|
Likewise, I should have read this posting before responding to the blue smoke question. Hope it's only the grease that you applied to the water pump. Unless you have to top up the radiator almost daily, then you shouldn't have a leak in the head gasket. You would see white smoke (condensation) from the tailpipe and if you checked your oil, the dipstick may have the color of your antifreeze on it. Unfortunately the head gasket has metal reinforcements where the coolant jacket mates with the cylinder head and channels around the piston sleeves, that terminate at the metal on the head gasket. Considering the corrosive nature of stale antifreeze or just the presence of water, is enough to eventually rot these areas. It's just a matter of time before the holes enlarge and the compression of the pistons sucks the antifreeze into the cylinder. Also, the areas where the push rods go through the head gasket can also deteriorate, causing antifreeze to leak directly into the crankcase. From my experience, a warped cylinder head is caused by a neglected coolant leak. I concur that an oil change and coolant flush will help you to narrow down any potential problems.
On the oil question, I forgot to mention to be sure all of the oil canister parts are installed properly and are still there. My experience is that mechanics got lazy or frustrated by the difficulty of centering the fliter with that large holding spring, that the mechanics disgarded the spring, resulting in essentially no oil filtering, another no-no for a 40 year old engine.
Good luck.
--
Cam a.k.a. CVOLVO.COM
|
