bad headgasket cause no heat?

[992GNTme]

Alright, so i got in my spare car the other day and i have had this problem the whole time i have owned this car. The car has over 200,000 miles. The car runs great no misfire of any sort but, it smokes when it is ideling and has no heat. It has little to no pressure on the radiator hose and sometimes when its hot outside will run hot. So my question is, can a bad heas gasket cause these few problems? BTW the car is a 96 420a. Any help would be greatly appricated. thanks,Chris.

 

[LKWTSI]

Sounds like you either have a air pocket locked in your cooling system or the Thermostat is jammed closed. Either situation can cause lack of hot coolant to go to your heater core and cause the hot temp on hot days.

Start by replacing your thermostat and refreshing your coolant and see if that helps. beyond that it could be something wrong with your heater control and you can't tell until your certain you've got warm coolant going to it first.

 

[knochgoon24]

Have you tried a new thermostat? The one in the car may be stuck closed.

 

[992GNTme]

yeah i put a new thermostat in it. I also flushed the coolant, checked the climate controlls and all the fuses. I can't find anything wrong.

 

[debbie]

Could be a bad water pump. I had this on a bmw 3 series, when the car was idling the heaters blew cold but as soon as you revved the engine they blew hot, apparently it was a common problem so I lived with it.

 

[992GNTme]

mine dosen't get hot at all though and the coolant is circulating fine.

 

[loba]

+1 on the water pump. Head gasket can cause smoking, but it depends on what kind of smoking it is. It could also be a valve stem leaking oil into the combustion chamber, but if it's only on idle it could be running a little rich.

 

[992GNTme]

it's definatly oil smoke but it also has a sort of sweet smell to it.

 

[loba]

Sweet smell = antifreeze. The smoke looks very similar and often the scent is the dead giveaway.

sounds like a bad head gasket.

 

[duwackerTSi69]

If it was not for the smoke, I would just say the coolant could be low if any at all is left? My O1 Grand Am had low coolant and had no heat at all out of the vents.. Same thing with my old grand prix..

 

[Locke]

Do a compression and/or leak-down test to prove or disprove the HG diagnosis.

 

[992GNTme]

okay i will do that. thanks.