First of all, I know there are many posts under " head gasket" but this is my first post and I still had to ask before spending big bucks.
A little background,(and the biggest regret of my car ownership life) I had to drive my car after the expansion tank cracked, all the coolant was leaking. the car was over heating but I was on the highway with no where to pull off at. I ran the car util the red light came on and then it turned off, while the gauge was still all the way on red.:facepalm: white smoke from the exhaust came out and i lost power. I stopped in the middle of the road at night waited for the car to it to cool down to drive only 1 more mile to where i live at.
The technical part, the mechanic I took to initially fixed the cracked expansion tank but he said the car was still overheating, and he suggested that i replaced the water pump and the belt which I did, but the car was still overheating but maybe it was due to a crack along the bleeding screw on the upper radiator hose. there was coolant leaking from it when cold and steam seeping when hot.
I replaced the upper radiator hose. I was shocked to see white powdery substance on both ends of the hose but not the middle.
When he installed the new hose the car was not overheating while sitting idle, although, the temperature gauge did move from cold state to the half mark pretty rapidly but it never passed the half point.
As soon as i turned on the AC the gauge passed half point. The mechanic went on with further diagnosis and said that the HG is blown. But when test driving the car after the upper radiator hose was replaced (drove for about 4 miles with the AC off) the car was not shooting white smoke from the exhaust and there are no milky substances on the oil cap or any of those visible symptoms of blown head gasket.
A little background,(and the biggest regret of my car ownership life) I had to drive my car after the expansion tank cracked, all the coolant was leaking. the car was over heating but I was on the highway with no where to pull off at. I ran the car util the red light came on and then it turned off, while the gauge was still all the way on red.:facepalm: white smoke from the exhaust came out and i lost power. I stopped in the middle of the road at night waited for the car to it to cool down to drive only 1 more mile to where i live at.
The technical part, the mechanic I took to initially fixed the cracked expansion tank but he said the car was still overheating, and he suggested that i replaced the water pump and the belt which I did, but the car was still overheating but maybe it was due to a crack along the bleeding screw on the upper radiator hose. there was coolant leaking from it when cold and steam seeping when hot.
I replaced the upper radiator hose. I was shocked to see white powdery substance on both ends of the hose but not the middle.
When he installed the new hose the car was not overheating while sitting idle, although, the temperature gauge did move from cold state to the half mark pretty rapidly but it never passed the half point.
As soon as i turned on the AC the gauge passed half point. The mechanic went on with further diagnosis and said that the HG is blown. But when test driving the car after the upper radiator hose was replaced (drove for about 4 miles with the AC off) the car was not shooting white smoke from the exhaust and there are no milky substances on the oil cap or any of those visible symptoms of blown head gasket.
