About a month ago I got cams installed and arp headstuds done by 1x1 method. I just noticed today that my overflow coolant tank had drops of oil in it. I drained it and refilled it and the drops came back. I then drained the oil and the radiator but could not see any oil in the coolant I drained. Also the oil looked normal. There was no grey foamy spots or any discoloration. I even used an LED flashlight to shine the oil to see if I could spot any coolant but did not. When I start the car it does not shake and there is no white smoke coming out from the tailpipe. The car also drives normal with no signs of performance loss and the car does not overheat. Could this be the beginning of a blown headgasket or something else? Will it get worse and emanate further symtoms?

 

It does appear like a head gasket problem. Did you re-torque your headstuds? At the least, do a compression test and try to re-torque the headstuds.

 

Some googled answers

There are a few simple indicators you can check for with the engine cold and not running.

1. contaminated oil, it will have a milky appearance from the water mixing in the oil.

2. oil on the top of the coolant inside the radiator (if your vehicle has a remote header tank you may not get this)

3. have someone crank (remove the coil lead or disable the electronic ignition) the engine on the starter with the radiator cap or coolant jacket bleed hose/bolt removed, if the coolant pulses up and down or blows bubbles you could be in trouble.

If you find any of these symptoms move on to removing the spark plugs (label the plugs and the leads as you remove them so you can put them back in the same place as you got them from) and again crank the engine on the starter, depending on how bad your head or gasket is gone you may get coolant or oil coming out of the plug holes. inspection of the plugs will also reveal problems during combustion, if you have rusty flaky deposits on the plugs you may be burning off water and if you have a heavy carbon your burning oil.

depending on the severity of the leak (and how hard you want to look for it)

if you have any of the first 3 items listed (water in oil, oil in water or pulsing coolant but don't get any result from checking the plugs change the oil and water as appropriate then warm up the engine without the radiator cap on (or the bleeder hose/bolt) and watch for bubbles as the engine warms up. Put the cap back on the cooling system and take the vehicle for a short drive or run the engine till the entire system is up to temperature and then check the oil for contamination.

Having these symptoms is not always indicative of a blown head gasket.

There are a few other things that can give similar symptoms to the ones listed above

1. internal damage to water/oil galleries
2. damage to oil/water intercoolers if fitted
3. weakened hoses on the cooling system can cause pulsations in the coolant
4. leaking valve seals may drop oil into the chamebers
5. poorly bleed cooling systems or systems where there are high loops in the coolant jacket may have some bubbling.

Hope it helps

 

 

You need more of a sign of a blown HG than a couple of drops of oil in the coolant. So if/until that happens, be happy.

 

You can do a coolant pressure test, or you can do a leakdown test (pressurize the cylinder and see if you are leaking cylinder pressure into adjacent cylinders. These are the best tests to determine if you have a blown head gasket. It's useful to find it early, if you have one, because you may be able to avoid warping the head when you overheat Find it now, and fix it right.