Should I do my Head Gasket Now??? (pics attached)

[turbo55]

My ignition refresh job turned into a timing belt job which now I'm considering turning into a head gasket job. I have the timing belt off so I already disassembled the stuff at the front of the engine. I knew that I had an oil leak (drips even when the car hasn't been run for weeks), but I figured it was probably my oil pan gasket and camshaft seal (I'm gonna change both of those). No mayonnaise that I can see. Now that I have better access, I'm pretty sure it's a leaky HG (pictures attached, although some of that stuff is coolant from when it splashed around when I was draining it). Last time the HG was done was in 1993 @ 55k miles. The car has ~240k miles on it now. Oh yeah and I did the valve cover gasket about 3 months ago (but stupidly didn't know to do the rocker shaft plugs).

So should I do the HG now (I haven't done a compression test or leak down test) or put everything back together, drive around a bit, do a compression test then consider doing the HG? My goal with this car is to turn it into my DD by summer.

Also, I know if I do the HG I would need to get the head machined and valves ground (or is grinding valves something I can do myself), how much do machine shops typically charge for that? Also, would I need any other work done by the machine shop?

Thanks!

[lcoleman]

I would clean all that mess off and see where the leak is actually coming from. It looks like rocker shaft plugs or the cam seal, not the HG, but impossible to know for sure with that much goo everywhere.

[mikelat]

Or you may have multi leaks but the start point for that leak looks to to too high to be from the head gasket

[turbo55]

Yeah its finally above freezing here so I was gonna try to clean it today

[Dirty325ix]

I have had Machine shops will do for around 50 but I had to remove all of the valves (they stick out to much)

personally I hate doing the HG and would never do it again unless it was blown...if it ain't broke don't fix it

[Andy Mechnic]

I have to agree with everyone who's replied so far. On high mileage engines, replacing a head gasket can lead to a blow by condition with your old rings With that old of a motor I would stick to fixing leaks until quote ready to rebuild/replace.

But before you degrease it. An oil leak that's bad enough to drip will leave a "clean" spot where it's washed the dirt away. Look for that kind of thing and look for the highest point on the motor that you see leakage since leaks travel down (thank you gravity).
Hope this helped


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[turbo55]

Yeah maybe I was a bit trigger-happy with the HG. I'll hold off on it. I decreased it today (was a race against time before temps drops below freezing for the rest of the week). After I took the camshaft sprocket it looks like the plugs were leaking pretty bad, gonna change them. Also the steady daily dripping can't be the HG since the car wasn't run, so it must be the oil pan gasket, right?

Thanks for the tips.

[Old city bimmer]

Nice little project but defitnetly hold off on the HG.


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[BMWManiac]

Hard to tell, but looks like the leaks are above the oil pan, which to me means the valve cover gasket, the 4 x rubber plugs, etc....definitely need to degrease everything and then you should be able to see the leaks....could also be from the oil filter

[Klug]

Definitely check that cam seal. My block looked like that before replacing it and cleaning everything up. My head leaks some oil still, no oil/coolant mix yet but from what I read it's typical for the head to leak a little.

I also read that unless the head is in "mayo mode" you should let it be and not replace it until it fails.

[turbo55]

Yep, I got it degreased (the front at least), now I'm waiting for my parts to come. Gonna do the valve cover gasket itself, the 4 rocker shaft rubber plugs, and the camshaft seal + o-ring. I'm also gonna do the oil pan gasket and that will include changing the oil filter too.

Not in 'mayo mode', so yeah I'm not gonna do the HG now.
Thanks for the info!!! Saved me time + $! (and possibly other issues)

[turbo55]

Source of the leak: rocker shaft plugs