VT exec 317000 KMS white sludgy muck in rad cap.. head gasket failure?

[1dvsbstd]

Hey guys.. have noticed this over the last few months..
have not flushed the system yet but i will tommorow and see how it goes..

any ideas guys

 

[edals]

Hey Mate.

Check your oil and oil cap, if that is milky, its the Head Gasket.
If not, im tipping Inlet gaskets. easy job just takes a few hours.
But if not sure still, go get a pressure test for the cylinders, and flush the system milky sludge does build up esp if you use the holden tablets

 

[1dvsbstd]

Cheers man.. well looking at the oil cap it looks fine.. is it something that can harm the engine?

 

[sixes]

If its a head gasket then yeah, looks like oil is seeping into your coolant which can clog up your radiator, cooling galleries etc. As edals said, get your system pressure checked and get a new set of head gaskets. Also, get your heads checked for how flat they are.

Are your heads iron or alloy? Cast can crack but alloy can also warp. Get them checked out before putting them back on your motor. Last thing you want to do is put it all back together and find out something you could have done before you put it together was the problem. Might pay to put new valve seals in too while your at it and clean out the intake / exhaust runners of all the gunk and build up.

 

[shifty6]

Just flush the radiator out first and see how it goes, as said above the coolant additive pellets can have that effect as well. Next step would be cylinder compression test, wouldn't go buying new head gaskets just yet.

 

[sixes]

Would he still use pellets at 300K?
Does the foam feel oily?

 

[1dvsbstd]

If its a head gasket then yeah, looks like oil is seeping into your coolant which can clog up your radiator, cooling galleries etc. As edals said, get your system pressure checked and get a new set of head gaskets. Also, get your heads checked for how flat they are.

Are your heads iron or alloy? Cast can crack but alloy can also warp. Get them checked out before putting them back on your motor. Last thing you want to do is put it all back together and find out something you could have done before you put it together was the problem. Might pay to put new valve seals in too while your at it and clean out the intake / exhaust runners of all the gunk and build up.

Cheers man i def will get it looked at.. but for now it seems alright.. just seems to be something in the system.. will flush it up and see how it goes..

 

[1dvsbstd]

Would he still use pellets at 300K?
Does the foam feel oily?

just feels like muck.. can still clearly see coolant though.. just builds up say over a months time

 

[1dvsbstd]

Just flush the radiator out first and see how it goes, as said above the coolant additive pellets can have that effect as well. Next step would be cylinder compression test, wouldn't go buying new head gaskets just yet.

cheers man.. going to give that a go first !..

 

[mateyVTII]

I'm pretty sure that it's your transmission fluid mixing with your coolant, and coolant also going into your auto transmission which will end up stuffing it. This is common with crappy alloy radiators with crappy built in alloy transmission oil coolers which stuff up through corrosion and begin mixing auto trans fluid with the coolant and vice versa.

This problem you have will only get worse as time goes by because the leaking gets bigger and bigger, and you'll have more and more gunk, and you'll lose more and more water till your trans stops working one day, amongst other things!

This is usually always the case when it isn't your head gasket causing the gunk. and if you have a nice clean oil filler cap, your head gasket is not causing the gunk on your rad cap. It's trans fluid.

Best fix is to throw away your alloy radiator and install a brand new copper core radiator made for manual trans which has no connections for trans cooling lines (you wont be needing them). Then install an external auto trans oil cooler in front of the air con condenser which of course will totally bypass the radiator so you can never have this problem again, plus you'l

This works perfectly well in winter and summer, as transmissions love to be cool not hot.

I did this myself about 4 years ago and it's one of the best things I've ever done to our car.

Some cars come out standard with this setup. Every auto transmission should come factory liker this in my opinion.

You will still get that gunk on your rad cap for a long time as it has trans fluid right throughout your motor. just keep cleaning your cap every couple of weeks till there is no more gunk. it will take a long time to get totally rid of it!

Don't forget to flush your motor really well before installing your new radiator, and use 5 litres of good quality long life concentrate coolant in your system. I chose the green coloured Nulon concentrate coolant which lasts 4 years or 100,000 Klms I think?? Thats just running off memory but it's something like that. In my opinion and many other people I know including good mechanics, it's top notch coolant! Don't buy cheap crap just to save a few bucks!

Anyway, good luck people, and I hope that my experience will help many of you!!!!!!!