Why is my car making chocolate milk?

BringinDaBEEF · Nov 28, 2013

Ok, so this is my first post on here. This is my first "Dsm" but I have had an evo before hand. Any how...

I had just purchased this beautiful Northstar white 98 GSX. Mint. No rust anywhere! Couldn't pass it up. Moving on, I was driving the car a week ago and I stopped by my paint guy (getting a new bumper and a few dings fixed, I'm OCD and like things PERFECT.) and once I had shut the car off I looked back at it before walking into his shop and noticed a puddle on the ground that looked like chocolate milk. So I popped the hood and noticed that my coolant over flow top was popped and the THICK coolant was running out. The car hadn't over heated at that point. I finished up with getting my paint estimated and I noticed my coolant temp was getting hotter. Hit the highway and it cooled right down. I'm about 30 minutes from home might I add... Got on the road that is a straight shot home but is still about 5-7minutes away from my house and the car got HOT. I'm talking like 260 deg hot... Shot up my drive way and shut the car down. At that point it was bubbling and I couldn't do anything but pop the hood and let it cool. I suspected a head gasket with the mixture of oil and coolant but I talked to the PO and he said it has a NEW head gasket and ARP studs. I'm still leaning towards a head gasket but what do you guys think? I'm new to older 4g63's.

-Why would the coolant come out of the overflow?
-Are head gaskets common to pop like that?
-why isn't the car blowing any white smoke out of the exhaust?
-And do you think with it getting so hot that I could have done internal damage?

Things to note:
-this is NOT the 98 7 bolt. It was swapped with a 96 7 bolt (had a built motor and was taken out and the 96 7 bolt was put in its place and ran GREAT with zero issues till now)
-Head has new seals and head gasket with ARP studs
-turbo is tuned low at 14psi (AGP L1R Turbo (Garrett GT30 variant [3072]) w/ EVO III ported manifold, O2 housing, 34mm internal wastegate) on DSMLINK v3
-was NOT beating on it on the 30 minute trip to the shop.

I planned on running this 7 bolt for next spring and doing a light build on a 6 bolt over winter and swapping once the 7 bolt decided to quit.

Any help would be appreciated! :cool:

BringinDaBEEF · Jan 18, 2014

The motor in now is a 96 7 bolt. And do you guys really think the oil filter housing would mix coolant? I checked the dip stick and shows ZERO sign of coolant mixing with oil there... And I want to pull the motor as the car is going for paint and wouldn't mind the engine bay redone when the rest of the car will be painted.

I would also like to add that since I'm not using a turbo block I don't feel as though it would hold up well being higher compression and no oil squirters. I hear running no oil squirters is fine as long as you run forged internals, hence why I was going to build the block (built meaning better pistons, rods, and bearings). I have until spring to get it done which is plenty of time. I also plan on ditching the MAF and going speed density. With the current turbo I may only be able to make around 400whp any ways and my injectors will probably be getting up there in reguards to duty cycle.

1G Eclipse94928 said:
If your building your 6 bolt (with a lot of room to improve) then get 280's or 272 cams(and everything else in the head) then get forged H beam rods and some performance pistons. Check the supporting vendors for the best price on the rods/pistions you decide on, and then make sure you get the 4 spider upgraded transmission soon because you will blow that thing up if you decide to turn up the boost.(assuming its stock.)

I don't think I'll need 280's as I don't think ill rev passed 8k. But this is the first I've heard of the 4 spider trans. Care to elaborate? Is it a built trans?

1G Eclipse94928 · Jan 18, 2014

BringinDaBEEF said:
The motor in now is a 96 7 bolt. And do you guys really think the oil filter housing would mix coolant? I checked the dip stick and shows ZERO sign of coolant mixing with oil there... And I want to pull the motor as the car is going for paint and wouldn't mind the engine bay redone when the rest of the car will be painted.

I would also like to add that since I'm not using a turbo block I don't feel as though it would hold up well being higher compression and no oil squirters. I hear running no oil squirters is fine as long as you run forged internals, hence why I was going to build the block (built meaning better pistons, rods, and bearings). I have until spring to get it done which is plenty of time. I also plan on ditching the MAF and going speed density. With the current turbo I may only be able to make around 400whp any ways and my injectors will probably be getting up there in reguards to duty cycle.

I don't think I'll need 280's as I don't think ill rev passed 8k. But this is the first I've heard of the 4 spider trans. Care to elaborate? Is it a built trans?

The 4 spider is a center dif. upgrade, Jacks sells/offers them in built transmissions(even stage 1) and it upgrades the horsepower it can safely hold. If you can do it yourself then its only 400$, If you cant then I would wait till your transmission needs the full rebuild because just taking these out can cost quite a bit. (I was quoted $2,000 just for removal.)

So I decided to do it myself, then just send it in.
Center Diff 4-spider – Jacks Transmissions LLC

BringinDaBEEF · Jan 18, 2014

1G Eclipse94928 said:
The 4 spider is a center dif. upgrade, Jacks sells/offers them in built transmissions(even stage 1) and it upgrades the horsepower it can safely hold. If you can do it yourself then its only 400$, If you cant then I would wait till your transmission needs the full rebuild because just taking these out can cost quite a bit. (I was quoted $2,000 just for removal.) So I decided to do it myself, then just send it in.
Center Diff 4-spider – Jacks Transmissions LLC

I'm capable or know people capable with helping me with that. What kind of power can they hold up to? I'll definitely consider this while everything is apart.

1G Eclipse94928 · Jan 18, 2014

BringinDaBEEF said:
I'm capable or know people capable with helping me with that. What kind of power can they hold up to? I'll definitely consider this while everything is apart.

Jack rates the original stock transmission at near stock power levels, and with the upgrade they rate it at 450-500. Its a conservative rating of course, so it almost doubles the safe power in there eyes. (The 4-spider will hold strong though WAY past that and your transmission would blow something else up before the 4 spider was anywhere near going.

TalonFULLtune · Jan 18, 2014

Check your plugs see how they look. Do a leak down test. this is just to give you some assurance about the head gasket. the head gasket is more then likely leaking do to it being a mls. they don't always seal and this is do to careless or lazy people working not prepping the head and block. ofh could be the cause. Did you do a oil change lately maybe the oil filter was turn to tight. that will crack/crush the housing. I have seen this a dozen times mostly with newer dsm owners.(not saying you are no disrespect was meant towards you just explaining what I have encountered). let us know what you come up with.

BringinDaBEEF · Jan 18, 2014

The motor does not have a MLS gasket. Previous owner used a composite. I'll check the OFH soon. I do notice some oil leaks in that area. I can't remember if I had gotten an oil change at my dads shop when I first got the car or not. It's been a while. I'll look at the oil filter to see. Either way I still will be swapping in the 6 bolt.

spyderturbo007 · Jan 20, 2014

BringinDaBEEF said:
The motor in now is a 96 7 bolt. And do you guys really think the oil filter housing would mix coolant?

Absolutely. I had mine in for inspection and asked my mechanic to change the oil while it was there and rotate the tires. I normally do that myself, but I figured it was just easier since it was already up on the lift.

Anyway, someone decided to crank the oil filter on and smashed the housing. The oil ended up in the coolant.

BringinDaBEEF said:
I checked the dip stick and shows ZERO sign of coolant mixing with oil there...

That's completely normal as the oil pressure is significantly higher than the coolant pressure. The easiest way to tell is to pull off the housing, stick it in a bucket of water, cap off one coolant hose and pressurize the housing. If it bubbles, it's shot and is the cause of your problem.

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Why is my car making chocolate milk?

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