Hilton

Its much more likely to be a leaking oil cooler in the radiator.. have you pulled the radiator and have the oil cooler inside it pressure tested?

giddyupp

Thanks for the advice - radiator will be coming out tonight. Does anyone have a bay area recommendation for having it checked ?

James Bailey

But this is NOT an S-4......the 85-86 still uses head studs not the head bolts of the S-4. Porsche made that change when they learned that it is very very difficult trying to get the heads off an 85-86 with the engine in the car.....plus the stupid cam cover bolts screw into the head on another bolt and typically shear off. Drilling them out is nearly impossible with the engine in the car....
So YES he would be pulling the engine if it does have head gasket issues...and doing both sides and a full reseal while in there plus motor mounts hoses etc.... no small task. Which is why the original owner punted when the shop started talking about what it MIGHT NEED and the $$$$$ involved.

karl ruiter

Pulling the motor is not that hard, and it makes everything else SO much easier. I will never to more than intake work with the motor in the car again. I think.

docmirror

If your rad comes back tested good, put it back in, but bypass the oil cooler lines and don't go into the rad temporarily. You can run the engine for a while without the oil cooler in the rad connected. Then, fill the rad with clear water, no coolant, and flush it a few times. Run the engine for a while and see if you get oil in the water.

If so, pretty confirmed that you have head gasket leak or worse. If you run it for a while with clear water, and no oil mix, hook up the oil cooler and test again.

giddyupp

sounds good - probably gonna be the weekend before I can get it tested. I will report back. thanks to all for the advice

Cosmo Kramer

Talk to Imo000 he has pulled heads on a 85-86 with the engine in. If I remember correctly he ground a bit of material off the top of one of the head studs to get the clearance.

If you have to remove the cam covers and the inner stud starts loosening first, just loosen all the bolts slowly, a couple turns at a time. The cam cover will come off and the inner studs that came out will come with it. Then remove them on the bench.

giddyupp

Pulled the radiator and will be dropping it off later today for a pressure test. Pulled the plugs to see if they could tell me anything. Also pulled the water pump. Plugs all looked ok except for maybe two that looked oily. I don't see any that look like they have been steam cleaned by a possible blown head gasket. When I pulled the water pump you could clearly see more of the sludge. There was also some yellow substance that looked like it had been flung around the bottom part of the engine. Any ideas as to what that is ?

wpgshark

I had a Volvo blow an oil cooler in the rad once, one of the byproducts was a light yellow wax/grease like substance that I was forever cleaning out. Every time I though I got it all there would be another glob floating in the expansion tank. That would be some of what you're seeing in the water pump.

The yellow around the crank and sprinkled on the oil pan, possibly somebody spilled something, maybe engine seal, many recommend that you don't put them into the expansion tank.

But really not a clue.

RFJ

Aren't those mirrors orth half the price of the car? I mean there already on there.

giddyupp

After a couple of problems on the way she finally back came back to life last night. On first start up she spluttered and sounded kinda rough. After a minute the engine seemed to settle down but something still did not seem right. I wanted to get the engine up to temp so I could check for leaks and anything else whilst it was still up in the air. After about 5 or so minutes I looked under the car and noticed the CATs glowing red hot. I immediatly shut it down. Quickly realized that it was only running on 4 cylinders. Turns out the Ignition control module that the PO had put back in was bad. Got a new (used) one from Mark and she fired right up. Still seems to be idling pretty high but engine seems much smoother. I have a couple of questions.

1) Could the high idle just be because the LH has been unplugged for so long and needs to re learn or is there likely some other problem.
2) I also wasn't sure about the timing marks. Nothing seemed to move when I put the new belt on and after 4 revolutions by hand the timing marks seemed pretty good. pics attached. The mark on the passenger side was off a hair. Do the timing marks look within spec ? Unfortunately I do not have a before picture.
3) What else should I check for with a High idle?

Tom in Austin

High idle is often a vacuum leak ... check for a split or loose vacuum hose, esp the ones going to and from the ISV

davek9

1. S3 (85-86.5's) do not save engine info, the CPU's get powered off when the key is switched off.
Hi idle, depending on how Hi (you didn't say) could be a vacuum leak to a bad ISV.

2. The Cam timing marks are close enough for now, as you really can't tell where the cams are in relationship to the gears, the gears are not fixed (keyed) on the cams. exact timing requires a cam timing tool or removal of the cam covers and a dial gauge.

3. Depends on how high

BTY the belt tracking looks right on the money

Good job!

giddyupp

Idle is right around 1200/1500 -
Also wandering if the O2 sensor could have been messed up with the Red hot Cats. Is there a way to test it ?

davek9

O2 sensor won't cause the idle to be that high, however running rich or coolant in the exhaust won't do it much good either. When in doubt replace it
Also checking the connections on the tempII sensor and you can ohm it out too.

I'd be looking for a vacuum leak, start plugging up things (hoses) going into the manifold, start w/ small easy ones.
You will get good at taking the side plenums on and off