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Please change your coolant if your haven't done so lately.

We find that most of the head gasket failures are due to the fiber material of the gasket getting eaten from acidic coolant. This eventually lets the crush ring delaminate and coolant enters the combustion chamber. The first symptoms are rising temps (all of a sudden) and lower coolant level in resovoir. It starts out slow then car can be hard to start or run rough at low rpm.

Eventually the head gaskets are going to fail. Don't worry, if your car has 100k or so this is the perfect time to freshen your cylinder head and restore lost low end torque

Pete

The head can get pitted too from the old coolant.



I use a wet vac to change coolant, works great and leaves the vac nice and clean. I just pull a radiator hose and slorch it out.



After refilling, it's easy to bleed the system by applying pressure to the coolant tank. You can use a cooling system pressure tester, or what I do is:



Pull the vacuum line to the heater valve or leave the key on and heater set to full hot / defrost (engine off)

Clean the end of the overflow hose

Leave the filler cap off

Right hand over the filler neck to seal it, left hand on a wrench on the bleeder screw, coolant overflow hose in your mouth.



Blow - open bleeder - close bleeder - inhale



Repeat, make sure to top off the coolant as needed. Air and then coolant will eventually come out the bleeder.



Rinse out your mouth, and do not swallow any drops of coolant that somehow might have gotten in your mouth. I swish the end of the overflow hose around in some water and wipe off the dirt on the outside. Never had a problem.



After that I run the car up to temp and burp it once more when fully hot. Easy!



-Joel.

Sounds tasty!

I have the symptons described in the message of Pete: rising temperature, low coolant level and rise of the pressure in the coolant circuit as soon as I stop the motor. I intend to replace the head gasket sooner.

Green coolant is best with fish, orange is better with red meats and poultry.

From what I've heard this is more of an issue with cars that sit for long periods of time...



A quick check is done by inspecting the sparkplugs. A brown or greenish build-up on the electrode may indicate coolant contamination.