Bad HG or a Cracked head??

[jlevie]

Ok I'll go that route. By the looks of the plugs, travish said it's running lean, if I have a HG issue could't that be cause by burning coolant? I do get a consistent flow of steam from my tailpipe when it idles.

The plugs do look like the engine is on the lean side. But not really like coolant washed. And besides, if the engine had coolant getting into the cylinders you would have dense white smoke in the exhaust, not just water.

[travish325]

and cheaper!

[IronFreak]

NGK ZGR5A plugs are better than what Bosch has now for these engines.

Ok I'll go that route. By the looks of the plugs, travish said it's running lean, if I have a HG issue could't that be cause by burning coolant? I do get a consistent flow of steam from my tailpipe when it idles.

[jlevie]

Well as long as I can make it home (blizzard is coming) and flush the coolant I'll start pulling the head. travish.....I promise to change the plugs haha, I cleaned them up and stuck them back in so I could cycle the system, but new Bosch plugs will be used after the work is done.

NGK ZGR5A plugs are better than what Bosch has now for these engines.

[IronFreak]

Well as long as I can make it home (blizzard is coming) and flush the coolant I'll start pulling the head. travish.....I promise to change the plugs haha, I cleaned them up and stuck them back in so I could cycle the system, but new Bosch plugs will be used after the work is done.

[travish325]

Looks like its running lean btw. Change those nasty plugs

[jlevie]

that is perplexing, oil in coolant, but no coolant in the oil. PO probably didn't know where to put the oil haha

Well, it would not be the first time that someone added oil to a cooling system instead of the engine, or other similar mistakes.

Oil in the coolant, but no coolant in the oil from a leaking head gasket would only mean that the leak is between a oil supply passage and a coolant passage. In that case since oil pressure is higher than cooling system pressure the oil flows into the coolant, but not the other way. Coolant in the oil results from a leak between a coolant passage and an oil return passage.

[IronFreak]

Ever since my buddy said that I am starting to wonder. it seems to run really well. What do you think about the plugs, they look really white. When I had the valve cover off I looked into the backside of the timing chain cover, from what I could see it looked dry, so I'm thinking that the oil that's leaking on the block is from the HG and not the cam seal.

[Mr. Tasty]

that is perplexing, oil in coolant, but no coolant in the oil. PO probably didn't know where to put the oil haha

[IronFreak]

Well I did a little more work on the car last night. I was worried about a crack in the top of the head from all the stuff I have read so I went right away and pulled the valve cover.



No milky foamy stuff in here, just nice a clean, I also took a snap shot of the top of the head.



I looked and looked and couldn't visibly see a crack......which doesn't mean much but it offered some relief. I also took some pictures if the spark plugs, below are plugs 1-6 in order.













Based on how they look what can you tell me on how the cars running?

Also, when I referred to a milky foamy substance I was talking about this.....



.....and this........



That is whats in my coolant reservoir. My one friend said maybe the previous owner didn't know where to put the oil hahaha. I'm still heavily leaning towards a head gasket as I have leaking on the block but not the head. I put it back together, I'm going to flush the coolant system tonight so its clean when I put the motor together.

Toss in your thoughts guys, let me know what you think or if there is something else I can check. I'll try doing a comp. test tonight, my buddy has a tool but never brought it over yesterday.

[IronFreak]

also, operating temperature is very stable. Frankly that blew my mind knowing that crap was in it. I had to drive it about 30 miles back to my house and there was no fluctuation with the temp.

[IronFreak]

Yeah thats what I figured. I have had a few guys look at the sludge in my coolant tank, they keep trying to tell me I have oil in there. I'm just not buying that yet, and its not denial hahaha. I've been around motors that have coolant in the oil, I know what that looks like. This is a lite chocolate brown sludge, its not milky or watery. I think the coolant system needs to be flushed. Even though there isn;t internal leakage the HG still will need to be replaced. I'm going to do the leak-down just to verify, but the car seemed to run really strong. it just doesn't seem to have the right symptoms of a blown HG.

[SpecM]

yes, but they can leak oil externally yet not present any other issues with coolant or internal leakage

what I'm saying is that they can leak, and the head gasket be still not "blown"

[IronFreak]

Good deal, see I'm not completely in the dark! So your thoughts on the oil location. The seem and the head and the block meet, it was below that on the block only. does that sound like a head gasket?




Are these the oil jackets in the block I've heard people refer too?

[jlevie]

If the rocker shaft plugs are missing oil would be pouring out of the head. There are four of those and they should be changed every time the valve cover gasket is changed. Which should be done on every valve adjustment (every 10k).