ever seen one blow into an oil passage. definitely have between cylinders. and yes a standard compression test would reveal that. you would have two "dead holes"
i have a mk2 mondeo 1.8 zetec-e which had a top end de coke, valve stem oil seals and piston oil rings because it struggled through the emissions test. i also had in the past a 2.0 zetec-e which had a small combustion leak with an occasional mis fire and I remember having to top up the coolant once and a while. head gasket failures were more common on the 2.0 zetec engines than than1.8 and use to fail on no.3 cylinder.
Awesome! I have a suspected blown head gasket now on my 2000 Windstar van. No oil is getting in the water but water gets outside the block in vapor form so this test might not reveal my head gasket leak because oil is not getting in the water. I like this because I don't want to buy the 40 dollar kit every time I need to test for a blown head gasket plus I have access to a gass analyzer.
Also people when he says check the Oil cap sometimes there is a little milkiness in some of those Doesn't mean the head gasket is blown up Humidity does get in
I'll use an example. Let's say I am doing a no spark diagnosis on two different cars. On one I use my $20 test light to troubleshoot the problem, on another I use a $10,000 scan tool/scope combination tool. Both jobs take equal time to troubleshoot. BOTH cars/customers are charged the same diagnostic fee.
That's a great tip or trick! I'm old school and I'd like to know how to spot a used car for sale that someone added "head gasket repair" or similar to an engine, just to get it sold.
Obviously cooling system problems can be reduced by regular cooling system flushes and coolant replacement. But also my father always used to advocate running these systems unpressurized. Over the years I've found that doing so does not cause these cooling systems to boil over, even in very hot weather with the A/C on. Meanwhile, running the system unpressurized puts less stress on the head gaskets, hoses, radiator, water pump seals, bypass tube, heater core and so forth. I have a small hole that I purposely drilled in the top of the expansion tank in my vehicle to keep the cooling system unpressurized. The bottom line is that I never seem to have the same types of cooling system problems with my vehicles as many other people do. Specifically, I've never had a blown head gasket.
A faulty egr COOLER on the latest design EGR valves can lead to near identical symptoms as a failed head gasket.The cooler goes porous leading to-coolant loss,white exhaust smoke and occassionally exhaust gas in the coolant when exhaust back pressure is higher than coolant pressure.This is a common occurance on the latest VW TDI engines and I've heard of a few garages getting caught out diagnosing the problem as a failed head gasket.
Slick test. Question is is the leak bad enough that one can't live with it? If it's losing a cup of coolant every six months but runs reliably, I wouldn't worry about it. Now if I was rebuilding it, I might run a test like this when I'm done to determine if it'll leak over the long term.
more and more modern engines have direct firing fuel injectors, where the injector nose is in the combustion chamber & is cooled by coolant fluid passing through the head. If the injector seals leak, combustion gases can enter the coolant. With such engines, many times a head is changed mistakenly since the symptoms are exactly the same as a cracked head. Always read the workshop manual thoroughly. most injector/combustion chamber seals are of copper and as cheap as $4 each
Edwin Henry Blachford I have a 2002 Buick LaSabre which has an electric fuel pump and fuel injectors , so is it normal if I have a few bubbles , it's spits like 3 bubbles out ever 5-7 seconds
Get a bottle of Bars Leak and follow the instructions on it! I've sealed 3 cars already with it which had bubbles in the radiator, no milky residue but two of them smoked badly. I'm about to do the procedure on a 94 corolla and see if I can save her.
I wouldn't argue with that I am just simply showing a faster more accurate way to identify a leaking head gasket. some early head gasket failures will not show up with a leak down tester. they tend to leak only with combustion pressures and air pressure in the cylinder is not high enough to show the problem.
I researched 2 simpler methods to tell if you have a leaking head gasket: 1) Get a spill-free funnel. Attach to top of radiator and overfill with coolant. Run the engine to normal temperature until fans turn on for 2-3 cycles. Look for bubbles. Bubbles at the beginning are normal but after the 2nd fan cycle means you got combustion gas leaking in your coolant. 2) Fill radiator up to base of the neck. W/ rad cap off: If when engine is turned on the coolant spouts/shoots= leak. Comment if u heard2
Ok first of all, i don't work for a shop or own a shop. i teach at a technical school and am a mobile diagnostic tech. i work for many different garages and basically charge a consultation fee. it doesn't matter what the problem is on the car, i charge a flat fee to look at it for the garage. so you questioning is completely out of line on that first point. secondly i live in an area where most garages already have a gas analyser and I am showing another use for it....
