klleetrucking

It's been awhile, life and other stuff just kinda got in the way.

I still have my '70 Cutlass Supreme (350 2bbl) but kind of afraid to drive it too far from home. I got it hot and I'm sure I compromised at least the head gasket as I get bubbles in the coolant and it pushes out coolant when it gets shutoff. I'm gonna lurk while I figure out a course of action.

I'm open to any suggestions and I do appreciate this forum. K.Lee

Gerald Nickels

Pull spark plugs and find out before you do anything. If water in cyl. pull head now don't leave liquid in it.
Gerald

oldcutlass

Welcome back, hope its nothing major.

Allan R

You might want to also check the oil and see if it's turned a milky brown color. That's another sign of a head gasket failure. While you're under the hood check the cooling system. Open the rad and see if it's all crudded up or even got coolant inside. Also check the thermostat to see if it's still functional. Water pump? Do you see any flow of coolant when the engine is running and the rad cap is off? Some preliminary thoughts.

klleetrucking

No milkshake oil, no snot on the oil fill cap. When the engine is cold and I start it I can see a trail of small bubbles in the coolant flow. It's hard to describe but during the cranking I can hear a distinct weak cylinder, much like if one spark plug was removed. That leads me to believe I'm losing compression in one cylinder.

Once I get my shop back organised I'll be doing a compression check and "hopefully" find a blown head gasket.

Mods, should my thread be moved to the engine section? I'm not sure how to do it.

76olds

Yoy may have got luck and the head gasket still OK. If it boiled over, into an overflow bottle if equipped, you may need to refill until the air locks are purged out.
Years ago, I took my pulleys off, blasted them, painted them. Then while driving down the 401, My hot idiot light came on, by the time I got pulled over, coolant was pushing out my overflow bottle, coolant all over my inside fender etc. 1976 350 with original shim head gaskets.
What happened was, my belts slipped off at 70MPH wrapped around the fan, fan clutch and water pump, what a mess. Had it towed home, scuffed off the belt pulleys, installed new belts, fan and clutch, new water pump and 195 t-stat.
Refilled with new coolant, drove it for several miles checking on things, no problems.
I hope its nothing major!

Eric

coppercutlass

get a test kit to test the coolant if its contaminated. Do a leak test to have the cylinders hold air psi at TDC with compressed air and see if the coolant system bubbles up.