Head leak question

[55rag]

Hello, I am new to BMW's and new to the forum. I have an 87 325is that needs a ton of work so I'll be on here often. The most urgent issue it has is a major head gasket leak. It has oil leaking on the exhaust side plus oil in the coolant. I have receipts from the previous owner that the head was rebuilt along with a bunch of other work done because of a head gasket leak. That work was done about 1 1/2 years ago. I believe the shop is reputable and knows e30's well so is it possible that he head gasket would go that soon again? The car hasn't even come close to overheating since I've had it.

Thanks in advance,
Jason

[jbontke]

I don't think a head gasket would go bad under normal circumstances. A reputable shop would have used good parts as well as check the head/deck for any warping. Unless the previous owner overheated the engine, ran a power adder(turbo, SC, NOS), or had a severely bad tune... I couldn't see why it would have gone bad in just a year. I have replaced a few head gaskets and so long as you use good gaskets, check for surface flatness, and properly torque the heads, it's hard for them to go wrong.

[55rag]

I went by the shop that did the work today and they remember the car. He said it's leaking from the same place and that he had recommended that the engine be pulled so the block could be surfaced but the owner reclined and they just replaced the head.

So it looks like I get to pull my first e30 motor. Anyone have a machine shop recommendation in Orange County?

[ForcedFirebird]

More than likely they used a Victor Reinz head gasket. They tend to leak under the #1 exhaust port - almost ALL m20's leak here since the head bolts are actually inside the oil return passages.

If you have coolant in the oil, the only place that can happen is a crack under the camshaft as there's no places the head gasket has oil/coolant passages close enough together to trade fluids. Have a coolant pressure test done with the valve cover off the, and if the head is cracked, you will see water slowly coming out from under the camshaft.

[55rag]

Thanks for the info. It’s actually the other way around. The oil looks good but there is oil in the coolant.