how do you determine what side of an engine a blown head gasket is on? my buddy with a 98 v6 has brown coolant and his CEL is on. im going to his house tomorrow to check the CEL code. do i do a compression test? i also know that if i were to crank over the engine with the rad cap off, and it "false boils", that is a sign of a blown head gasket.

any help would be great.

 

If the exhaust smells like maple syrup, puffing white smoke out the tail pipes, and coolant or oil that looks like a chocolate milkshake are all signs of a bad head gasket.

 

Compression works, as well as a leak down test. Basically the side that showing low compression or a leak is the side it's on. You could also check the plugs to see if any are wet w/ oil.

 

Those are the signs I look for. Usually a blown head gasket is pretty in your face.