MM951

Car has 10K on new headgasket (replaced after t-belt failure) and when changing my oil today (I do it every 3K) there was more coolant then oil

My oil pressure has been good (5 bar at startup and any sort of rpm/load and 2 to 2.5 bar at warm idle) but recently coolant has been vanishing. I also noticed a SLIGHT oil leak from the rear passenger side of my cylinder head .. it was a slight drop when the car was first started.. drops onto the exhaust and burns away and thats the end of it. The car is not over heating and does not blow smoke.


I suspected that maybe the cylinder head nuts were not torqued properly - I found out the torque wrench I was using was really inaccurate - so today I bought a new beam style torque wrench - I just finished pulling off the cam tower etc and noticed a slight tear in the rear of the cam tower gasket. I suspect that was the slight oil leak I thought was coming from the cylinder head.


Then I checked the torque of every cylinder head nut except for the rear driver side was at or slightly above 66 ft lbs...

Now - I'd really hate to waste a good widefire headgasket on my n/a when I'll be needing it for the turbo... Do you guys think if one of the cylinder head nuts was not torqued to spec it would have let coolant from a coolant passage get into an oil passage? I retorqued the head to 75 ft lbs and am trying to decide if I'm going to put it together (new cam tower gasket ..$10... new intake manifold gaskets ~$10.. ) or spend the extra 20 minutes and $$$ for a new widefire headgasket if its not really needed .. or chance having to buy yet another cam tower /intake gaskets and take all apart again


I'm also suspecting oil cooler seals?? What do you guys think

thanks
mike

xsboost90

sounds like its time for new seals for your oil cooler housing.

MM951

That doesn't bother me too bad since I have a spare oil cooler seal kit in my garage.. hope I can find it.

Would that let coolant into the oil without the oil getting into the coolant? My coolant always looks perfect

thanks dan
mike

MM951

bump .. i'm intending to finish the job tonight..would like a few more opinions before I pull the head, replace oil cooler seals, or just put it back together after checking torque..

thanks
mike

hpservertech

I thought that coolant in the oil meant headgasket and oil in the coolant meant either oil cooler seals or bad oil cooler. If your coolant looks good then I wouldn't touch the oil cooler.

Mike C.

I would do the oil cooler seals before tearing out the HG again. My expereince with HG failures in that coolant gets leaks by HG into a cylinder (I'm changing one right now for that reason). If you search here you'll find many people have had the 'milkshake' as a result of oil cooler seals....

hpservertech

Milkshake in coolant is defiantly cooler seals, however when I went through this I was told by many on here that coolant in oil is HG. Search through some of my posts back in December/January time frame.

MM951

Thanks for the responses guys... I have searched and read everything related to milkshake, headgasket, oil cooler, etc and so far 2 people that have the same problem as me (same exact symptoms) but one was headgasket and one was oil cooler seals. maybe I'll try flipping a coin? at least I get to paint the engine a new scheme

Perry 951

Mike -
Clean up the side of the motor well and then run it to trace the leak. Mine leaked oil from the head when my stud was stripped out, right by the bolt relief for the bellhousing.

Torque it up and try it.

MM951

OK, the black bead running around the head gasket looked crushed and somewhat worn compared to other 944 headgaskets I've taken off... Would that let coolant into the oil?? the rings looked good etc

I'm leaning towards NOT replacing the oil cooler seals right now as I have to get going to work ASAP and it seems when they fail they let oil into the coolant.. and my coolant is 100% pure.. thoughts??

Yabo

You have the head off? The oil cooler seals shouldu only take half an hour or something you should have decent access to it now with everything out of the way.. Otherwise, if any suspect spots were on the headgasketput it back together and try the seals later or something.

wi54545

I guarantee you that it is the oil cooler seals and not the head gasket.

Fishey

When you crack the block you get coolant into the oil and can get good comp numbers and no noise... but hey what do I know?

Perry 951

Mike -
Were you able to get the corner stud tight?

MM951

Hey Perry - yes, I've checked the torque 2 times since re assembling and its staying tight. I wonder if it will when the engine heats up/cools etc .. same you have to pull off the cam tower to get to it

That would suck. I assume this happened to you? Guess I'll find out soon enough...


thanks again guys
mike