Forum:
just purchased a sportrak with a problem, radiator water is frothing and froth going out via overflow, radiator warm top and bottom but stone cold in middle, temperature guage stays around midway and heaters are warm, no oil in water, when started she does have a little water coming out of exhaust, been told either head gasket or oil cooler???
Blown head gasket
A blown head gasket most likely. Could be a cracked cylinder head. You will not know which until the cylinder head is removed and inspected.
Coolant is leaking into a cylinder and exiting as steam via the exhaust on start-up. The coolant reservoir is frothing due to the exhaust gas being forced into the coolant under pressure. Could easily become a scrapper if the a cylinder gets full of coolant and can't compress. Resultant failure could become a scrap heap.
If you remove the coolant reservoir cap [use the usual precautions since the coolant will be pressurised] and sniff inside. You will smell exhaust gas.