+Review guy No sounds like a problem waiting to happen. Find it sooner than later. You mite save yourself from costly repairs down the road You can also use a blown head gasket test.
If a head gasket is blown you will usually get a bunch of foam forming in the gas bottle. If you see that it means there is combustion gas pressurizing the cooling system. If you leave the cap off a while the mass of foam will grow larger and eventually will start coming out the top of the bottle. Then next you can start taking the head(s) off.
Ford calls it a "gas bottle" because it collects evaporated, gasified coolant in a closed liquid system. Some people still refer to them as "overflow tanks" or "coolant reservoirs" but in these newer closed systems that terminology isn't as accurate as calling them "gas bottles". Calling other people names such as "retarded" is ignorant. If you disagree with someone that's fine but name calling and insults are not necessary.
Be aware that some brands of coolant can show hydrocarbons on the infrared. This may not be current, as the situation was about 20 years ago. Research showed that a store brand (Kragen?) had a hydrocarbon reading when still in the jug.
Helpful...I would add it seems coffee with milk in extreme cases. Also I experienced, the coolant bottle is pressurized even after hours the motor is off.
Altcheckmate. No need to get all upset, as scanner man was not rude nor upset and it was his video. I do think it is a way to give a detailed reading of HC's and done under close watch it can be a great useful tool. As to why I ask for Scanner Dan to remove it was because "You Tube" is for novice techs and this is most definitely for a more skilled tech. As for my spelling well were all not perfect not even my auto spell correct. Thank you for the great videos Scanner Dan.
I too have used this technique before... man I must have shot a similar video back in 07 I think. Used to show it in parts to my students. Then TH-cam came out with the video editor so I stitched them all together and added annotations. This winter I started messing around with the closed captioning feature. My hearing impaired students luv it! Think I will just have to close caption everything from now on ( ;
Wow I not a professional mechanic thank goodness on automobile ect . I was a power generation mechanic heavy equipment ect . I appreciate the videos and advice . I have used a pressure gauge on the cooling system works OK on diesel engines
im having an overheating problem with my car and my autoshop is recommending that i pulldown my cylinder head to check for leakage but no millky substances like the ones u checked in the video, but i dont think they know how to use this method its a big car company and still using the old fashion way.its way to expensive to pulldown my cylinder head with no approval that it is the problem since they cant diagnose it very well and fyi they have manage to have my MIL continously on.
Also, if the PCV system is not working properly and you live in a humid environment it's gonna let moisture in the crankcase. And if you drive in short distances all the time the PCV system doesn't have enough time to purge the moisture/ contiminants.
If you have milkiness on.in your oil cap that doesn't mean you have bad head gasket, Most of the time it because the car has been sitting and get moisture in there.
Head joint on my car blew between cylinders 1 and 2 , those 2 cylinders died due to zero compression but no water got into the oil to make it milky. I did a compression test which showed the 2 dead cylinders
a milky looking oil cap dose not mean a bad or blown head gasket. I'm not going in to detail why, but its was something explained to me by a automotive instructor years ago. 2 easiest ways, milky color on the dip stick or bubbles in the radiator(or test strip coolants)
This test is really nice! I've used the blue fluid test before and it does work great and only costs $25 for the tester and $8 for the fluid but hey, if you have a gas analyzer why not? This method is a lot faster!
I recommend checking for carbon monoxide. Hydrocarbons can actually come from other sources whereas carbon monoxide will only come from combustion. That is not to say that presence of hydrocarbons doesn't indicate a problem.
@scannerdanner the reason why Iam asking that question is because I have a 2003 chevy express van and it overheats and the coolant is only leaking in the tip of the exhaust. Iam assuming it could be a headgasket issue hopefully is not a cracked head.
SCANNERDANNER, 1.) whats the differences are between hypercarbon and exhaust gasses? 2.) If you have a lot of hypercarbon and exhaust gasses in the radiator fluid that means that the car is NOT burning the gas and oil? so your car will can't go high RPM than 60mph? 3.) Auto Repair tech will REMOVE half of the spark plug wires to determine which sides of the engine is creating the exhaust gasses in the radiator fluid to narrow down which side of the engine block by just removing HALF of the spark plug wires. Is this a good troubleshooting method or not?
