Do I have a blown head gasket? 2 questions

[Harbin1]

Part one: I've recently had cooling system troubles that resulted in me getting my radiator rodded and and my entire cooling system powerflushed. They found mucked up Dex-cool and a handful of gasket pieces in the radiator. That problem is fixed now but the repair shop said that I'm loosing coolant somewhere. He said the powerflush might have worsened any leaks that may have been present.

I've searched on leaking/blown head gaskets but I"m not sure I've found the answer. I just changed my oil and it was normal looking, dark brown. If I had coolant in my oil, wouldn't it look like a chocolate shake like color?

My exhaust tends to spit out white smoke which disappears just as it gets above the spoiler. I'm guessing this is condensation burning from the air. Could this be leaking coolant in the exhaust?

How can I test for a head gasket leak? My Haynes manual says to do a compression check on each cylinder. I need to replace my spark plugs and wires so that would be convenient timing for me. Are there any other ways to check?

Part two: If I have to remove the heads, what can I do to them in a day to increase horsepower? How difficult would it be to replace stuff like springs and lifters? I've got access to a perforance/customization shop with some very knowledgable gearheads so the labor will be cheap. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance! :D

[Tru2Chevy]

Part 1 - Def. sounds like a blown head gasket. Depending on what part of the gasket blew out, it may not be contaminating the oil, which is a good thing.

Gasket parts in the radiator, leaking coolant, and white smoke is pretty good evidance. If you are pulling the plugs anyway, go ahead and do the compression check, but I would prepare to pick up a head gasket set if I were you.

Part 2 - Since you will most likely be tearing down the top half of the motor, now would be a good time for a cam swap :D

Otherwise you could just have your buddies do some mild porting and cleanup - also smooth the combustion chamber, and maybe a valve job.

- Justin

[Tru2Chevy]

Brought to my attention by a friend:

You may be looking at something more serious than a blown head gasket. In order to be burning coolant and not contaminating the oil, you would have to blow the gasket between the coolant passage and the exhaust port...this is almost impossible to do unless you have a cracked head.

Another thing to think about is how much gasket material was in the radiator? Just a few small pieces? If so, that's normal. If there were literally handfuls though, that's bad.

Either way, get this checked out soon, before any more damage is done.

- Justin

[Harbin1]

The radiator had more like a palm-full of gasket material. It appeared to be mostly rubber gasketing, but I'm not sure.

I'm having it pressure checked this coming Monday. We'll find the leak. I'm hoping it's an upper intake gasket of some sort. I'm probably going to end up rebuilding the top end and see if that fixes it. Anybody got any 1.6 rockers for cheap? :D

IF, I had some sort of gasket leak, would I be experiencing much HP loss? My car has always been kind of weak, just look at my dynos on my webpage! Could I pick up any more horses by getting these gaskets replaced and restoring compression/fixing air leaks?

[Tru2Chevy]

That sounds about right for the amount of gasket material if the cooling system has never been flushed before.

If you will already be tearing down the top end, there is no reason that you shouldn't yank the heads and replace those gaskets too. I can imagine that the stock gaskets from '95 are getting a bit ratty.

Yes, if you are losing compression, it will def. affect your hp. If it's only in one cylinder, it won't be too bad, but it could be enough that you would notice the difference.

- Justin