How much bubbling in surge tank indicates bad head gasket?

[joffrey414]

I've read in many posts and replies that checking for bubbling in the surge tank when the car is cold can indicate a bad head gasket. My question is how much bubbling are we talking about? When I do this I see a very, very slight amount of bubbling at the left corner of the tank above where the bottom hose connects to the system. It's so slight that I would describe it as almost being like the fizz you see from a soft drink but it's very isolated in a very small spot in the tank, about a dime size area where I see the bubbling. Wouldn't there be some bubbling just from the movement of the coolant through the system?

Thanks!

-Jeffrey

[dkozloski]

Get a head gasket leak test kit, Balkamp # 700-1006 from your local NAPA auto parts store.

[Q Ball]

My 94 Eldorado under a load (climping a hill) would blow the entire cooling system out in less than 5 minutes, Mine was really bad though. The car had a range of 30 miles on flat ground.

[Ranger]

It sounds to me like what you are seeing is air being purged through the purge line. It's normal.