2003 3.7 Bad head gasket??

[Skatulaki]

Bought this the other day. Previous owner, Said it had a bad head gasket, no water in the oil. Said it smokes white for a while but quits after warmed up. When I went to pick it up. It worked as stated made a significant amount of white smoke ( steam ? ) and once warmed up it quit doing so. It made the 3 hour drive home with no event. Today I fired it up and did some errands, however I did not get the same amount of smoke( steam? ) Runs strong, lots of zip, 185,000 on it.
might there be another explanation ?

 

[Daw14]

Do a compression test, exhaust in coolant check should give a better idea if it’s the gasket . Did it use coolant on the drive ?

 

[Skatulaki]

After 3 or 400 miles, I cannot detect any coolant usage, water in the oil. It seems to run perfectly normal, and at the moment do not have EQ to conduct compression test.

 

[Skatulaki]

Fired it up after leaving work yesterday, I did not notice any big billowing clouds of smoke/steam that previously were happening when I first picked it up. I've driven every day to work. When I get opportunity, I will do more tests. Previous owner had it sitting around a lot. Is it possible that there was a condensation buildup that was just burning off?

 

[Skatulaki]

After 2 days sitting, I decided to light it up again to see if it smoked/steam. I also on other advice attempted to do a coolant bubble test to see if air was coming from the cylinders.
Still no smoke/steam like before. The radiator system for the 3.7 doesn't really give the option of a bubble test as the hose coming into the overflow is at the top. So I stuck a finger in there where the hose from the radiator comes in , there was a constant flow of coolant maybe mixed with air, not a pulsing one spraying from the hose connection.

is it possible that the gasket leak is small enough to not notice on a daily basis, but if it sits for a couple months a cyl slowly collects coolant ? Where it will make a big cloud when next started?

 

[Ole Buck]

After 2 days sitting, I decided to light it up again to see if it smoked/steam. I also on other advice attempted to do a coolant bubble test to see if air was coming from the cylinders.
Still no smoke/steam like before. The radiator system for the 3.7 doesn't really give the option of a bubble test as the hose coming into the overflow is at the top. So I stuck a finger in there where the hose from the radiator comes in , there was a constant flow of coolant maybe mixed with air, not a pulsing one spraying from the hose connection.

is it possible that the gasket leak is small enough to not notice on a daily basis, but if it sits for a couple months a cyl slowly collects coolant ? Where it will make a big cloud when next started?

get a cheap bore camera pull the plugs and look at the top of the pistons. If one is very clean and the others are covered in carbon then you have a head gasket leak. its very simple, beats the crap out of the pressure test process.

 

[Skatulaki]

I did a head gasket test, and the test proved combustible gases coming through the radiator. A poster on another forum suggested I use a head gasket sealer. While I thought it was rather "quack" I tried it, and it worked. I used one compatible with coolant. Hopefully this works for a while, not ready to tear it down yet.