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How normal is this?
Seems like this may be normal if the car hasn't been up to temp in a while, this was after first drive after installing new speed/ref sensors, it had been a while.
There is no milkshake or water on the dipstick, and the coolant looks clean.
I've replaced fuel filters, fuel pump, fuel lines, injectors cleaned this last summer, cap/rotor/wires/plugs/coil, speed/ref sensors, tested harness for continuity and wiggled wires while running and no change.
It will stall and bog like running out of fuel, worse when cold. I'm installing VEMS from Raceboy soon to actually give me some feedback on what the sensors are seeing, and also going to try some new injectors before that.
But I'm also worried it might be the head gasket, does that ever cause intermittent problems, like running worse when cold, and generally bad running? It will have moments of clarity, and it starts to pull hard, then goes lean, looses power and generally disappoints.
The problem first occurred on track after it was running great, came out of the blue, no bad sounds or anything, and I thought it was bad gas. The next day on a dyno it pulled 336 first run on dyno, bogged and went lean on second run, and made 353 on 3rd run.
AFRs are a bit wacky as well.
Also cleaned grounds, and tried working DME.
Could this be a bad head gasket and I've been chasing my tail for 2 months?
If so who's good and reasonably priced/quick turnaround for head work in LA?
that stuff on the cap looks normal for a "cold" engine
run it up to temp and drive it around for a while and then check the cap and see if its clean.
look at the coolant or the oil to check for HG leak - the oil filler cap is not the place to check.
if you do end up needing a head job done and will DIY, i can point you to some shops i've used in the past for 944 heads.
if you want to farm out the work i usually do a 951 head gasket + timing belt + water pump job for ~$1800 including parts, if you bring the car to my garage.
that stuff on the cap looks normal for a "cold" engine
run it up to temp and drive it around for a while and then check the cap and see if its clean.
look at the coolant or the oil to check for HG leak - the oil filler cap is not the place to check.
if you do end up needing a head job done and will DIY, i can point you to some shops i've used in the past for 944 heads.
if you want to farm out the work i usually do a 951 head gasket + timing belt + water pump job for ~$1800 including parts, if you bring the car to my garage.
I can vouch for Spencer V2rocket, he is very experienced on head gaskets, clutch jobs etc etc, you will save a ton of money with him. Or you can bring the car to me and I will ..take care of it
How normal is this? Seems like this may be normal if the car hasn't been up to temp in a while, this was after first drive after installing new speed/ref sensors, it had been a while.
Sludge, due to condensation from briefly [minutes] running engine and shutting down, multiple times, without bringing engine to full operating temperature.
How long has it been since the car was properly exercised? If months, with several brief starts, as above...then normal.
To OP, just out of curiosity, what makes you think you can't do the the HG yourself? It's not that bad of a job, maybe other than trying to get the headers loose.
I'm not worried about doing the gasket myself, I've done the belts before and that's half the battle. My wife however is losing patience with how much I've worked on my car this last year with turbo upgrade, new hoses etc, so I'm trying to avoid doing it right now if possible. I'd like to get at least a year of mostly routine maintenance and tuning after the vems install, before diving into head work. My car had no service records, and the header hardware looks much newer than stock, so I'm assuming at some point in its history it's had a new gasket, but that's conjecture.
01-17-2017, 02:30 PM
Head Gasket Blown? Recommend for LA head shop?
