engine bay really hot and coolant bubbling

[TsiJohn333]

The other day i was walking back to my car from a long day at work. When i got to my car, i noticed that there was antifreeze on the ground coming from under my car. i popped the hood and noticed i was low on antifreeze. i walked to walmart and purchased some coolant. I added about a quarter of a jug of antifreeze and slowly drove home. When i got home my engine bay was boiling hot to the point where i could barely put my hand near it and my coolant over flow tank was slightly bubbling, but you can here the coolant bubbling inside my engine a lot. i saw that one of the banjo bolts was leaking coolant as well near the crush washer. i have not replaced that yet but will very soon. i did a quick log with evoscan and my coolant temps are around 210- 220ish. my fans are almost always running. I'm not gonna be driving the car until the problem is fixed.
My question is why is my coolant bubbling. could this be the start of a blown head gasket, or could this be related to me leaking antifreeze from the banjo bolts crush washer on my turbo?

Thanks,
John

 

[Boostinsideways]

Really sounds like a blown headgasket. Pure water doesn't boil till 212 Fahrenheit, if your running coolant as well that should bump up the boiling point.

Sounds like something is pressurizing the system.

Best way to test for blown HG would a leak down test, if you can't get a leak down tester, you can least do a compression test. I know most auto parts stores will lend you a compression tester. My O'Reillys doesnt have leak down gauges, so I am going to have to borrow one from a friend. Having a similar issue atm. But its just when I cut the car off. So I am thinking engine bay heat soak.

 

[H4G64T]

Really sounds like a blown headgasket. Pure water doesn't boil till 212 Fahrenheit, if your running coolant as well that should bump up the boiling point.

Sounds like something is pressurizing the system.

Best way to test for blown HG would a leak down test, if you can't get a leak down tester, you can least do a compression test. I know most auto parts stores will lend you a compression tester. My O'Reillys doesnt have leak down gauges, so I am going to have to borrow one from a friend. Having a similar issue atm. But its just when I cut the car off. So I am thinking engine bay heat soak.

Let's not jump to catastrophic failure.

You should do a compression check just for security, but both air in the system and a bad radiator cap can cause this. The culprit is the bad radiator cap. Is the coolant overflowing from your overflow tank?

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Evoscan suggest if your temps are that high, it's a headgasket. But do the free stuff or cheap stuff. Try replacing your rad cap and burp all the air out.

 

[rodeapony]

Ya, that's exactly what happened to my car. The end result was a head blown gasket...

 

[TsiJohn333]

i will do a compression test tomorrow. i replaced the radiator cap and the thermostat as well about a month ago. the coolant is not bubbling out of the coolant over flow tank. the reason its bubbling is because of all the air that is being pushed out of the system and is pushing it into my over flow tank. kinda similar to blowing into a straw in your drink and making bubbles. When i take off the coolant over flow tank cap, the coolant though is smoking a little because it is really really hot. i checked my oil as well and i am not mixing coolant and oil. i just tried burping the system about 5 mins ago and did not seem to have any effect on it.

 

[Ppayer38]

I had this issues even with a Koyo alum Radiator, New cap, and vented hood.... System was cleaned and flushed 3 times and thermostat was less than 3 months old(170 t-stat from advance)

My car ran hot and I did all those things but it fixed when I changed my t-stat to a new 170 from advance my temps dropped right down to 170....

Do t-stat, cap and flush the system, add water wetter and let the car idle with the cap off and rev it to 2000rpm for about 2-3 mins to burp the system as it can be a pain sometimes....

 

[TsiJohn333]

Well just an update, I did exactly what Ppayer38 suggested to do. I went with a new oem t-stat, new radiator cap, i flushed the whole system, added water wetter (it was a cooling product by royal purple from advance auto parts) and burped the system. Now my coolant temps have significantly dropped to around 195ish and no more bubbling. It also dropped my engine bay temps down it seems like and my fans now hardly come on (which is a good thing)! thank you to everyone who has helped me! this thread is RESOLVED!