The thing is that the coolant has a smell too which mixes in with this HC. So you, or I should say I, in my case, smell more of the resulting coolant from the commotion caused be combustion bleeding in like that.
Very nice video. I'm a technician in school right now. Why wouldn't a visual test of "milkshake oil" on the oil filler cap be enough to condemn a head gasket or cylinder head?
Because I've seen milkiness on the oil cap from condensation. With a proven NO head gasket failure. I've also seen no milkiness with a proven head gasket failure.
@amopower there are many different types of hydrocarbons. Not all are the same. Simply because something is labeled a hydrocarbon does not mean it is the same as another. The HC reading of an EGA is that of unburned fuel (gasoline) after the combustion process. Gasoline has a different molecular weight than automotive coolant,. Therefore, coolant will not register on an EGA reading.
I could smell the combustion gases in the coolant reservoir as well as when I opened up the oil cap. I have driven the 20k miles since then and wondering how long it will last. Infiniti I-30, 2001 with 265k miles on it.
Yeah, the carbon sniff method is deff more accurate. But I've also heard that sometimes head gasket leaks (combustion type) are some times intermittent. So the sniff might not detect it. But I guess it doesn't get any better/accurate than this method.
Always on point SD and btw my Malibu 2.4 is back up and running you should do a video on trouble shooting engine timing problems like I had email me you would love to know what happened
Since antifreeze (ethylene glycol in most cases) is a hydrocarbon, how does that machine differentiate the EG vapors from actual gas vapors since they are both hydrocarbons? I know that EG doesn't vaporize as easily as gas would, but it does vaporize to an extent, and even more when hot.
milky cap not always a blown gasket...if pcv system loses vacuum then the oil in the valve cover will oxidize and turn brown. dipstick test is more acurrate, or watch the needle on a vacuum gauge
I'm glad to hear that the milky oil cap can sometimes just be condensation from air in the engine. My son's car had this but no other findings, and I'm watching it for now. Paul, with the new pressurized plastic coolant reservoirs, can you be confident that there is enough continuity with the system you will usually find combustion gasses there if a head gasket is leaking?
Use a color change dye test or can't bleed air from coolant system bc the exhaust getting in. Over heats when driving over 45mph. Compression low on adjacent cylinders.
before I purchased my gas analyzer for my modis, I looked at several others. I have not found one under 2500 new. And most of the used ones that are under 1000 are so badly use and by the time you replace the o2, filter, and what ever else, you could have just purchase a new one.
Hey guys, you can buy a kit for around $50 that will do the job of this gas analyzer that I am using in this video. Here is the link
www.jbtoolsales.com/uview-560000-combustion-leak-detector-kit#oid=1014_1
and here is a video of me using it
th-cam.com/users/edit?o=U&video_id=k5VVcNKAK6U
Vous-grand Merci idée
Thank you . That was helpful.
That was a great lesson.
my suggestion: get the one with the hand pump bulb on it instead of the vacuum hose [the one you listsed has the vacuum hose and requires it to be hooked up to a vacuum source, ie, throttle body]. its IMO a better option. that way you dont have to worry about unhooking anything or finding a suitable vacuum location. just pump the bulb and go. napa usually carries it, or u can order it off amazon. its the same price. they also usually carry the fluid for about 7$. it has a shelf life.
Munky332
Hi, I’m Rey Z. I had the same thing done to my 70 Impala last month I have a 350 engine. and the reading for the HC was 15. The smog guy and the mechanic said I had a blown head gasket. But when I took off the intake my intake gasket was blown.. because I had no water in my oil. on the valves. And no bubbles in my new radiator. Gasses was leaking throw my intake. I cleaned up the intake and replaced the old gasket with a new Fel-Pro gasket. Now my car doesn’t over heat and it runs beautifully.😇🙏🏽👍
I must say some of the derogatory comments on here towards Paul are completely out of order,I've been in the motor industry for over 30 years and have learned a lot from his videos,please show the guy the respect he deserves.
Thanks Steve. I don't mind too much though. I just need to ignore them. And most of the time I do.
There always gona be haters even if you are doing good works the hater are gona come out of their misarable state of mind and try to spew some of that misery onto others
I've stepped up my game 10 fold as to quick diag points thanks to Scanner Danner. I'm a break down tech and I can tell if it's a go or not within about 20 mins these days. If I had wiring diagrams and parts I could almost guarantee a go for basic issues such as fuel pumps, starters and coils.
