Anyone know how to test coolant for exhaust contamination?

[christutecky]

hey, I read the "Blown Head Gasket Symptoms", and it got me semi worried. The other day, my rad drain plug must have gotten hit by a rock or somthing, cause it snapped off, i replaced it and the fluid....and for the next couple of drives, my Rad light came on, and I was low on fluid....now im pretty sure this was because the system needed to refill its self from the resivoir, so i have filled it back up and the light has been off since..BUT..I do have a stutter when starting..it it hard to start all the time...cold or warm....AND the other day when the hood was up and the car was running, I notcied some smoke coming from my engine....now i hope it was just something i got on the engine when i was toppin off the oil...but...:-S.....anyways..I want to check my coolant for exhaust contamination..to make SURE I dont have the BHG.......how do u do this?


Thanks for your time


Chris

[TONY!]

You take the tube over the radiator with the tester fluid in it.
Then you use the lemon shaped thing to 'sniff' and pull out the fumes from the radiator neck.
Then you check the color of the fluid to see what you have.

Costs about $40.

[kewlcoconut]

christutecky, i noticed that you live in Canada. I had a blown HG a while ago, and I went to NAPA to try and find that product, they dont sell it in Canada. Well thats what they told me at least.

[Levi1717]

they also make such a thing that you can screw into your spark plug holes and the connect to a air compresser and with the radiator cap off you put pressure into the cylinder and if radiator fluid shoots out the radiator then you know there is a blow head gasket.