mini me

[Clark Wilcox]

Hope this is in the right area. Did a mini-me swap 2 years ago and been running great until now. Problem: radiator empty after drive to work, overflow bottle full. Pour the fluid back into the rad the next morning and drive to work, then overflow full again. Checked the compression and #3 is 100psi and #4 is 60. I suspect a head gasket based on what i'm reading in the fourms. Any suggestions?

 

[dc4dude]

Looks like you are looking in the right direction there bud... Compression is escaping your combustion chamber into the cooling system causing it to boil over... Be careful when you are under the hood when its hot, as the hoses will be under a considerable amount of pressure and depending on their condition, are more prone to fail under the added amount of stress... When you remove the head, check it for cracks or obvious signs of coolant contamination.

 

[phunky.buddha]

If you have an air compressor and can get (or have) a leakdown tester, run a leakdown test on the engine to see where the leaks are coming from. It'll let you isolate the leak down to 1 or 2 specific areas of the engine before you tear it open. It does definitely sound like your head gasket is bad though- but it could be other things that might not be so obvious once you have the engine apart.