Spraying Coolant at full boost

[DannyTsi]

86 Omni T-II car with a Garrett Turbo. Only when I at full boost, 19 or 20 psi, does this happen. If I lower the boost down to 15 or 16 psi it doesn't seem to do it. Any ideas on why I could be showering my engine in coolant? Seems to be coming from the radiator cap. I already replaced that, T-stat, upper and lower radiator hoses as well. Other than this issue the car runs great! No visible smoke at idle, or under boost so I didn't think it was a head gasket. Does anyone else have any experience with this problem?

Thanks everyone.

[Tranquillity]

I'd say it's head gasket, boost is leaking into the coolant. Really is the only thing I can think of. Ex's Daytona did that as well but she actually blew her upper rad hose apart. I think her thermostat wasn't working as well haha

[DannyTsi]

Compression as follows
85
85
90
90

However, the spark plug on cylinder 3 was soaked. My dipstick pops out regularly though and the whole spark plug galley has oil in it so it may very well have gotten wet on removal.

[Tranquillity]

Isn't compression supposed to be around 120?

[DannyTsi]

Those are dry compression numbers, and I have no idea what they are supposed to be at. I purchased this car in November of last year and have just been trying to fix/improve what was done to it already.

[jamierpm]

I think it is the same problem that I have seen lately in the Duramax and PowerStroke diesels, these trucks when you ran them hard would blow coolant out of the overflow but drive them easy and they would be ok, under high boost the head would lift up just enough to allow compression in the cooling system, an easy way to test is with a combustion leak tester Head Gasket or Combustion Leak Test Procedure (Gasoline Engines Only)
this will tell you if the headgasket is blown or not

[onerippinturbo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tranquillity Isn't compression supposed to be around 120?

yes, compression should be at least 100 psi to support combustion 120-130 seems pretty normal for a dry test.

[DannyTsi]

Guess I'll be doing a head gasket here in the near future. Any recommendations for parts to stay away from? I was thinking I would order the 006 Head Gasket, and the Felpro head bolts from FWDPerformance. I figured I would throw in a new timing belt too. Anything else I should be considering right now?

Thanks again for the info.