DID I pop a headgasket???????????

[YGETV8]

Well, I was convinced that I had blown a gasket into the intake valley in my WE4 racing last Wed., but I'm beginning to wonder.

Ran up to 28 psi boost on alky and pump gas in tuning runs the night before and it felt great! No KR! BUT, it was smoking a little when I pulled into the garage. No big deal, I thought, just oil dripping on the crossover as usual.

Pulled it out of the garage to race Wed. and there was a slight miss... BUT, I had just tested the alky pump twice so I knew there was some sitting in the motor in puddles. Sure enough, it cleared up.

Ran a first pass at about 25 psi (12.33@112.89) and I was thinking "not too bad for the first pass of the year, and it was 10 degrees hotter than the day of it's best pass last year not to mention pretty damn humid out." O2s looked good on TLink (.810-.830) and 1.2* KR. I noticed some oil on the plug wires from the dip stick tube, which I had never seen. Oh well, I came to race!

I upped the boost 1 psi and fuel pressure about 4 psi and made another run. 26 psi... half track there were two loud "pops" so I backed out of it. TLink showed some lean frames (low .700s and about 9* KR)? May have pushed my fuel pump too far. After determining that there was NO antifreeze in the oil, I drove it home gently (in the rain) and it ran fine. Just started it up and it still smokes a little out of the pipes, but not much and doesn't look/smell like oil really. If I remember right, it was smoking a very minute amount from the pipes before all this, but the oil out of the dip stick tube has never happened.

Any ideas? Thanks,

 

[Nick Micale]

Jay, here is my opinion. I do not see why you did NOT blow a head gasket at 28#'s boost and pump gas? Usually with 114 octane even will blow a gasket.

Just because O2 readings are in a "good" range does not mean no detonation. An EGT reading would be more meaningful. Crummy pump gas detonates at 15-16#'s normally, why would it not at 28#'s even with alky?

Anyway, let us know what your compression test results are!

 

[YGETV8]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the response. I didn't jump right into 28psi, I "snuck up on it" some! KR was non-existent at 25-26 psi last year, and the one or two TLink frames I saw with very small amounts of KR at 28 psi may have been all it took at that level. Yeah... I knew I was pushing it!

I'll do a compression test for sure... just looking for some opinions! Thanks, Jay

 

[Scott231]

Jay,

With the engine running, look for bubbles in the radiator and listen carefully to the area around the intake. You are listening for a pffft, pffft. Spraying some carb cleaner around the manifold could also detect a problem BUT IS DANGEROUS to do...use caution.

With it not running check for water in the oil and look at the plugs. Shirley you've already done this, but I didn't see that you posted the results.

How steady is the vacuum on the guage at idle?

 

[YGETV8]

Thanks for the replies! I did a compression test last night and 5 cylinders were in the 120-130 psi range, BUT... number 5 was only at 100! No bubbles or antifreeze in the coolant, though. Time to dig my old stock T-Type heads out and get them gone over and maybe "cleaned up" for a future swap, I guess! Lesson learned! Oh yeah... plugs looked good and evenly colored. Thanks again! Jay

 

[1badTTA]

Since I am a master at blowing head gaskets, I will chime in here.

Sounds like you blew the gasket between the cylinder and the oil passage. It will only let pressure into the oil pan and not the coolant system. There is no damage done at all except the headgasket itself. Change it and be on your way. (Assuming the block and head aren't warped causing it to blow)

I have blown 3 gaskets (at different times) and only 1 caused water in the oil. It was pretty sad looking since it was mobil 1 oil with 3 miles on it (and 3 miles on new wastegate vacuum lines) and looked like a vanilla milkshake.

 

[Scott231]

Originally posted by 1badTTA
Since I am a master at blowing head gaskets<snip>
I have blown 3 gaskets (at different times)

Bwahahahaha, f*cking rookie.