head gasket failure

[vegita319]

OK, THis is so weird. I have some little swirl things in my coolant that looks like oil. THis would lead me to think i have a blown head gasket. However i did a compression test it was 185 all across. THe compression was the same all across and the dipstick is not milky at all. I just drove to san francisco a few weeks ago too. THat would suck if i have a head gasket failure since all the only sign is the oil in the coolant. but every other test would lead me to conclude other wise. Is is possible to have a problem somewhere else. I dont' want to have to pay nissan 85 dollars to diagnose it since i want to get it fixed. If it turns out it was the headgasket, i might have been better off buying the head gasket using the money that that i would've paid nissan and get it done this weekend. THanks.

[orion::S14]

Does it overheat when you beat on it or push coolant out into the resevoir? Has it overheated (to your knowledge) ever?

Does it puff white smoke at all?

If no to both, then probably not.

- Brian

[orion::S14]

*double post*, disregard.

[orion::S14]

Oh...I just saw your other thread...so disregard #1, part 2 above.

Could be the HG...!

But what about the pushing coolant thing? And #2...?

[vegita319]

hmm it smokes once in a while. Like if im idling for a while. But other than that it rarely smokes. And no, it doenst push coolant into the resevior. still at the H mark on the reservior. However i noticed that i have lost some coolant. Thanks orion.

[BSeay]

My 240 started to "mysteriously" lose coolant, then it started to push it back into the resevior and now i'm replacing the HG...good luck because the smoking is probably burning the "slight" burning of coolant...look for the remains of burn coolant...it has a white-ish look on the engine...good luck..

[skatanic28]

i kind of had a similar problem a few months back. after i got my sway bars on i wanted to see how they felt. so i was driving pretty hard in a little industrial park. so after a couple laps i headed home and noticed the water temp going up. i pulled over and shut it down and tried to see if anything was wrong. couldnt find anything and made it home and pulled in the garage. popped the hood and there was water/coolant everywhere. the overflow tank had some in it still, but i popped the rad cap on it was bone dry, with steam now pouring out of it. i filled it back up and bled the cooling system, and i havent had a problem with overheating/overflow to this day. if anyone could give me a little insight as to what may have happened, it would be cool.
thanks

[vegita319]

Yeah, its weird, cuz if i have head gasket failure... i should not have compression at 185 in all cylinders. Its so werid, head gasket always loses compression yet mine is equivalent in all of them and no difference. I bought my car from an old white guy who rarely drove it so its like the best running car yet i just notice these little perks as having to keep topping off fluid or air might get in and overheat it again.