JoEX
New Member
I started my car this morning, and it bogged for a few seconds and slowly stumbled upward until it reached cold idle and idled smoothly.
I thought maybe I was just imagining things, so I shut it off, and started it again. It stumbled a bit, but not as noticeably as before. Once more to be sure, and it started up smoothly (like normal).
I popped the hood and observed my D16Z6 warming up, and after about ten seconds, a very noticeable amount of steam started rising from the valve cover. When I say this, I mean it was coming from the valve cover gasket in the front of the head only. After maybe twenty seconds of steaming, it stopped. The engine's idle didn't seem to be affected in any way during this steaming event, it was running smoothly.
My coolant reservoir was dry, so I added coolant there and to the radiator as well.
Driving home the car warmed up within four to five minutes of casual driving (about 40F external temp), and remained at a steady temperature (just under halfway mark). Performance didn't seem to be affected in any way, although I didn't really rev over 3K on my test drive. My car hasn't ever overheated (in my ownership), nor have I ever noticed irregular temperature readings on the cluster gauge.
So now that you have the story, what do you think? Am I looking at a head gasket issue? I drive daily, and the last time I checked my coolant was about a month ago. I'd say I put in less than a quart of coolant this morning to get back to full.
TL;DR
Steam from valve cover at cold start only. Low on coolant. Help?
Thank you, and happy holidays/new years.
I thought maybe I was just imagining things, so I shut it off, and started it again. It stumbled a bit, but not as noticeably as before. Once more to be sure, and it started up smoothly (like normal).
I popped the hood and observed my D16Z6 warming up, and after about ten seconds, a very noticeable amount of steam started rising from the valve cover. When I say this, I mean it was coming from the valve cover gasket in the front of the head only. After maybe twenty seconds of steaming, it stopped. The engine's idle didn't seem to be affected in any way during this steaming event, it was running smoothly.
My coolant reservoir was dry, so I added coolant there and to the radiator as well.
Driving home the car warmed up within four to five minutes of casual driving (about 40F external temp), and remained at a steady temperature (just under halfway mark). Performance didn't seem to be affected in any way, although I didn't really rev over 3K on my test drive. My car hasn't ever overheated (in my ownership), nor have I ever noticed irregular temperature readings on the cluster gauge.
So now that you have the story, what do you think? Am I looking at a head gasket issue? I drive daily, and the last time I checked my coolant was about a month ago. I'd say I put in less than a quart of coolant this morning to get back to full.
TL;DR
Steam from valve cover at cold start only. Low on coolant. Help?
Thank you, and happy holidays/new years.
