Testing Antifreeze for exhaust gases?

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I'm trying to help a friend of mine. He thinks his car may be in the early stages of a headgasket failure. I looked at his antifreeze and I'm on the fence if it's starting to get that look like exhaust is entering his cooling system. I know I could do some real work and figure out what's up, but I'm not that good of a friend of his, so a lab that would test would be much better. I called blackstone and got a no, Analysts Inc tests antifreeze but does not test for exhaust. I read about a mythical kit that Auto Zone carries to test with fluid that turns from blue to yellow but none of the stores around here know what it is.
 
It's not mythical... It is in fact, real. We've got one at the shop and it works pretty good, but doesn't catch all of them.
 
I believe this is what you are referring to?
0707011804.jpg

It works about 90% of the time 100% of the time.
 
^^ this is what you need. Ideally you need a 5 gas analyzer, but the "block test" is pretty good.
 
You can get one on Amazon. Put in "block tester."

You're not testing the coolant per se... you're testing to see if combustion gases leaked by a blown gasket/cracked head/block and have entered the coolant passages. Byproduct of burning hydrocarbons is mostly H20 and CO2. The CO2 makes the fluid acidic (changes the ph) and that causes the color change.
 
I just called the same auto zone and asked for this and eventually they found it. If anyone knows of a lab also let me know.

Thank you for the fast responses and pics, I'm impressed guys.
 
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"if anyone knows of a lab..."

You don't need one. The tool just sucks in "air" from the filler neck. You typically have to lower the coolant level so that you do not suck the coolant into the tool. Once you have the tool, it will be pretty obvious.
 
I ended up getting one of those when I couldnt figure out what was wrong with the 3400 in the Montana. It failed the antifreeze exhaust test here.. The engine had previously passed a compression test.
I also now have a leakdown tester so I have multiple ways to test engines in the future.
 
Originally Posted By: Skid
"if anyone knows of a lab..."

You don't need one. The tool just sucks in "air" from the filler neck. You typically have to lower the coolant level so that you do not suck the coolant into the tool. Once you have the tool, it will be pretty obvious.


I realize that, but hearing "it works 100% of the time 90% of the time" had me wanting something absolute for now or the future for myself.
 
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Originally Posted By: Shark
Originally Posted By: Skid
"if anyone knows of a lab..."

You don't need one. The tool just sucks in "air" from the filler neck. You typically have to lower the coolant level so that you do not suck the coolant into the tool. Once you have the tool, it will be pretty obvious.


I realize that, but hearing "it works 100% of the time 90% of the time" had me wanting something absolute for now or the future for myself.


What I meant by that was to not use this as your sole means of diagnosis. Add it to your toolbox and have more than one test confirm your suspicions.
 
Is he losing coolant?
That is the first clue.
Also, a plastic bag rubber banded tight on the filler neck will show gas leakage. It will fill somewhat . It's cheap and can work.
 
I tested it out with the block check, the car has a crossover tube on the top of the engine (it's the highest point in the system.) I did the block check cold, hot running, hot off. I checked it at the crossover fill and at the cap, which is apart of the reserve tank. I gave it several hard revs while it was warm. The fluid stayed blue.

The reason the gasket was suspected was the car blew off a radiator hose a couple days ago. But I checked out the hose today and the factory clamp is weak. I can pull this hose off and push it back on without touching the clamp. So I changed it to a screw style clamp for him. The car lost about a gallon of coolant when the hose came off on him but it holds 6 gallons total so I doubt that would be enough fresh coolant to give me a false positive.

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Is he losing coolant?
That is the first clue.
Also, a plastic bag rubber banded tight on the filler neck will show gas leakage. It will fill somewhat . It's cheap and can work.


No coolant loss.
 
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