Paul is a very good man. All good for danners from germany.lg.
haters gonna hate, but I'm a pro and everytime I watch one of those videos I learn something
100%
Good tip Jeff. I believe another one to watch out for is the GM 3800 engine. Not sure about the HCs in the coolant but all the other symptoms of a head gasket will be there
No problem man, all of those tests are good. I just found this one to be the quickest and most accurate. Although I've never used the "blue fluid kit".
You know as well as I that all of the other tests you mentioned are NOT 100%. This one is. I have had many cars pass all of the conventional head gasket tests over the years with an early head gasket failure.
You are a true master of your craft ScannerDanner. I find all of your videos extremely informative and educational. Even though I will never be able to afford a full feature scanner like a Modis, I can still take something away from your videos. I really wish I could work with someone as knowledgeable as you, instead of all these pre-maddonas and hack-jobs, its very disillusioning and frustrating. Im saving up to buy your book, and thanks again for all you've done for the learning community.
just based on the symptoms I decided to do that test first as it was very quick and very easy to do
"As a mechanic you should identify and eliminate problems first"
what do you think I did? and it took me 5 minute to do it.
there was no tailpipe white smoke, no milkiness in the oil and compression would have tested good too. (typical early stages of headgasket failure)
why would you not want to do this easy test first? not sure what you are fighting me on here. simple test to do, present the customer with his options right away. No need to be a parts changer to figure out the problem
love your videos man, I'm a second year apprentice and have learned a lot from you.
This is the second video of yours I watched, neither pertained to a problem I had in common, they just appealed to my intellectual principle by intrigue and interest.
...You, My friend, are now My favorite TH-cam Mechanic. Hopefully, I'll have a problem that You have covered. Until then, the educational value is very high. Thanks for knowing WTF you're talking about. Good job!
Thanks so much! What problem are you dealing with? Maybe I can guide you to one of my videos.
@@ScannerDanner My problem is that of compounding health ailments have developed into a "Catch 22" as a result of the vastly inferior Medical Profession associated with public healrh care in L.A. County, leaving Me in a state of immobility, frustration and suffering with no realistic expectation to ever receive the treatment I need.
Thank you for your willingness to help though. Peace.
If you're hurting financially, email me at support@scannerdanner.com and I'll give you access to my premium channel for a few months while you are on the mend. Just trying to help out. Thanks!
@@ScannerDanner thank you for the offer, but I'm at like 15% of what my past abilities were physically. You have a good heart and a keen mind built into a strong character. If I have anything you can walk me through, I'll email you. Thanks again and thank you for being.
Yes, you can buy a test kit, kind of like a litmus test where your looking for the color of a test strip to change a certain color. I never used one but I know they are out there. In fact I think there are some videos on it on youtube.
I never used the chemical test but I heard it is very effective and accurate not to mention much cheaper than a 5000 dollar gas analyzer
Excellent test. Nice to see other techs using it. For those DIYers who can't afford an exhaust gas analyzer, there is also a kit that tests your coolant for HC cost about 80 dollars. Can be purchased from napa online
long crank startup and leaking oil (wet spots) near the head gasket area = confirmed blown head gasket in my case. I also experience loss of power and bad gas mileage. I love these videos. So much information!
if I was doing the repair I would most likely follow up this test with a leak down test. this way I would know exactly what cylinder and would be able to focus better in that area once the cylinder head was removed. also if I'm pulling 1 cylinder head off they're both coming off.
I had a vehicle that was passing the engine block test Everytime, no overheating, The overflow bottle was losing coolant on a consistent basis, I had to keep adding coolant. Turns out the headgasket was only bad on the coolant port at cylinder #1, so Raw fuel, plus coolant was just exiting the exhaust pipe and causing the pipe to glow red.
I used a bottle of Steel Seal to fix my head gasket, drained the coolant, removed the thermostat, flushed the cooling system really good, Then use a radiator cleaner to clean the cooling system , Make sure to flush out all the cleaner 100%, When engine is 100% cold add steel seal with distilled water, turn heater on high & let idle for 30 mins with the radiator cap off........Let it cool for 1 hour the let idle again for 30 mins with the radiator cap on...........next morning let it idle for another 30 mins then removed all water from the system to let the steel seal cure for 24 hours, Replace the thermostat, fill with coolant and your good to go. Mine has been running perfect for 70k miles now as i use the car for uber & lyft, Only cost me about $120 total.
