I blew something tonight :( Headgasket maybe?

W

WakkoSS

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2002
I'm a total retard. I rarely drive the GN lately and took it out tonight. After working all day and partying all night, I'm on my way home and did a smokin' burnout and high speed run up. While I'm going, I hear the motor pinging but for some reason my thick skull didn't register that "YOUR MOTOR IS PINGING, DUMBASS! TAKE YOUR FOOT OUT OF IT!!!"

Car has a definite stumble to it now and the left side of the motor exterior is coated in oil (valve cover, exhaust manifold, power steering pump, everything). After being parked in my driveway for 3 hours there's an 8 inch puddle (albeit shallow) of oil. Didn't appear to be smoking out of the tailpipe, but it was dark and I couldn't see all that well. BTW, Scanmaster registered 12 degrees of retard and 02's in the high 700s. :(

I'm hoping it's just a head gasket. Should I be worried?:confused:
 
No one else wants to say so I will !!

Are you on crack or something ?

yes your screwed !!
 
That's not what I was looking for. Considering I've been driving TRs for 6 years without a problem I'm due for a "I'm a dumbass" manuever, but I don't need the reminder from you...I've already got a mess in my driveway to remind me.

And my "Should I be worried?" question really should have stated "Should I be worried about anything else besides the head gasket?"
 
Sounds like a headgasket. Since you're gonna be digging into the motor anyway, I would recommend you also change the timing chain, tensioner, and put a new cam button in, if this stuff hasn't already been done. Ditto for new valvesprings if they are the originals

Ya, what you did was a bit bone-headed, but at least you're big enough to own up to the mistake - not something many people are keen to do.

In spite of your misfortune, this might be a blessing in disguise as you can maybe take care of other things you might not have been inclined to fix like timing chain, valvesprings, and drivers side header crack.. etc... I bet your car runs better than it did before, after you get the gasket fixed.

Good luck, and let us know how it works out!

Billy
Montgomery Village, MD
 
Valve springs have been replaced already, so that's a good thing. Does the front cover come off during the head r/r or is that an extra step? Car's got 48k miles on it...didn't think it needed a chain yet.
 
If you blew the HG towards the inside and they were the stock composite gaskets you have bigger troubles...you just shot that graphite crap from the HG into your engine and it's circulated through everything...just went through this with a friend...he blew a stock HG to the inside...oil was all over the engine bay which came from the breathers...we cleaned everything up or so we thought...replaced the HG's with engine in the car...flushed the engine with fresh oil...he ran it for about a year and blew the HG again but it was from a cyl to a coolant passage...this time we pulled the engine...upon tearing it apart we found that graphite stuff all over the place...it was embedded in places you never would have thought...his bearings had small score marks as well as the crank...so just a piece of advice...if you blew a stock HG to the inside...pull the motor...tear it down and have it cleaned throughly...I know this isn't what you wanted to hear...
 
Do a compression check sound like head gasket. If it's stock
gasket just make sure you clean all parts good. Sept i did
both gaskets and spent at least 4hr of cleaning and flushing not
to mention about 14hrs r/r
check turbo lines
oil pu tube
flush turbo, bottom of block
any place where oil travels flush.

take heads to good machine shop for clean up and warpage check
don't skimp here ask me how i know.

You will be fine take your time:)
 
What turbofrank said. Remove your oil pan and flush it, the oil pickup screen and the crankcase of the engine.
 
Am I able to get the pan off without lifting the motor? I don't have the means to lift it up.

Cometics or stock gaskets?
 
Damn Ian, that sucks. I just went thru headgaskets and a tranny on my car. If you want I can get you a good price on the Cometic gaskets. Thats what I ended up going with on mine.
 
It ain't the gaskets that's expensive...it's the installation that gets ya. Who did yours?
 
problems

Hi!
My car is running on 4 and a half cylinders, and I can hear it during the cranking cycle, being as uneven as it is. I don't have your oil problem, but beleive it's just a couple of head gaskets.A worst case scenario would be a couple of bent rods, but from what I'm hearing, that's not likely.Anyway, time to pull the heads...
 
Compression check is good but a leak down test would be better.
If you think the HG is blown. It will give you a better idea as to where/how it's blown.

Got any fuild mixing? oil in water or water in oil?

you may have gotten lucky and just blew(the HG) into and out of an oil passage.

HTH
 
Dude, that sux. My prob started that way too. Cept i didnt do the WOT pinging move. sorry! But when i pulled the heads off i saw the pstons were hiting the cylinder wall at the top of the stroke. Turns out the wrist pins were going. So i say take it apart and check everything. You are lucky its just a weekend toy. Find someone witha engine hoist or buy one like me. Its not too hard, i took mine in and put it back in by myself.

Scott
 
I have ZERO desire to pull the motor. The heads are about as much as I'm going to tackle solo. I did finally find out what happened. Ran out of propane at WOT. :(
 
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