Blown head - maybe?

[danny]

Hiya, my name is Danny and I'm from Tassie. Brought my Navara in March this year. It's a 2005 Silver ST-R 3.0 Di. Am after some advice if possible. I noticed a coolant smell two weeks ago, it's pumping the water out of the radiator and into the reservoir. It's not running hot at all. It's driving well. It's probably losing a cup full of water out of the radiator a day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks kindly, Danny!

 

[Old.Tony]

There's an easy way to get an answer.

Siphon out a little radiator water into a clean container and take it to a radiator specialist, who can test the water for combustion gases. That will tell you if there's a leak from the combustion chamber to the water jacket.

The leak may just be a head gasket - while it's still a bit of a job to replace, it's nowhere near as expensive as a cracked head.

You can also (with a warm, not a hot engine) carefully remove the radiator cap and look at the fluid. Do you see bubbles? There's a good chance you have a problem with the head gasket or head if you do.

If that's the case, you need to remove the head and see for yourself which it is.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

 

[Dave]

What Tony said.

Could just be a blown headgasket.

Dave.