7 Bolt possible head gasket problem

[Narish Do Urden]

I have another post on here about a different problem, wasn't sure if I needed to start a new one, but I think my head gasket is leaking, not blown, maybe a very minuscule leak.

There's a little bit of milkyness in my oil, I pulled the spark plugs, and there's nothing there on the plug itself or on the cylinder at the top from what I see in the spark plug whole, on any of them. If the gasket is leaking, it doesn't sound like its at a major issue stage.

Do you guys think I could get away with some liquid head gasket to fix it?

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[BogusSVO]

Any milkyness on the dipstick? If yes, then it is a HG issue.

If no then....

That could just be condensation in the VC area, common in cold humid weather.

Drive the car get to op temp, drive another 10-20 mins. then check if it is still there.

If no, the condensation has burnt off.

If yes, then perform a leak down test with the rad cap off.

 

[Narish Do Urden]

No milkyness on the dipstick as far as I can tell, it looks like really clean oil... I mean in the very least I bet if I licked it, I'd taste antifreeze. I'm hesitant to drive it, since it has a leaking oil issue right now and a boost leak which I just found why.

But I did leave it running for maybe 5 minutes, I'll try a little longer and see whats up and check it again.

It's been below freezing and the car has been outside, when we started it up. When we first checked the oil before purchase, nothing seemed to be wrong with it in the least, so I'll hope for the best on the condensation theory, and give an update probably tomorrow.

 

[needbooost]

That milkyness that you see is more likely sludge. Does your coolant have a similar look? Oil can turn into a yellowish sludge and build up in some areas from bad pcv ventalation, excessive blow by, poor oil quality. Over time the combination of gasoline and heat contaminates the oil.

It could be a head gasket if you coolant and oil levels change alot but having proper pcv ventalation can solve a multitude of problems and prolong the life of your engine.

 

[Narish Do Urden]

My coolant from the Water housing looks very very good, a friend of mine is adamant about the headgasket leaking, but as far as I know, it supposedly has a rebuilt head with 272 cams, and ARP Headbolts and Studs.

Also this car has 78k miles on the body, with the supposed rebuilt head etc... I find the easiest way to get real answers is pics, so instead of me who isn't too knowledgeable on the subject taking stabs in the dark like, "My head gasket is blown cause my puppy took a doo doo in the cat litter," Ill post a pic of the dipstick AFTER letting it get OP temp, as far as I see honestly it looks like it just had an oil change, before I bought it.

 

[1996dsm]

I'm in the same situation, at first it was light then got more heavy after 30 or so minutes of idling. My dip stick and coolant are clean, and the car runs fine. I recently put a smim and new turbo set up so im unsure of the problem.

Do you have Any water in your pcv hose or intake to vc hose?

I have what looks like clean water in my hose to the intake.

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Untitled by thamarshan, on Flickr

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Untitled by thamarshan, on Flickr

 

[needbooost]

#blowby

 

[Narish Do Urden]

I have a nasty hole in my valve to intake hose that I noticed yesterday there's a bunch of oil in it. for a separate issue I took the intake off the turbo to check the turbo and there was a little bit of oil where the hose goes onto the turbo, but none of it looks like it has coolant in it. It's just milky under the cap, I can't smell any sweetness in the exhaust or off the block.
I need to fix this boost leak, before I try anything

 

[mantega4g63]

Check for sludge or oil residue in the overflow tank..
If some is in there, clean it out thoroughly and refill it and check back in a week of normal driving

How fast does your car get up to operating temperature? My friends had a minuscule leak and he could tell because it reached operating temperature really fast

if all else fails buy a combustion leak test off ebay and test the cooling system

 

[Narish Do Urden]

I ran it for 10-15 minutes idle most of the time, maybe 2 minutes of holding it at 2.5-4k rpm, my temp gauge didn't even move.

There was a little bit of white smoke out of the exhaust some times, but it cleared up and never did it again, I am gonna go check it in maybe an hour or two and see if it comes back, but the smoke turned blue after a while.

I put Ring Seal Smoke Repair in it while running it. Again none of the smoke had any sickly antifreeze smell. I checked the dipstick, there was still no milkyness on that. I believe the moister to be cleared up, I'll come back with the final update on that hopefully it cleared itself, and now I just deal with my oil leak.
Also when I pulled the plugs they were black, no moister on them or the cyls.

And yes I did taste the oil on the dipstick, no flavor of antifreeze. Yeah, that's right, tasted.

 

[VTDSM28]

Did you check the torque specs on the head to make sure it didn't lift on you.

 

[needbooost]

Thats the best way to test it.

 

[Narish Do Urden]

Did you check the torque specs on the head to make sure it didn't lift on you.

I bought the car with this stuff on it, the previous owner gave me a list of the specs.

Garret Big 20g Turbo
Built 4g63t head with 272 Cams and ARP Headstuds
Shepard Trans Stage 2 with a Stage 2 Clutch
Short Throw Shifter

It's seated on a newer gasket anyways at the right angle I can see it, but if the white smoke stopped out of the exhaust, I don't think it's the headgasket? Maybe I'm missin somethin. After I put that sealant in it,the smoke stayed the blue from my oil.

~Update~
I went out and ran it for another 15-20 minutes, and the smoke started blue and stayed blue. Think the head worry is over at this time?