Possible blown head gasket?

[codyturner]

So, I made a thread the other day about my 2000 Malibu having weird, what I'm assuming are, electrical issues. Well now, I'm thinking there may bea head gasket that blew out all of a sudden. The coolant was full on Sunday and was filled with antifreeze. I took it for a drive Tuesday and the car ran fine, it looked like the temperature gauge was getting a bit higher than normal but it never got more than two marks over the half-way point. Well, Wednesday night I go and drive to a friend's house and I noticed my temperature gauge shooting up, but it would alternate up and down a bit and it never ran to the red, but was very close. My estimate based on the tick marks is that it was about 220-230 degree. This was over the course of about a 10 mile drive. When I pull over I pop the hood and don't see any coolant anywhere. I open up my resevoir and notice that it's bone dry. I squeeze some coolant lines and they're all dry too. I was completely full 3 days before! Well, today I filled it with water and a friend and I tried to find some leaks. MY water pump checked out okay, we can't access the radiator without some ratchets because of it being in between the fans and the grill and covered by some metal. But we put it in idle and the temperature got to above half-way, bout a tick mark over, in about 3 minutes and then went down. I assume that's when the thermostat kicked in. During idle I notice quite a large build up of water in the tail pipe. I had water it in beforehand and just figured it was condensation since it didn't smell like anti-freeze. Well, give it some gas and the water just shoots out and starts having a semi-steady dribble. Way more than what condensation should be. We drive it around the block a few times and it never gets more that a tick mark over the middle. Well, we pull it over and pop the hood again and when we turn the car off we hear water gurgle and notice my resevoir is steaming and all around it there's water. We're thinking it boiled out the resevoir. I'm thinking a head gasket went out, but I'm not sure. But after about 5 minutes of idling and 4 or 5 minutes of driving around the block at about 40mph tops the coolant all disappeared.

[codyturner]

Another thing is I'm certain my water pump is working as well. It was my first guess last night, but it didn't appear to be leaking and it appeared to be pumping with the car running.

[Tech II]

Year? Engine?

[codyturner]

2000 Malibu, 3.1 V6

[Tech II]

Yes, it could be a head gasket, if there are no EXTERNAL leaks.....You could have a leak, that creates an air pocket, which is the same symptom of a head gasket......these engines are famous for lower intake leaks......but when adding coolant to a system, it's imperative to remove all air from a system....a small leak like a lower intake leak, will take awhile to create an air pocket, while a head gasket leak will do it quite quickly....

But, have seen intake leaks, where customer just keeps adding coolant, and overheats the car, which leads to a head gasket problem.......so, a lower intake leak is found and repaired, and next thing you know you are doing the job all over again to repair the head gasket leak....

Head gasket leak can be checked several ways, for example, pressurizing each cylinder with air to see if bubbles are created in the coolant system, or there are kits that use a dye system, to check for exhaust gases in the coolant(attaches to radiator cap or pressure cap on reservoir).....

[codyturner]

I haven't added coolant to it all since I got the car a few weeks ago (well, I put water in it the day after everything happening to see if I could let it idle and drive around the block and find a leak). I had last checked the coolant on Sunday and the reservoir was full. So, when I drove it the other day it boiled out quick. It was about a 15 minute drive, so maybe 10 miles max and about 4 minutes into it is when I noticed the temp gauge going up and tried turning on the heat and there was no heat. But when I filled it back up with water nothing happened in idle it sat around operating temp, but when I drove it around the block a few times to see if it would overheat quickly again it never got more than a tick over the middle. Then when I pulled it over and popped the hood the reservoir was steaming or smoking and water was all over that side of the engine. Like it all boiled out in the 3 minutes or so of driving around the block.

[Tech II]

Adding water or coolant to the reservoir, does not get rid of an air pocket......

[JoeTheShmoe]

Sorry to bring this thread back from three months ago but my brother's 2000 V6 has coolant in the oil. Loses his coolant super fast and has no heat. I didn't know if anyone here could tell me how to replace his head gaskets. I've never done a head gasket job on a V6 and much less on something that runs on a chain and not a belt. Thanks in advance.

[kcg795]

If your Malibu has the 3.1 and coolant is getting into the oil, it's most likely your intake manifold gasket. This happened to my brother's 2003 Malibu sometime before he totaled it hitting an Elk.