MM951

and my head gasket looks fine ??? The rings are in good shape and nothing obvious.

Background:

Over the past few months, I have been loosing a tiny amount of coolant and after runs at higher boost (18+ psi) I would have a rough cold start with the a little white smoke and the smell of coolant. I just turned the boost down and had no more issues until the other day, when it was smoking on cold start ups 100% of the time.

I don't think it was blown recently due to a bad tune (Vitesse MAF) but ~13-14K miles ago -before I had the Vitesse kit - I over boosted it bad 2x with a really ****ty tune (hardly sufficient for n/a driving) and freaked, but nothing ever came of it.

I was thinking maybe the overboost "weakened" the headgasket and it just took 14K miles of pretty hard driving before it "let go" (which it hasn't really yet... NEVER overheated, car runs great) - Any thoughts?

I'm putting it back together now and I still suspect the headgasket, but even if its not I'm finally replacing a broken head stud and taking care of a few other things... Just wish my Iceshark kit was here so I could install that at teh same time..

thoughts?
Mike

black951

i had a similar situation where my car ran great - no smoking- perfectly turned according to my wide band- but i started slowly losing coolant. pressure tested it and could find no leak. kept driving it and eventually the car started running a bit warmer- not overheating- just a bit warmer. i kept bleeding and bleeding the car and it would run ok for a day or two then it would start running warm. i started to suspect the head and bought a block tester from my local napa for 50$ and the test turned up positive for exhaust gas in the coolant- so i had a leaky head-right about this time i noticed a small ammount of white smoke on idle. I had no water in the oil- no oil in the coolant. the car was just pressurizing the cooling system. i took the head off and could find no damage to the gasket or the block. I'm not sure why the head leaked to this day- it could be that i improperly torqued the head- the factory manuals confused me when i was installing the head- the front of the manual has stated torque specs and then deeper into the manual there are updated torque specs using the angle torque method- i didn't learn this till it was too late. another possibility for my car is that the head i installed was slightly warped even though i checked for this (i am after all just a hobbyist gear head- not a professional machinist). the only other possibility is that the head was o-ringed incorrectly by powerhause- i noticed the o'rings did not match up to the gasket rings perfect. My car is currently sitting with the head off- i scraped the powerhause upgraded head and sent the stock head to LR for decking and o'rings- and a level one rebuild. I am also adding the LR steam vent kit and a coolant mod for the head-gasket- i don't know if this is just bs- but i figured it was worth trying since these cars are so prone to HG failure and the mods are cheap. I hope this fixes my problem.

if i was you- i would have a machine shop deck the head when its off- that way u can be sure its perfectly flat. Did you pressure test your coolant system before u took it apart? was there air in the coolant system after high boost coolant loss? did you use a block test to confirm a head gasket leak? I think your theory about the over-boost weakening the gasket is possible- but I'm no expert. just a shade tree enthusiast. good luck

333pg333

Is this with a stock h/g or something else?

INURGRL951

Yes just like 333 ask what kinda headgasket are you using?

Cory9584

Maybe it was leaking a little coolant around the broken stud. I recommend you fix that, deck the head, get a new gasket and i'm sure it will be fine. If you have an mls gasket, seeping a little coolant while the car sits is common but not a real problem.

MM951

Thanks for the feedback guys...

I mistyped, I broke an exhaust stud, not head stud..so even if the HG wasn't bad (doubt it) at least it wasn't all for naught..

OEM headgasket, O-ringed head, torqued to 15 ft lbs, 90*, 90*. Threads had a light coat of 20w-50 engine oil, marked em with paint and they never budged.

The ****ty part is... today I asked my bro to put my cylinder head on a shelf in the garage to make sure it wouldn't get wet (garage leaks) as I was at work. I came home a little while ago to do the install and I see my cylinder head (with freshly repaired manifolds installed) on the ground...it took a 3.5 ft tumble off the shelf and landed on concrete. I don't know how it fell .. if it landed on the manifolds first and pivoted on them (ouch....all that weight/momentum) or it just came down on 1 corner or what...

Anyone have any idea if this could have caused damage? Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid (and crazy, haven't slept since Wed. ...............WAY too much work.. 15-20hr shifts 3 days in a row. no time to sleep during the day) but I do not want to re do anything related to the cylinder head or exhaust manifolds . I still can't believe it

944obscene

It dropped? WOW. If you put that back on as-is, you're doing so on pure faith. I'd have it checked. That would SUCK! I certainly hope nothing comes of it, but depending on the fall... That's a heavy chunk of metal with holes and ports throughout. Lots of places to develop cracks and fractures.

mtnman82

Man, that sucks big time!!! If it were me, I'd definitely have it checked before putting it back on, including the ceramic liners. Best of luck!!!