I've had a problem develop over the past 2-3 weeks where the main
symptom seems to be a lot of water disappearing from the radiator. It's
'drinking' almost 1.5 litres of water approx every 50 miles and since it
is not overheating or overflowing from the radiator cap, it has be going
somewhere else. Another couple of symptoms are rough starting - sounds
like it's firing on only 3 cylinders for the first 30 seconds, and if
I'm not paranoid, what appears to be steam coming from the exhaust when
the engine is cold.
Not having stripped an engine before and hence knowing the internals too
well, is it possible either the waterpump gasket or head gasket have
blown?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Tim
SIV Singapore
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Tim, I had the same symptoms and it turned out to be the head
gasket. The likely cause of the head gasket failure is corosion of the
head where water passes from the head to the block. I had a guy repair
my head for about $25 then took it to a machine shop for resurfacing,
about another $25. Smitty usually has reworked ones on hand.
Rob Nanzig
67SV
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