Eyal 951

I think my HG is done for... gees, does this crap ever let up? I'm starting to think I ****ed up paying 9 grand for this car. It could be me, or it could be the car wasn't maintained well, (i have records though) or it could be that the car was well taken care of so that all the stuff lasted long enough that it all self destructs when i get the car. 119,700 miles right now.

Looks like a HG to you too?
~Eyal

Cass944

you better double check that its not banana flavored first, then you can make assumptions like that.

Im looking at doing mine sometime soon too. i was putting it off because i had no idea how to reset the timing on the cam belt os i didnt want to have to take off the cam housing. but now it looks like Im ready to get that job done too.

Eyal 951

i checked and cant really tell, it looks like its a tiny bit mixed, maybe, this is 4 f*cking day old mobil 1! I'm pissed!
~Eyal

Devia

Calm down, Eyal! I am sure that between Legoland, you, me and Danno's headgasket, we can fix your baby.

Just be glad, VERY GLAD she blew that hose before you took her up to Buttonwillow, that would have been a disaster!

- Julie

Kevin Baker

Eyal, what symtoms are you having? If I'm looking at what I think I am, that pic is from the underside of the car, bellhousing to the left. If so, the hose at the top center is the heater hose...coolant in that area could be the heater control valve. Do you hear a high pitch whistle at idle?

Eyal 951

that is oil dripping on the block behind cylinder #4's exhaust manifold. I know its oil for sure. It's dripping on to the exhaust as well and burning. IO don't have any whistle at idle, but if i rev in neutral, up in to the boost RPM and let off, it will give me an incredibly loud high pitched whistle until it gets out of boost RPM. I assume it is because of the huge crack in the vacuum hose (that I broke Julie, it did't blow. I put a tiny bit of pressure on it while checking around looking for leaks and SNAP. gotta love breaking things. whats that saying? if it ain't broke, fix it until it is. thats exactly what i did to that hose, lol)
Julie, I know I have all these resources of help, which is nice, very nice. I think I'm going to observe AND participate in the HG job Sat. then just go home and when i have the parts I need, do it myself. I don't want Danno's HG he's donating to the other car. I just usually don't like taking handouts if I can't reimburse in some way, and Danno has been PLENTY generous to me already.
~Eyal

Peckster

A lot of these cars are getting to the stage where a lot of stuff needs replacing, and even a PPI won't tell you about half of it. The best defence is to buy a car from someone who's already done most of the work!

Mongo

if it's burning oil like that on the manifold, it could be your cam cover, look underneath there, check your oil again. If it's milkshaked more after running it all these times, it could be the headgasket considering you are also hearing that air noise.

Andy

KLR

Was this the first time that you put Mobil 1 in it? I just switched mine over for the first time 500 miles ago at 114K, and sure enough she started to leak and smoke (from oil droping onto the manifold) after about 300 miles. And boy, does it smoke! I haven't figured out where the oil is coming from yet, but my car has mostly new seals, including the cam cover seal, so who knows? If I were you, I'd take 24 hours to step back and relax, and then go through the standard HG trouble shooting steps (e.g., test for exhaust gases in the coolant, check more closely for a milkshake, compression test). I'm putting my money on you not having a significant problem.

Eyal 951

not the first time for the mobil. it did not leak before. I'd like to do a leak down. maybe its a cam cover gasket, or something. I dunno. Give me more details on HG trouble shooting process. thanks
~Eyal

nine-44

Look at the cap on the back of the cambox first. Next I'd look at the cambox gasket at thebase between it and the head. Do a leakdown and compression check too. That should narrow it down pretty well.

Kevin Baker

1 st step to TS a head gasket is a compression test. If compression test is less than optimum, do a leak down to determine the cause of the loss of compression. If with leak down you hear the air in the radiator expansion tank, then probably the headgasket.

Eyal 951

i will do a compression test. I talked to Danno, and he believes, with the sympotms I explained to him, that it is NOT a HG. I think he was explaining to me the same thing as Andy is. Camboxc gasket, and the cap? can i get more on that?
~Eyal

KLR

Look at the back of the motor. There is a round "cap" near the top of the motor that is held on with three 10mm bolts. There is a cork gasket on this cover that likes to dry out and leak. You can remove this cover and replace the gasket in ~20 minutes. Naturally, two of the three bolts are pretty accessible and the third is an exercise in frustration.

Oil leakage on the rear or passenger side near #4 resulting in a smoking exhaust manifold is typically caused by this or by the cam tower gasket. I tried feeling around the bottom of this plate to figure out if it was leaking on my car, but it felt pretty dry. I haven't taken the time to replace it yet, although it seems a likely culprit for my problem since the gasket appears to be dried out and my cam tower gasket was replaced a couple of years ago.

If you want the ultimate piece of mind on your HG, go to NAPA and buy a kit to test for exhaust gasses in the coolant. This is a pretty unambiguous, fail-safe test. A low compression reading in one cylinder followed by a leak down would also be a smoking gun, but if you don't ID low compression or it's borderline, you're right back where you started (i.e., not sure if you have a problem).

I'm still putting my money on this being a minor issue.

Danno

"the third is an exercise in frustration. "

Use a 1/4"-drive flexible extension. It's got that wire-wound cable stuff like the snakes the plumbers use. It allows you to do a smooth 90-degree bend and get a socket on that last bolt. Trick on replacing this gasket, is to use a non-silicone sealant, like Yamabond-4. Clean off both the cam-cap and matching area on the cam-tower (use acetone to remove all traces of oil). Then coat both sides of the gasket with Yamabond, the install to about 1/2 of final torque. Let the sealant dry for about 2-3 hours then torque down to final value. The idea with letting the sealant dry is so that it holds the gasket firmly in place as you do the final torquing. With a bare gasket or one with wet sealant, it will squeeze out the gasket as you tighten the bolts.