Love these videos! So this test would be a good way to find a head gasket leak from the combustion chamber to the cooling jacket. However, it would be ineffective if the leak was between two neighboring cylinders, to an oil return passage, or to the outside of the head...would you use a standard compression test in the other cases?
CORRECTION TO THE VIDEO: The fact that there's milky color on the cap/dipstick does not determine whether you have a bad HG or not, and here's why: For every burnt unit of gasoline, the largest byproduct is water. Now some of that water gets by the piston rings and enters the crank case. This escaping of burnt gas is referred to as Blow-by. Now disregarding unburnt fuel and Nitrous Oxides, this gas is mainly CO2 and water. Mostly water even. And since it has just been burnt, it is still warm. Thus is a fair quantity of water vapor present in the crank case, and water vapor likes to condensate on the closest cold area. In many cases (depending upon engine design) the oil cap and the top of the dipstick are the coolest part of a warmed-up engine. And that's how and why you get the condensation on the dipstick/oil cap.
agree, sorry for the misquote. I did correct myself at 1:14 but didn't elaborate on why you cannot always rely on the milkiness of the oil cap. (I should have)
I have seen many times what you are describing.
Thank you!
the only time i've seen milkyness on the gas cap/dip stick is after my first blown piston/ring. or when the piston wall caved and my coolant mysteriously just fucking disappeared. left no trace. until i popped the oil pan off ahahaha. boost is awesome.
Munky332 Boost is king, mon.
Myles Gainer The person you're insulting is explaining why that test should NEVER be used since it's terrible... dumb ass
If the test youre doing isn't consistent, it shouldnt be done. It's a waste of time if the test only works 50% of the time. Why not use a more accurate test like displayed in the video? Waste less time and be more accurate? I'm no fool, I just dont waste my time.
I watch eric the car guy for fun sometimes i dont his nearly 1/4 as good as u u diagnos things in very logical ways learned alot from u and real fixes real fast program as well
My car won't start, I think it's the tires so I got new blinkers. Thanks Eric.
Yeah.
s0nnyburnett lol
That’s funny
My blinkers wouldn't work, so I aired up the tires.
😣
good point, not sure I've ever seen one blow into an oil passage. definitely have between cylinders. and yes a standard compression test would reveal that. you would have two "dead holes"
i have a mk2 mondeo 1.8 zetec-e which had a top end de coke, valve stem oil seals and piston oil rings because it struggled through the emissions test. i also had in the past a 2.0 zetec-e which had a small combustion leak with an occasional mis fire and I remember having to top up the coolant once and a while. head gasket failures were more common on the 2.0 zetec engines than than1.8 and use to fail on no.3 cylinder.
PREACH ON! I always looked for better ways THERE SHOULD indeed have no HC in the cooling.
My dad use to look for clean pistons wich would suggesting fluid leak into the cylinder either gasket or cracked heads.
Awesome! I have a suspected blown head gasket now on my 2000 Windstar van. No oil is getting in the water but water gets outside the block in vapor form so this test might not reveal my head gasket leak because oil is not getting in the water.
I like this because I don't want to buy the 40 dollar kit every time I need to test for a blown head gasket plus I have access to a gass analyzer.
Also people when he says check the Oil cap sometimes there is a little milkiness in some of those Doesn't mean the head gasket is blown up Humidity does get in
I'll use an example. Let's say I am doing a no spark diagnosis on two different cars. On one I use my $20 test light to troubleshoot the problem, on another I use a $10,000 scan tool/scope combination tool. Both jobs take equal time to troubleshoot. BOTH cars/customers are charged the same diagnostic fee.
that is a completely valid point. thank you for reminding me of that variable.
He is right on the money, Ford calls it a de-gas bottle not an overflow, and there are gasses in there.
Love your vids, and your knowledge in car diagnostics, im studing to be in the field and i find your videos very good to learn, a lot. Thank you
Science in action, love that HC sniffer, never seen a mechanic do that before.
That's a great tip or trick! I'm old school and I'd like to know how to spot a used car for sale that someone added "head gasket repair" or similar to an engine, just to get it sold.
