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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Suspected head gasket problem?


Shane
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Carmel's NA has been on the road now since last July, she always lost a bit of coolant and the original radiator was showing signs of giving up. It was weeping in places and one of the previous owners had used the wrong bolt for the front air scoop and it was way too long and had punctured the header tank, so there were signs of fluid loss from there too.

 

So I have now replaced the radiator with a shiny new one and its still losing coolant, not a lot but enough to cause concern. Now I have discovered that I keep getting a heavy build up of sludge on the oil filler cap:(

 

It starts, and runs fine, no steam out the exhaust and no signs of leaks from anywhere else. She did a long journey in it last week and it was fine, but each day she has to put anything up to a litre of coolant in. I ran it up from cold yesterday with the rad cap off and couldn't see or smell any exhaust gas from the coolant, but the coolant is going somewhere and the sludge concerns me. I suppose a sniff test is next.

 

Any ideas on what I may have missed?

 

On the look out for a NA engine and gearbox (auto) complete is anyone should have one, I need a gearbox for another project I have started so am thinking I could swap her engine and box out and that would leave me the box from her's for the new project. I don't think I can be bothered to strip her's down and replace the head gasket and cost wise it would probably cost me more to do that, skim, gasket set, head bolts, sore knuckles, broken studs etc etc

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Is the car driven long distances or just regular short trip?

 

Most of the time, 12 miles to work, rests for 8 hours, then 12 miles home. But saying that earlier this week she drove from here to your neck of the woods (Sleaford) so about 60 miles and then back a few days later and it looks the same.

 

I don't remember having sludge on my old na when I used to use it to get to the station and back which was just a few miles, but maybe I just never noticed. You thinking the sludge is just condensation from the short runs then? It does run spot and and continues to do so, and I sort of suspected that it would start to get worse, but doesn't.

 

I also stuck a small inspection camera I have down the back of the thermostat housing to see if the famous core plug is failing but that looks fine.

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Thats the thing, I have searched and searched for leaks and cant find any now I have replaced the radiator. I even brought the inspection camera home from work so I could look in the hard to get to places and core plugs. Unless there is a leak under there that is letting out steam under pressure and then its dried up by the time I get round to looking at it. I did wonder if it was the heater matrix but floor looks dry.

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