Bad HG or a Cracked head??

[jlevie]

The BMW OE gasket is not a VR, as far as I know. That being on the engine means the head has been off in the past. That and the condition of the coolant suggests a healing head gasket. The junk in the coolant and the sludge in the hose could be from oil, or some sort of stop leak.

If the engine was filled with coolant, not just water, the smoke in the picture above is condensation, not vaporized coolant.

On a side note.......what would a m20b25 / 260g sell for?

That depends on mileage and condition. A good lower mileage engine & transmission (~100k or less) could bring about $1000. A high mileage engine considerably less.

[IronFreak]

I was starting to suspect work had been done to it. I had noticed a new valve cover gasket , newish looking sensors new hoses and belts.

Thanks for your input, you've been a big help.

[IronFreak]

Well I pulled in apart this weekend.........guess what it was?!

AN INDIVIDUALS LACK OF ABILITY TO PROPERLY REBUILD AN ENGINE!!!



Someone must have tried to "refresh" the top end.....but didn't understand the process of using a torque wrench. The HG was fine, I'm pretty sure it was the 3 or 4 bolts in the middle of the head that weren't properly torqued.



You can see in the above photo that cylinder 4 and 5 is the area of the loose head bolts. I also found this problem (lack of proper torque) when removing the exhaust manifolds. On the plus side it looks like someone forked out money to have this head redone, or its a reman.



Super clean, no wear at all of the valve train for a motor with 176k, and the valve guilds look brand new.



I'll be pulling the lower end and tranny this weekend. Look for a sale thread, I'm going a different direction with the car.