Obviously cooling system problems can be reduced by regular cooling system flushes and coolant replacement. But also my father always used to advocate running these systems unpressurized. Over the years I've found that doing so does not cause these cooling systems to boil over, even in very hot weather with the A/C on. Meanwhile, running the system unpressurized puts less stress on the head gaskets, hoses, radiator, water pump seals, bypass tube, heater core and so forth. I have a small hole that I purposely drilled in the top of the expansion tank in my vehicle to keep the cooling system unpressurized. The bottom line is that I never seem to have the same types of cooling system problems with my vehicles as many other people do. Specifically, I've never had a blown head gasket.
So driving without a cap on is good if it wasn't for spilling?
A faulty egr COOLER on the latest design EGR valves can lead to near identical symptoms as a failed head gasket.The cooler goes porous leading to-coolant loss,white exhaust smoke and occassionally exhaust gas in the coolant when exhaust back pressure is higher than coolant pressure.This is a common occurance on the latest VW TDI engines and I've heard of a few garages getting caught out diagnosing the problem as a failed head gasket.
An excellent test and 100 % accurate; thanks Mr. Scanner Danner.
Slick test. Question is is the leak bad enough that one can't live with it? If it's losing a cup of coolant every six months but runs reliably, I wouldn't worry about it.
Now if I was rebuilding it, I might run a test like this when I'm done to determine if it'll leak over the long term.
more and more modern engines have direct firing fuel injectors, where the injector nose is in the combustion chamber & is cooled by coolant fluid passing through the head. If the injector seals leak, combustion gases can enter the coolant. With such engines, many times a head is changed mistakenly since the symptoms are exactly the same as a cracked head. Always read the workshop manual thoroughly. most injector/combustion chamber seals are of copper and as cheap as $4 each
Edwin Henry Blachford I have a 2002 Buick LaSabre which has an electric fuel pump and fuel injectors , so is it normal if I have a few bubbles , it's spits like 3 bubbles out ever 5-7 seconds
Edwin Henry Blachford sorry I don't know much about cars at all
Never thought of using a gas analyzer ! Top tip
Learned something new again. Thanks
Get a bottle of Bars Leak and follow the instructions on it! I've sealed 3 cars already with it which had bubbles in the radiator, no milky residue but two of them smoked badly. I'm about to do the procedure on a 94 corolla and see if I can save her.
What a cowboy.
I wouldn't argue with that I am just simply showing a faster more accurate way to identify a leaking head gasket. some early head gasket failures will not show up with a leak down tester. they tend to leak only with combustion pressures and air pressure in the cylinder is not high enough to show the problem.
I researched 2 simpler methods to tell if you have a leaking head gasket:
1) Get a spill-free funnel. Attach to top of radiator and overfill with coolant. Run the engine to normal temperature until fans turn on for 2-3 cycles. Look for bubbles. Bubbles at the beginning are normal but after the 2nd fan cycle means you got combustion gas leaking in your coolant.
2) Fill radiator up to base of the neck. W/ rad cap off: If when engine is turned on the coolant spouts/shoots= leak. Comment if u heard2
Ok first of all, i don't work for a shop or own a shop. i teach at a technical school and am a mobile diagnostic tech. i work for many different garages and basically charge a consultation fee. it doesn't matter what the problem is on the car, i charge a flat fee to look at it for the garage. so you questioning is completely out of line on that first point. secondly i live in an area where most garages already have a gas analyser and I am showing another use for it....
Pull out the spark plugs and see if they are steam cleaned. You can also do a carbon dioxide test from the radiator.
That’s interesting!! I’m old school! Thanks for sharing!!
+Review guy No sounds like a problem waiting to happen. Find it sooner than later. You mite save yourself from costly repairs down the road You can also use a blown head gasket test.
If a head gasket is blown you will usually get a bunch of foam forming in the gas bottle. If you see that it means there is combustion gas pressurizing the cooling system. If you leave the cap off a while the mass of foam will grow larger and eventually will start coming out the top of the bottle. Then next you can start taking the head(s) off.
Ford calls it a "gas bottle" because it collects evaporated, gasified coolant in a closed liquid system. Some people still refer to them as "overflow tanks" or "coolant reservoirs" but in these newer closed systems that terminology isn't as accurate as calling them "gas bottles". Calling other people names such as "retarded" is ignorant. If you disagree with someone that's fine but name calling and insults are not necessary.
