Head Gasket: confirm my misery

[77z]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm afraid my first post here is a sad one. I'm looking for confirmation of the inevitable: Can anyone think of any reason why I would have water dripping out my exhaust other than blown head gasket?

 

No, the oil doesn't seem particularly chocolate milky. That said, I got a low oil pressure warning while driving and after (eventually) pulling over and walking to the nearest gas station, added about two and a half quarts. Yes, I did continue driving for a while after the low oil pressure warning flickered. Yes, I am an idiot.

 

What am I likely to have to pay to have my Datsun repair guy pull the head and repair?

 

Anyone?

[CrazyLarry]

IF the motor still runs smooth its probably just normal condensation coming from exhaust.

But I would have the oil leak fixed.

 

 

 

While the motor is cold take the radiator cap off and make sure it is full of water and then start the engine with cap off and if water

comes out the radiator in the first 30 seconds the head or head gasket is bad.

Edited October 6, 2010 by CrazyLarry

[77z]

IF the motor still runs smooth its probably just normal condensation coming from exhaust.

 

Yes, the engine still runs smooth. I left it running in the driveway for about ten minutes (jumping my Z) which is how I discovered the water coming out the exhaust. That said, it did die at a light a couple times on the way home later that night...

 

I'll try the rad cap suggestion. Thanks!

Edited October 6, 2010 by 77z

[sewebster]

Presumably if your block was cracked you could also get coolant leaking out the tailpipe But you should be able to tell the difference between a little bit of condensation (which would be clear) and a lot of coolant (green or amber), right?

[77z]

Presumably if your block was cracked you could also get coolant leaking out the tailpipe But you should be able to tell the difference between a little bit of condensation (which would be clear) and a lot of coolant (green or amber), right?

 

Hmm. I'm beginning to feel some slight amount of hope here. Negative to the above suggested rad cap test (thanks, CrazyLarry) and its definitely clear, not green.

 

I should add that the ecu code was 55 so no hints there, and I cleaned the MAF and connector.

Edited October 6, 2010 by 77z

[Specv1973]

2 1/2 quarts of oil you had to add? That's alot fella.....Are you sure your rear main seal didn't blow out or cam seals or something. You need to be looking everwher, especially underneath for oil. When was your last oil change and and do you check the level often like once a week or so? A low oil pressure light can also be a faulty sending unit, bad connection to the sender, or a sign of an oil pump going bad. Oil pressure lights are not usually good indicators of fluid level, only pressure, which may not make any sense, but a mechanic or someone with more knowledge can explain better. Sounds like a major seal leak is going on with adding that much oil and an idiot light coming on as well. The stalling is puzzling though even if you had a blown gasket unless it overheated at the same time. No temperature issues?

[sewebster]

If you are burning or leaking oil, even slowly, but rarely check your level, you can get down very low before you'll get the oil pressure light, since as stated above, it's just a pressure indicator, not a level.

[Kingman]

I believe the light comes on when the oil pressure is less than 5 PSI.

[XSrcing]

A blown head gasket will cause white smoke out of the tail pipe. Condensation dripping out of the tail pipe is normal for all engines because one of the products of burning hydrocarbons is H2O.