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Hello so my girlfriend’s car a 2001 Toyota Camry and has a cracked radiator. The crack is on the top of the radiator, on the plastic. Her dad took it to the mechanic and they said that head gasket is broken, it happened because there was too much pressure in the radiator. The engine never overheated and there have been no problems with engine power or starting the car even when the car is still warm. Her oil level is fine and I didn’t notice any engine oil in the radiator fluid. Could a cracked radiator cause a busted head gasket?
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It could go either way. The Radiator could have caused the head gasket to blow by overheating the engine just as a blown head gasket could of have caused the radiator to crack.
From what i understand though it is possible during a blown head gasket to leak compression gases into the cooling system which in turn could over pressurize the system.
If the head gasket is blown then there should be evidence of it. You could be getting oil into the antifreeze or anti freeze in your oil. Is/was the car smoking or giving off a sweet burning smell at anytime before the radiator cracked?
I personally dont think your head gaskets bad it doesent sound like the radiator caused it if it dident overheat. The radiator might just have cracked because its one of the plastic ones they get old and weather also has a big effect on them. if you really want to know if its bad you can buy the tester at the auto parts store and eric has a video on how to do it. i found some on amazon cheap its called a Combustion Leak Detector and you just put it where the radiator cap is pour the liquid in it and look at the color that will tell you if there’s exhaust gasses in the cooling system which means a bad head gasket.
Here is the video for diagnosing overheat issues. The combustion leak test is around the 22 minute mark.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzOTnsWImI&list=PL968D5AF70B82EC06&index=7&feature=plpp_video[/video]
A blown head gasket can’t over pressurize the cooling system because any excess pressure would blow out through the reservoir or radiator cap. Ablown head gasket can make the coolant overheat. Your radiator probably just cracked due to age. With out the tools or know how you are pretty much at the mercy of the mechanic, but you can always get a second opinion. If you have the facilities you can try doing a compression and leak down test. If your head gasket is blown there should be evidence of it somewhere. You should have at least one of these.
Brown or discolored foam in oil.
Sludgy foam in radiator.
A popping or tapping noise coming from exhaust leaking past the head gasket.
White or blue-ish exhaust or sweet or odd smelling exhaust.Hey thanks for the replies! There has been no overheating at all in the car. The radiator is only about a year old so not sure if it is a bad radiator. I thought that if there was too much pressure in the radiator that the cap would blow first before there was a crack. I am sure he is going to ask for the car back as well and when he does i will test it with the kit.
Just replace the radiator with a quality one
and see what happens. If the head gasket is
suspect. do a block test.keep us posted. 😉I wouldn’t just replace the radiator until you determine the cause of the original problem. A one year old radiator doesn’t usually just start cracking under normal operating conditions unless it was a very very low quality unit or it had a defect of some kind.
It also wouldn’t hurt to take the car to a different shop and get a second opinion as mentioned above.
I would also use a block tester to see if there is any combustion gasses in the coolant.
You can rent/loan block testers from most good auto parts stores.
i would think its something wrong with the radiator. i think a coolant line would burst before a radiator would crack
You’re getting a message indirectly from a person who talked to a mechanic, so the first thing I would do is speak to the mechanic directly. I think there is a detail missing in the explanation above. Very few mechanics would assume a blown head without something else, such as milky coolant or some other finding. He may have already done some of the investigations listed above.
The other possibility is that the mechanic is doing what’s called ‘hanging the crepe’, which is a way of listing the worst possible outcome to try and avoid an angry customer later. He may not know it’s a blown head, but he’s offering a warning that just replacing the rad will not be the answer. That gets the customer thinking about the gamble as to whether it is worth it to throw more money at the vehicle with the hope it may be something simpler.
My GF’s dad said that the mechanic said it was a blown head gasket and that it was going to cost $2000 to repair it. They told him he had the choice of getting it repaired or taking it home. I am going to run the block test today and I will take it to my cousins (he is a mechanic) sometime next weekend if I dont find anything wrong. Either way I just want to make sure myself its nothing serious and if it is the head gasket then i will take it to my cousin.
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