Bad Head Gasket?

[cuttinAR]

Couple weeks ago my radiator blew. I replaced the entire cooling system and added water to do a final flush before adding coolant (radiator blew during flush process). Jeep had been running hot and I was hopeful to avoid the head gasket issue or worse a cracked head. So here we are today and it looks clear to me that I’ve got an issue with gasses getting into the coolant system. Oil looks good and clean.

Am I on the right track here? Any suggestions other than replacing the gasket? I’ve never done anything like this before, my experience has been lifts, suspension, and minor work like the cooling system. Little bit intimidated but going to dive in it appears.

 

[97JadeTJ]

You more then likely have air trapped in the cooling system… raise the front of the jeep or park it facing uphill so that the air will burp out of the radiator

 

[pagrey]

Ya, mine will barf water and bubbles as it warms up (obviously it could be the head but I'd try to look elsewhere first). Are you loosing coolant, did you replace the fan clutch?

 

[cuttinAR]

So it was like a pregnancy test and thankfully a negative one. Must have been air and some of the thermacool which has surfactants in it causing the bubbles. Ran the indicator test and no combustion gases in the coolant. Thank goodness.

Yes I did replace the fan clutch and I can say with confidence that plus a fouled radiator was my issue. The new fan does 10x the air flow as the previous.

 

[pagrey]

Good thing it wasn't the head or gasket, the test was a great idea.