So a friend of mine has a 2002 Hyundai Elantra that I think has a head gasket going bad. It is leaking coolant pretty bad. The exhaust is still white when it is warmed up. The coolant overflow bottle has air bubbles coming up out of it. So my guess is head gasket.

Any good writeups on how to do this? I can do pretty much anything mechanical, but have never worked on a DOHC engine. Any hints, anything to help? All would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

 

Check the engine oil, it should now look like chocolate milk. I agree with you that a leaking head gasket could be the problem, but the engine could also have a crack in the aluminum head. The only way I know to diagnose the difference is to pull the head, and quite often, the failure of one results in the failure of the other. The tricky part on a DOHC engine is getting both cams properly timed with the crank during re-assembly. These are interference type engines that leave no room for error. I've replaced many gaskets and heads on push rod and SOHC engines, but have always left DOHC top end work to a mechanic.

How many miles on the car and is your friend the original owner? If the answer is less than 100K and "yes", then this incident should be covered by the 10 year/100K powertrain warranty. If the car was originally sold in 2003 (after March 5th in 2003) and the odometer has less than 60K, this repair should be covered under the original bumper-to-bumper 5 year/60K warranty regardless if your friend was the original owner or not. This should be investigated before you attempt to pull the head. Once you do, neither warranty is in effect.

 

Ken99,

Thanks for your help. I checked the oil and it didn't look like it had any anti-freeze in it. Which is good. But he just had it changed about 2 weeks ago. But I don't think these problem had showed up then. None the less, the oil looked fine.

My friend is not the original owner, but the car was in his family. His father purchased the vehicle new (not sure exactly when), and my friend purchased it a couple years ago from his father. The mileage is less than 100k miles. But I don't think it is covered by any warranty. The reason I say this is because a couple months ago, the car overheated and he had it towed to a Hyundai dealership. They replaced the t-stat, but he had to pay for it. It was not covered.

Also, this overheating has caused me to think that the head could be warped causing the bad head gasket.

Are cracked heads a common occurance on these cars?

Thanks again...

 

From the Hyundai USA web site regarding the 10 year warranty:

The dealership needs to know that your friends father was the original owner of the 2002 car. I think it's covered, particularly since they didn't get it right with the new thermostat.

 

haven't seen a cracked head on an elantra, if you see bubbles in the coolant seems like the head gasket. do a compression test and see if you can see adjacent cylinder numbers are similar. or you can pressurize the system to see if there's any leak also. if there is no leaks and your coolant is low then the engine is drinking it