Antifreeze does not show up as an HC emission on a gas analyzer.
thanks paul
Thanks for the video ? I just some more knowledge on cars as my girlfriend head gasket had blown and cost us a small fortune to repair
Be aware that some brands of coolant can show hydrocarbons on the infrared.
This may not be current, as the situation was about 20 years ago.
Research showed that a store brand (Kragen?) had a hydrocarbon reading when still in the jug.
Helpful...I would add it seems coffee with milk in extreme cases. Also I experienced, the coolant bottle is pressurized even after hours the motor is off.
Altcheckmate. No need to get all upset, as scanner man was not rude nor upset and it was his video. I do think it is a way to give a detailed reading of HC's and done under close watch it can be a great useful tool. As to why I ask for Scanner Dan to remove it was because "You Tube" is for novice techs and this is most definitely for a more skilled tech. As for my spelling well were all not perfect not even my auto spell correct. Thank you for the great videos Scanner Dan.
Great way to respond. I did find this method a little difficult, but I am a beginner!
I too have used this technique before... man I must have shot a similar video back in 07 I think. Used to show it in parts to my students. Then TH-cam came out with the video editor so I stitched them all together and added annotations. This winter I started messing around with the closed captioning feature. My hearing impaired students luv it! Think I will just have to close caption everything from now on ( ;
Nice video on checking head Gasket problems with gas analyzer
99 Ford Contour has a blown head gasket? Yes, no need to check.
Wow I not a professional mechanic thank goodness on automobile ect . I was a power generation mechanic heavy equipment ect . I appreciate the videos and advice . I have used a pressure gauge on the cooling system works OK on diesel engines
these work BUT you can miss early and minor headset failures with these methods. i want a test that is 100%accurate all the time
I’ve blown head gasket twice! That’s GM won’t even fix the gasket issues...2000 regal... that’s helpful lesson.
im having an overheating problem with my car and my autoshop is recommending that i pulldown my cylinder head to check for leakage but no millky substances like the ones u checked in the video, but i dont think they know how to use this method its a big car company and still using the old fashion way.its way to expensive to pulldown my cylinder head with no approval that it is the problem since they cant diagnose it very well and fyi they have manage to have my MIL continously on.
Also, if the PCV system is not working properly and you live in a humid environment it's gonna let moisture in the crankcase. And if you drive in short distances all the time the PCV system doesn't have enough time to purge the moisture/ contiminants.
A faulty EGR cooler may give the same symptoms if fitted.Coolant hoses to cooler should be bypassed to eliminate the risk of misdiagnosis.
Always like learning new tricks. Thanks
👍Learned something new again. Thanks for sharing!
If you have milkiness on.in your oil cap that doesn't mean you have bad head gasket, Most of the time it because the car has been sitting and get moisture in there.
Bologna. My jeep sat for so long that the fuses oxidized into powder, and not a drop of water in the case..
YOU ARE INCREDIBLE
Head joint on my car blew between cylinders 1 and 2 , those 2 cylinders died due to zero compression but no water got into the oil to make it milky. I did a compression test which showed the 2 dead cylinders
a milky looking oil cap dose not mean a bad or blown head gasket. I'm not going in to detail why, but its was something explained to me by a automotive instructor years ago. 2 easiest ways, milky color on the dip stick or bubbles in the radiator(or test strip coolants)
This test is really nice! I've used the blue fluid test before and it does work great and only costs $25 for the tester and $8 for the fluid but hey, if you have a gas analyzer why not? This method is a lot faster!
I recommend checking for carbon monoxide. Hydrocarbons can actually come from other sources whereas carbon monoxide will only come from combustion. That is not to say that presence of hydrocarbons doesn't indicate a problem.
@scannerdanner the reason why Iam asking that question is because I have a 2003 chevy express van and it overheats and the coolant is only leaking in the tip of the exhaust. Iam assuming it could be a headgasket issue hopefully is not a cracked head.
SCANNERDANNER,
1.) whats the differences are between hypercarbon and exhaust gasses?
2.) If you have a lot of hypercarbon and exhaust gasses in the radiator fluid that means that the car is NOT burning the gas and oil? so your car will can't go high RPM than 60mph?
3.) Auto Repair tech will REMOVE half of the spark plug wires to determine which sides of the engine is creating the exhaust gasses in the radiator fluid to narrow down which side of the engine block by just removing HALF of the spark plug wires. Is this a good troubleshooting method or not?
