2.4l 98 blown head gasket?

Ok so heres my deal. The oil is normal. The coolant is not oily as far as i can tell. However there is a weird flaky stuff on the radiator cap. But mainly and this just happened in the past couple days. Theres a gurgling noise when i fire it up after its been sitting for awhile. The idle fluctuates. Then sits at a normal idle. There is no vapor in the exhaust other then warm up. After driving for just a minute the idle steadies and the car runs good. And ideas?

 

So why do you think it's the head gasket?

It sounds like you have air in the coolant. Maybe a small leak somewhere. Are you hearing the coolant circulate into the heater core? I've heard gurgling there when moving the heater control between cold and hot.

I would just drive it and monitor the coolant level. If you have exhaust leaking into the coolant it will turn the coolant into a chocolate milkshake color.

If you're really concerned, then do a leakdown test on the cylinders. You could also do a pressure test on the cooling system.

 

When was the cooling system last serviced?

 

And is your coolant level filled up properly? You can also 'burp' air out of the system as well.
My Toyota Supra turbo, well this particular one was awful, made a 'waterfall' sound. It also ate coolant. And then it blew coolant lines. The hard ones to see and get to. That was not a fun vehicle for me.

 

Sorry for the late reply you guys! And thank you for the suggestions. The reason i think i have HG leak is because. I definitely smell exhaust in my reservoir and theres tiny bubbles. I havent tried burping it ive been on vacation. I dont know the last time the cooling system was serviced. Coolant looks normal and oil looks normal too. No vapor from exhaust. I will do a leakdown test.

 

Also yes the coolant levels are topped off properly.

 

I believe there is a fluid tester to see if you're coolant has been introduced to exhaust fumes. You might want to look into that.

 

Try the exhaust condensate taste test. If it's sweet there is coolant in exhaust.

 

Well so if it does test positive for the exhaust could it be anything else but the HG?

 

Coolant in exhaust indicates coolant is being introduced into combustion chamber. Head gasket or crack in the head or cylinder block. How much coolant is being consumed? You can confirm your suspicions by pressure testing cooling system, remove spark plugs and observe what blows out the holes when engine cranked over.

 

AutoZone and O'Reilly's rent out a testing setup that lets you look for exhaust smoke in the coolant. You just have to buy the testing fluid. I used it to confirm my leaky headgasket on my 2.7 before I tore into it.

I was having some of the same symptoms. Dirty ass coolant in the reservoir, and intermittent bubbling at the radiator cap. The only thing that made me think HG was the temp gauge going slightly up on my daily commute

 

The trucks not really getting hot as far as i can tell. No high temp on temp guage. Also its hardly burning coolant at all. Very rarely do i have to top it off. Ill get back with the leak down test and exhaust in coolant. Could there be another reason to have exhaust in the coolant other then the head gasket?

 

It could be a cracked or warped cylinder head.

When I pulled the cylinder head, I saw no obvious signs of failure on the HG, but I believe the cylinder head was slightly warped (I did check it with a straight edge and a feeler gauge and it was within specs). Had never over heated in the year and a half I had owned it up to that point, not sure about before though.

 

This weekend I replaced the heads on the engine. I figured there were 4 areas where coolant could get into the engine. The first spot is the Intake AIr control valve gasket. This is located right underneath the throttle body and held on by 4 screws. (Note: My engine is a 3.4, so it might be diiferent for you.) This can quickly be checked by seeing if there is any water in the plenum. I had water build up right at the throttle body. The Second source is the AI manifold gasket. This had some wear and tear on mine. Then you have the HG and head itself where the Symptoms are goings to be exactly the same and the only way you are going to know if it is one or the other is getting the head tested, especially for cracks. You can look up videos about using dye penetrate, but I don't trust it. I ended up just replacing the head after I saw a huge hole in the Head gasket. the No.2 cylinder was filled with water and steam cleaned as a a result, so I can only imagine the beating the head took and I didn't have time to test it.

 

Can you check to see if the cylinders are clean from coolant with a endoscope?