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Blown Headgasket after timing belt

2K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  dr_pancho 
#1 ·
Hi guys,
I had a couple of oil leaks (main seal and oil pan) and a worn-out clutch. And I needed to change my belts so I removed the engine from the car, put it in the engine stand replaced the oil pump seal and rear main seal, replaced oil pan and valve cover gasket. Did the timing, replaced fluids, added the new clutch and popped the engine back in the car.
Let the car idle several times no issues.
1st test, drove the car for 10 miles, car runs good.
Oil remained super clean but a little lower I assumed it was filling all the oil galleries and added 250ml +-
2nd test drove for 60 miles car runs good .... but the oil is low, 1L missing +- and I have oil in the expansion tank.
Car doesn't overheat, and oil in the pan is low but clean.

The only possibility than I can think of is a blown head gasket. Could it be related to the fact that I removed the engine from the car (and left the block without oil or coolant for a couple of months)? Was it just bad luck? Did I screw something up? Am I missing something and there's another possibility for the oil in the expansion tank, the engine is d15z6 (so there's no heat exchanger on this one), the car is an EK3 if it matters.

Thanks for any tip.
Regards, Pedro
 
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#8 ·
Odd to get oil in the cooling system (expansion tank) and yet have zero evidence via the exhaust (smoking, smells)

Id sooner get a spare cylinder head, and send it to a shop to be inspected and rebuilt. valve stem seals, valve guides, make sure valve seats are all sealing and in good condition, etc...

Sounds like your current cylinder head got a new headgasket at some point in its life, without being prepared properly with a head skim, or it was overheated quite badly at some point, and someone threw on a super cheap gasket, re-used head bolts, and sold the car.


How long have you owned this? purely speculation at this point.

Hopefully a simply headgasket and new headbolts fixes this, but Id say investigating is a wiser decision.
 
#9 ·
Car is from 96, it's in my family since 98 or 99 and it had only 30.000km
I've (we've) never did any mechanical repair to it. Only maintnance (plugs, belts and fluids).
Car never overheated. The only problem it had until now is that it was stolen twice and was missing for several months.
The 1st time the police found it 6 or 7 months after (baterry and radiator had be stolen and were missing).
The 2nd time the wheels were stolen and car was missing for 4 months +-.
After retrieving the car and replacing the stolen parts, car runned good but developed oil leaks. Not sure if it was from age or not being run for soo long.
Car is currently with 240.000km

I've left the oil leaks unattended for 1 year and now I arranged the time to fix it.

For the past 20 years I know the car didn't overheat. I don't know what happened in the 15km it was drove (with a wrong ecu probably) while being stolen. But since I drove more than 1 year / 10.000km without issues I assumed that no damage was done at the time.
 
#10 ·
WEll, if they beat the dog piss out of it, it could simply have been damage to the valvetrain and cylinder head seals that take time to show up.

It sounds like its an even better reason to send the cylinder head off to get checked out. Most shops around me cap out around $300 for a total head refresh, including seats, and generally including only necessary valves if inspection indicates they need to be repalced.
 
#13 ·
Yes, radiator, battery, one floor mat and the jack/tools. I was amazed how someone would risk being cought to rob this. Specially a 20year old radiator and a probably 6 or 7 year old battery.

The 2nd time it was the wheels that are sought-after (at least in Portugal) ek4 wheels with new tires, so it was easy money.
 
#14 ·
OK, just an update.
Everything is fine after replacing the headgasket. Head was not warped and couldn't find any visible signs of damage in the valves, pistons or cylinder (naked eye).

The only issue I encountered was that the procedure to tighten the headgasket is to run the car and after cold re-torque the bolts. Doing this I stripped the valve cover holes threads.

This was something that had never happened to me before... I think it is because I'm using non original (new) grommets in the valve cover bolts.
All the gaskets and seals that I used are from a brand named "ajusa" and feel really good quality, but I don't know what else could cause the such a "light" feeling on the valve cover bolts.

If it helps someone, I've tried to document the valve cover repair in video.

 
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