The thing is that the coolant has a smell too which mixes in with this HC. So you, or I should say I, in my case, smell more of the resulting coolant from the commotion caused be combustion bleeding in like that.
Milkiness in the oil cap or tappet cover is often condensation on old Brit cars…particularly British Leyland
Very nice video. I'm a technician in school right now. Why wouldn't a visual test of "milkshake oil" on the oil filler cap be enough to condemn a head gasket or cylinder head?
Because I've seen milkiness on the oil cap from condensation. With a proven NO head gasket failure. I've also seen no milkiness with a proven head gasket failure.
ScannerDanner
Knowing this is very helpful because it means there are false positives with this method... good to know!
@amopower there are many different types of hydrocarbons. Not all are the same. Simply because something is labeled a hydrocarbon does not mean it is the same as another. The HC reading of an EGA is that of unburned fuel (gasoline) after the combustion process. Gasoline has a different molecular weight than automotive coolant,. Therefore, coolant will not register on an EGA reading.
no. there are a lot of other causes for that. mainly a rich running engine or an ignition or compression misfire
Great instructions as usual. Great channel. Thank you
Glad to hear that then, thanks for your info and for posting this video.
Thank you, I wasn't aware of the EGR cooling.
I could smell the combustion gases in the coolant reservoir as well as when I opened up the oil cap. I have driven the 20k miles since then and wondering how long it will last. Infiniti I-30, 2001 with 265k miles on it.
Learn something new everyday. Thank you
Its a great way to find head gasket failure but I wouldn't use it. First of all I don't have a $10,000+ machine.
any chance you would have a part number and where you purchase this stuff from for the rest of us?
Good stuff. Single head diagnosis bang on !! Now on a 2 head engine could you use the O2 sensors to find out which head is bad ?
Yeah, the carbon sniff method is deff more accurate. But I've also heard that sometimes head gasket leaks (combustion type) are some times intermittent. So the sniff might not detect it. But I guess it doesn't get any better/accurate than this method.
Can you explain how a faulty EGR can lead exhaust gas into the coolant? Thanks.
That's really smart and quick way for test
Always on point SD and btw my Malibu 2.4 is back up and running you should do a video on trouble shooting engine timing problems like I had email me you would love to know what happened
Since antifreeze (ethylene glycol in most cases) is a hydrocarbon, how does that machine differentiate the EG vapors from actual gas vapors since they are both hydrocarbons? I know that EG doesn't vaporize as easily as gas would, but it does vaporize to an extent, and even more when hot.
milky cap not always a blown gasket...if pcv system loses vacuum then the oil in the valve cover will oxidize and turn brown.
dipstick test is more acurrate, or watch the needle on a vacuum gauge
exactly
I'm glad to hear that the milky oil cap can sometimes just be condensation from air in the engine. My son's car had this but no other findings, and I'm watching it for now.
Paul, with the new pressurized plastic coolant reservoirs, can you be confident that there is enough continuity with the system you will usually find combustion gasses there if a head gasket is leaking?
Can you go over using and buying gas analyzer test equipment? What is the cheapest tester without sacrificing the tester quality.
Use a color change dye test or can't bleed air from coolant system bc the exhaust getting in.
Over heats when driving over 45mph.
Compression low on adjacent cylinders.
who the hell has an emmisions machine at home?
Alvin Mendaros this channel isn’t for the home guy, it’s for the professional who wants to step up his diagnostic game
Exactly!
Agreed 99%people dont have 5 gas analazyer at home but good video
Everyone can get a chemical block tester for free at Auto Zone that will tell you the same thing minus the detail.
You guys forget this guy doesn't make videos only for DYIers but also for professional. Pass it if that doesn't apply for you.
I've heard that if you put a balloon over the radiator cap area or overflow tank and it balloons up, the head gasket is bad.
No problem, thank you
I had a 1999 countour sport had the 2.5L 24V duratec engine... fast engine ... wasn't expecting it to be so quick
before I purchased my gas analyzer for my modis, I looked at several others. I have not found one under 2500 new. And most of the used ones that are under 1000 are so badly use and by the time you replace the o2, filter, and what ever else, you could have just purchase a new one.
Did you know that ethylene glycol (the main substance in antifreeze) is a hydrocarbon?