probably blown head gasket.. options

[steroidcontaskie]

Ok, so the soarer is running ok, but is losing a small amount of coolant. Did a cylinder leak test and the fluid went from blue to green after about 10 pumps, but did not yellow even after 100. So I am guessing I have a small head gasket leak... does that sound about right?

Now, the what to do time. Options are.

Ignore it, and take it to the dyno for tuning. Get another engine and rebuild that while I am driving with the damaged one.

Ignore it, and tuning it myself, knowing that if I blow it up the engine was damaged anyway .Get another engine and rebuild that while I am driving with the damaged one

Take the car off the road immediately and get another engine for it.

Get the head gasket repaired on the engine I have.

Project cars are fun. .

Cheers
Edward

[85AW20v]

Irontite from Repco in the interim while you build up another motor. Mind you it lasted more than 2 years on the Mini my brother used to rally.

[Crucible]

The fluid should turn piss yellow and normally it will change within a minute. You might want to suck some exhaust fumes into tester at the tailpipe so you can see what colour it looks like when blown. a slight change to green after a minute ill always back up with a leakdown test to confirm.

[phoenix]

I don't know what the NA JZ gaskets are like, but the old 1JZ TT one was pretty hard to blow. I ran into a few circumstances that would've produced a BHG on other cars, but it was fine.

Before leaping into a BHG diagnosis I'd check:

- The radiator top tank, as hairline cracks are common. I had this on my Soarer, and it produced a slow loss of coolant, worsening as the cracks became more noticeable.
- The radiator hoses, as these can leak minute amounts around connections without obvious signs. I had this on my JZX, minute coolant loss, completely solved with new hoses.

[MAC_HATER]

Another thing to check might be the water pump, For about a year i was consistently losing water in my 1JZ, albiet a small amount each time I would drive it, we found out at the 200,000km service that the water pump (relief?) seals were shagged, and as the car warmed up and cooled down, it would weep coolant from the water pump, but when it was running and hot, everything sealed up and was fine for long hot drives, and wouldn't use a drop, also the water pump was the pump for the hydro fan for the radiator if that makes any difference

and yeah, the JZ motors seem to have awesome heads\gaskets, as when my crank pulley decided to piss off while driving, i limped it home, thinking the water pump ran off the cambelt, got it home and realized that wasnt the case and poop'd a little, thinking i cooked it, but i got away scott free in that case, that sort of running like that would have cooked most motors i would have thought haha

[steroidcontaskie]

Cheers for the responses.

I sucked in some exhaust gas and the tester went yellow as in about 10 pumps.

The only thing the car is doing apart from the slow coolant loss. Is that the car wont idle unless it is running a bit rich and when it is really warmed up it sometimes starts to run really rich and miss / other times it is fine. But I figured these were to do with the car not being tuned properly yet.

Water pump is only 20K old, but I will have look dor leaks.

Might get another 2jzge just incase. Can always sell it on if this one turns out to be good and holds together well.

Cheers
Edward

[whynot]

I had similar with a small leak and I only found it when I pressurized the cooling system while it was cold and left it for a few hours. Could be something to try.

[evil_si]

Did your tester suck up coolant? This can make the fluid change colour and give false results

[steroidcontaskie]

I dont think I sucked in coolant, I did drain quite a lot out of the radiator first.

I have now bought another 2jzge, and am thinking what to do with it.

What are peoples thoughts on going doing ARP head studs, using a 2jzge head gasket again (maintaining the 10:1 compression for spool and off boost performance). I have got wanter methanol injection and am looking for about 15psi (400rwhp).

The other option is to drop the compression with a thicker head gasket, but that will also raise the quench area , which I believe isnt a good thing.

Cheers
Edward