krazykarl

More like I know what I have to pay someone else to do. I'm afraid my mechanical abilities don't go far enough to be willing to pull the head myself.

krystar

come down to chicago and we can do it in a weekend hehe.

peanut

if that amount of coolant was leaking into a cyclinder you should be able to 'read' it on the plug compared with the others. There would also be white smoke on startup . It probably wouldn't be running evenly either.
Your car has got more leaks than a colander

krazykarl

tempting, but I would also be having the head refreshed while it's off.

krazykarl

I'm making it all up anyway right? So what does it matter?

krystar

hehe just jokin w/ ya man. it would never be worth it for u to drive all way down here for that hehe. u going to elkhart this year?

krazykarl

Maybe, the local PCA chapter has a DE the week before so I have to decide if I want to do one or both. Problem is I have to take a day off from work either way.

krazykarl

Decision time I guess. shop can't confirm a headgasket problem with a block test, but the tech can't think of any other possible cause as there are no new external leaks and no signs of coolant in the oil. I had them do compression and leakdown tests as well. 10% on cylinder 1 and 8% on the rest, but the compression test came out to around 130PSI on all four cylinders. That explains why when I had the car dyno'd it had only 150hp and 140ft-lb of torque.

I'm not going to spend the money needed to get it back to spec should it be as bad as scored cylinders. At this point I'm thinking about giving the head gasket replacement a shot on my own and inspect what I can at that time to see what's next.

krystar

woohoo. finally DIY time

DarylJ

DIY. Take it slow, take pictures before during and after and post a lot during. It's a totally do-able job. Even if you've never done one before.

krystar

$10 says it's a hairline crack in headgasket. proceeds go to karl for a new HG

DarylJ

I'll take that action. I'm going for a cooling jacket to exhaust runner crack (sorry, not trying to wish poorly on you, just guessing).

Z-man

I got my $10 on a hariline crack in the head.

Sorry, but that's what I suspect is your problem. If you are going to do a headgasket, then you might as well get the head magnafluxed to check for cracks. That is the only real way to check for cracks - you need to heat up that metal to allow it to expand and reveal any imperfections. Otherwise, if it is the head, and you just replace the head gasket, you'll be back to square one in notime.

Oh, and while you're in there, you might as well take car of the 'while you're in there' stuff like:
- Cam chain, cam chain guide & tensioner
- Timing belt & rollers (close enough!)
- Maybe new fuel rail and/or injectors...
- New spark plugs and wires

-Z-man.

krazykarl

Chain and tensioner have were replaced 8000 miles ago along with the belts, but I might do the belts anyway as they are about five years old. I was planning on sending the injectors out to witchhunter. Plugs are new but the wires could stand to be replaced though that can be done later easy enough. I have some tools to order first, but I hope to get started next week.

krazykarl

Looks like krystar and Z-man are right on with the crack in the cylinder head theory.