Bad head gasket on 6.1

[oberkill]

I may have a blown head gasket on my CHSRT. I am blowing coolant out of the radiator cap and there is some oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil. Looks like a blown gasket to me but I need to do a leakdown to be sure. The car has never ran hotter than ~220 and while driven hard it has not been punished. Has anyone else had a head gasket failure on a basically stock setup? Its not that huge of a deal I'll just replace it this weekend if its bad but if I am going to do this often then I will probably upgrade head gaskets now.

Oh and I just went out of warranty last week! lol ~36700 mile.

Alan

[SRT Brian]

I bet the dealer ship would fix it in warranty. I just turned 36000 on mine to.

[fnkychkn]

since it's barely out of warranty, most dealers would fix it under goodwill policy.
this is the first head gasket failure i've read about on a 6.1L.

[RR/TT]

i would get it double checked to be sure. i have seen these gaskets and they are almost bullet proof. almost...

[oberkill]

I will check it out tomorrow. I just need to find someone with a leak down tester. I drained the coolant reservour and cleaned it out so I will also see if any oil ends up back in there. I did have the car at the dealership 2 weeks ago right before it went out of warranty and I had them check the coolant for the contaminant issue. They may have done something then with the coolant though when I picked the car up they said they didnt. I will go talk to them tomorrow.

Thanks for the help!

Alan

[Hemi31]

you sure it was oil and not the cottage cheese?

[oberkill]

My entire top half of the coolant res has a black residue in it. I cleaned it out as best I could as will see if it still happens when I drive it today. I am going to the dealer at lunchtime.

Alan

[oberkill]

Car passed a leakdown test with no issues. I will keep and eye on it though, I am worried that it may get worse as the car get warmer? I am going to flush the system this weekend and see what happens from there.

Alan

[Tbird100636]

The coolant would look more like a milkshake if it had oil in it or vice-versa in the crankcase. If you are going to flush the system make sure when refilling to remove the bleeder screw from the front of the water pump to purge some of the air. It's not a regular bleeder screw. It is an allen head plug.

[Tbird100636]

I will check it out tomorrow. I just need to find someone with a leak down tester. I drained the coolant reservour and cleaned it out so I will also see if any oil ends up back in there. I did have the car at the dealership 2 weeks ago right before it went out of warranty and I had them check the coolant for the contaminant issue. They may have done something then with the coolant though when I picked the car up they said they didnt. I will go talk to them tomorrow.

Thanks for the help!

Alan

If they did the service action for the coolant contamination (white mud) and they flushed or changed the coolant they may have not bleed the air out of the bleeder on the front of the water pump. The huge air bubble might have pushed some coolant out.

[oberkill]

I asked them that question today and they said they didnt do anything. I am not sure where the black stuff came from but I will try and get a picture tomorrow.

Alan