Headgasket? Valvecover gasket?

[triggerx]

Ok so I was driving and all of a sudden I hear a loud pop. As soon as that happened, I started to smell coolant but I'm not quite sure what happened. I've looked all the hoses, they seem ok, and all of them are less than a year old. However I did notice oil or water coming out towards the top of the valve cover from the screw holes closest to the timing belt underneath the spark plug cover.
Any guesses?

I hope the head gasket didn't blow, but it doesn't seem to blow excess white smoke and the oil on the cap seems normal.

 

[LiquidX]

What did the car do after the pop? Are you sure it wasn't intake related? If you are wondering if it was the HG, do a leak down test to find out. How does the oil look by taking the cap off?

 

[russell3123]

The only way to tell is to do a compression check. To me it does sound like a head gasket. You can also take the radiator cap off and see if it looks milky in there.

 

[triggerx]

The car literally seems fine, I have the stock intake on their btw. Whatever happened it seems like a mix of oil and water just splashed on the engine bay. The car runs and everything, but ill be sure to run the tests. It's time for some new plugs Anyways

It was the radiator, seemed to have pop. Maybe.. the more I fill up the coolant it just leaks out the radiator. Im just hoping it didn't cause damage else where. I should probably change that valve cover gasket anyways since its never been replaced since I had it. Dorman gaskets ok?

 

[LiquidX]

If the valve cover isn't leaking then there is no need for a new gasket set to go on unless you have to pull the cover. I would do a coolant system pressure test to see where the leaks are. Having a system that cannot stay pressurized will potentially cause over heating which is a bad thing

Also, I wouldn't use those radiator stop leak kits, just get a new radiator if it's bad.

 

[triggerx]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, yeah the radiator is gone, won't even hold coolant, I stuck a hose in their and offourse it all just poured right on out. I'm just hoping the car wasn't damaged further than that from getting so hot