Hello all, I need a little help. I am getting a 90 NA Z32, from a friend of mine, and I need help diagonossing the problem it has. He said it had a overheating problem and that it would run rough. He took it to Autozone, and they told him it was a head gasket. But I know the classic symptoms of HG failure, and what to check for. But I thought the head gaskets all most never fail. Now, I am not near the car so I can't really check for milky oil, or sparkplugs. But I was wondering if there is anything else I can ask him to check for that is real easy, as he doesn't know how to work on his own cars. So does a bad water pump sound like a more likely candadate. I am sorry for being so vague, I have not seen the car yet, so just trying to get more info. Thank you,

 

HG's fail on every car from time to time. Autozone isn't really a credible source for diagnosis. You can tell him to check for oil in the coolant and/or coolant in the oil. If he can get access to a combustion gas detector from Napa, then he could check if there's combustion gases in the cooling system.

 

well first thing u can do is drain the oil and coolant and flush the systems. Like EMO said, if coolant in oil or Visa versa. Then just flush the coolant system while ur at it and fill it with new frresh coolant / water and see if that helps. I nkow if ur water pump pulley isn't turning (that in conjuction with the clutch fan not turning) and u can go about 1 minute and a half from normal operating temp till u stop running hot. But the coolant system could just have a lot of air in it.

 

There are many thing that can cause these cars to overheat. A compression test would help dignose the HG. If the water pump isn't leaking, then it's probably fine. When fan clutches fail on these cars, usually they wind up being on all the time, so that likely isn't it. It could be a clogged radiator. It could also be as simple as air in the system.

 

True, tell your friend to check the weep hole on the water pump.