Quote:
Originally posted by Ron Mummert
A little auto shop 101 here. How would a blown head gasket lead to goo in the reservoir, without you first noticing the billows of steam pouring out the exhaust pipe?
Ron.
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It all depends on where the gasket blew. A small fissure between the oil feed port and a water jacket will allow the higher pressure oil to enter the cooling system. If I remember correctly the SVX has an 'open deck' engine, where the cylinders are free-standing at the block-to-head mating surface. That makes the scenario much easier than with most cars. Head gaskets don't always blow in the manner that allows water into the exhaust, so the absence of white smoke is not indicative. The presence of white smoke is a fairly good indicator though.
The odd part is the goo being black. Typically when oil and water mix in the bottle you get a grayish milkshake. ATF = pink, unless it hasn't been serviced in a while...
The gurgling/bubbles sound you've heard may have been combustion gases flowing through the heater core. When the engine is running (before it's boiling over) can you see bubbles in the radiator? That's an indication of combustion leakage. Most shops will have either a 'block tester' a syringe type tool that aerates a blue chemical solution with the air in the top of the radiator. If ther's any CO present the solution turns yellow. Other shops, myself included, will grab the tailpipe sniffer from the gas analyzer and check the radiator for CO.
The reason for my prior post is that I've worked with a lot of mechanics that always seem to jump directly to the worst case scenario. Even if it pans out to be the head gasket it should come in under a grand, which is about average for the majority of cars these days.