Blown Head Gasket?

Hello All...What do you look for if you have blown a head gasket..I have no water in my oil..I'm wondering if I blew a freeze plug..Hard to see..
Duane.
This whole build has been a nightmare.........

 

What makes you think the gasket blown?
What are you working on?

 

Quick easy way is pulling the plugs and crank the engine. Water will spurt out of the cylinder that's blown. In my case though, it was a leaky valve guide.

 

depends on where it's blown......some get water in the oil (milkshake) some make steam out the exhaust and still others create pressure and heat in the cooling system......signs are milky oil, overheating and steam coming out of the exhaust.

 

Hello..The engine is a 241 Hemi.. The sound and steam came from the drivers side down low on the engine..What if I put a compression check on the cylinders. Would I get very low compression..
I'm close to giving up on this engine and build..One nightmare after another..
enough crying..back to work..\
Duane..

 

There's a head gasket checker you can buy at any good parts store
It sniffs for exhaust gas in the cooling system

But honest it could be anything from info you've provided

Compression check isn't going to tell you much unless you have a broken gasket or maybe the wrong gasket or backwards.

 

Get a Leak Meter (with a long straight stiff hose or make one with a long pipe ****** to reach the deep spark plug thread), roll each cyl up on TDC and air them up one by one. The meter will tell you how much you are loosing and the air leak noise will help pinpoint it.

And for further reference, detonation will knock out a head gasket quickly no matter how flat the deck surfaces are. K

 

the head gasket checker Bluto mentioned, if its the one i use (with the blue fluid that turns green if it smells hydrocarbons) it works very well for smelling the coolant tank (DONT GET COOLANT IN THE TOOL) just use it to smell the air in the radiator or surge tank.

if you blew a freeze plug out, i think you'd find alot of coolant on the driveway. is your hemi overheating?

 

If its coming from the side of the block it sounds more like a leak.Might be a freeze plug.Filll the radiator,Put a radiator pressure tester on it.Pump up the system the look for your leak.If nothing visible start it up and check.Then I would pull the plugs on that side for inspection.

 

The early convex freezeplugs are kind of a problem child.
Might not be a gasket at all.
Pour some water in it and see what happens,if it runs out on the ground jack it up and see where it's comin' from.

 

Like I said ......... are you sure it's a headgasket?

 

Hello..I'm not sure what it is..This is a new rebuilt engine..It has about 2 hours of run time..I've been under the weather for a few days, hope I feel better tomorrow so I can spend some time exploring..If it's a head gasket is would be easier to replay then a freeze plug, engine would have to come out, no room..
Thanks for the direction..
Duane..