2000 Kia Pride head gasket

Hi there, adding the stop leak will do more harm than good, this will start to block up the radiator, best have the head gasket checked with a Co test, this is a simple chemical test that will pick up any Co gasses in the cooling system, this is a sure sign of a head gasket problem.

Mark (mhpautos)

hi and i thought as much with the stop leak i had the co test and they said they it was ok but iv just taken the car for m.o.t and it has failed on emissions iv added plenty of red-ex to the petrol but still have the same problem with the steam coming from the tail pipe is there any other reason this could be apart from the head gasket thanks allan

You can still get coolant into the engine through the inlet manifold, are you loosing coolant? a cooling system pressure test may pick up a problem here.

mark (mhpautos)

hi this is the frustrating thing im not loosing any coolant or no water in the oil no bubbles or mud like stuff in the rad everything seems to be normal runs and drives a1 just the water coming from the tail pipe could the cat have any thing to do with the problem thanks allan

Hi there, if the thermostat is stuck open and the engine is running cooler than normal, the cat will not heat up enough for some time and you will see a lot of condensation, worth looking into, check for any un resolved fault codes next.

Mark

ok ill go and take a look now ill let you know how it goes thanks allan

hi problem sorted i took the cat off to see if there was anything broke started the car with cat off and no water was coming from down pipe so took the back box off and for some reason there was loads of water init so iv drained and dryed it and all seems fine its been ticking over for 1/2 hour and hardly any steam at all very strange i think thanks for all your help allan