It's just due to the camera flash, they all look pretty much the same under regular light. Not sure about the black spot. Other side has some evidence of age where pieces are missing from half the layer of gasket, and in the upper right there is a small hole. Walls of cylinders 2 and 3 were in very good shape from my quick visual inspection.

 

Can't see the crack on the bottom of the cylinder head, though I suppose that doesn't mean it isn't there. Anything look unusual with the valves, given that they have 116k miles on them?

 

Don't see anything unusual. You'll want to take some very fine grit sandpaper and carefully sand away all of that old head gasket material, also good for taking care of that carbon buildup on the tops of your pistons. Post some pics of that old gasket, if anything the leak came from there (best case scenario).

 

Around cylinder #1 was the only place on the head gasket that I could see obvious and significant wear.

 

So, another probably dumb question. I want to inspect the cylinder walls of #1 and #4 for scoring and the car is currently at #1 TDC so I obviously can't see them at the moment. Any issues turning the engine over with the crank bolt? Only issue I can think of is the timing belt is tied to nothing with the cam and cam gear removed. Just turn it nice and easy so the timing belt spins around the rest of the rollers?

 

just turn it a full cycle so cyl #1 is at intake stroke TDC. check by the flywheel mark, not piston position.

 

Found a couple thin and shallow score lines in cylinder #1, but it's not bad enough to consider having it recoated at the moment

 

Just got a call from the shop where I dropped the head off, and they confirmed the crack I saw and stated it ran through to the oil return. They didn't feel comfortable trying to fix it because of its proximity to a head stud hole.

Any ideas where to start looking for a replacement?

 

Should have a head purchased by tomorrow. Still have to decide what do do about my exhaust cam, as 4 of the 8 lobes have some form of pitting.


Haven't decided if I'll just put it back in, replace it with a quality used one from partsheaven or have it ground by a shop.

 

Shot of the crack after cleaning.


Wonder what I should do with the thing...

 

frame it, mount it.

or find out how much recycling plant will give u for aluminum heh

 

Nothing useful. Pull the valves, sell the rest for scrap.

 

let's see...current price of alum is about 70 cents a pound...how much aluminum is there? hehe

 

So you definitely had coolant going into the oil? Have you checked the bearings?

 

Since the oil in the valve train was a dark green, I probably had some coolant go into the oil. Weird thing is it never separated from the oil itself at any time. I have not checked the bearings. I'll change the oil again before driving it too much once it's back together.