GooeyGus
10+ Year Contributor
- 459
- 1
- Sep 23, 2009
-
Marysville,
Washington
Hey Guys,
Let me start off by saying that I know the first 10 replies are going to be people saying "It's your headgasket". Let me assure you that I've done every test imaginable and none point to the head.
Compression tested 150 across the board, no more than 1-2psi variance between all four.
Coolant temperature are perfect, they fluctuate between 195 and 200 during normal cruising, if I'm idling for a long time I've seen as high as 203°F, which is nothing to worry about.
Leakdown test was good across all four.
NO white smoke / steam out the exhaust while cruising or under acceleration.
None of the pistons are wet or steam cleaned.
Now here's the issue:
About every month / month and a half I'll have to add some coolant. It's not much, maybe 1/5 of a gallon. I cant find any leaks at all.
I do have a few exhaust leaks by the manifold / turbo area, maybe even a cracked exhaust housing on the turbo. I haven't been able to really check it out, but the turbo is looking pretty old, even though the shaft play still seems "OK".
When I drive the car for a while then let it sit, say 10-20 minutes or so, when I start it up I'll get a puff of steam/coolant out the exhaust. Also, I'll get a tiny bit from under the hood (from wherever the exhaust leaks are)
When the car is at full operating temp and has been driven for a while then I turn it off, I inspect under the hood. No coolant leaks or anything, but if I listen near the manifold or turbo area every few minutes I'll hear a quick sound of coolant moving somewhere in the system near the turbo. This could be totally unrelated, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Also, my exhaust manifold studs/bolts and gasket need to be changed. A while ago I had oil leaking from a stud into the ehxuast manifold. Do any of these studs go into a coolant passage? I dont think they do, but I've been wrong before!
Any ideas?
Let me start off by saying that I know the first 10 replies are going to be people saying "It's your headgasket". Let me assure you that I've done every test imaginable and none point to the head.
Compression tested 150 across the board, no more than 1-2psi variance between all four.
Coolant temperature are perfect, they fluctuate between 195 and 200 during normal cruising, if I'm idling for a long time I've seen as high as 203°F, which is nothing to worry about.
Leakdown test was good across all four.
NO white smoke / steam out the exhaust while cruising or under acceleration.
None of the pistons are wet or steam cleaned.
Now here's the issue:
About every month / month and a half I'll have to add some coolant. It's not much, maybe 1/5 of a gallon. I cant find any leaks at all.
I do have a few exhaust leaks by the manifold / turbo area, maybe even a cracked exhaust housing on the turbo. I haven't been able to really check it out, but the turbo is looking pretty old, even though the shaft play still seems "OK".
When I drive the car for a while then let it sit, say 10-20 minutes or so, when I start it up I'll get a puff of steam/coolant out the exhaust. Also, I'll get a tiny bit from under the hood (from wherever the exhaust leaks are)
When the car is at full operating temp and has been driven for a while then I turn it off, I inspect under the hood. No coolant leaks or anything, but if I listen near the manifold or turbo area every few minutes I'll hear a quick sound of coolant moving somewhere in the system near the turbo. This could be totally unrelated, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Also, my exhaust manifold studs/bolts and gasket need to be changed. A while ago I had oil leaking from a stud into the ehxuast manifold. Do any of these studs go into a coolant passage? I dont think they do, but I've been wrong before!
Any ideas?
