Blown Ring VS HG?

[Jay-Wel]

How do you distinguish a blown ring vs a HG? theres no black smoke and I dont see oil in the coolant. Anyways im hoping its the HG, also how might i tell if the heads warped now? or even cracked?

 

[92AWDHX40]

Well do do a compression test, check turbo for shaft play, could be a few things check those first.

 

[jrohner]

Well what are your symptoms? I'm almost a champion head-gasket destroyer, and I've never had my oil & coolant mix.

 

[TSi Kid]

Isn't it that with a bad HG you'll have partial compression, but if the ring is bad, you'll have no compression?

 

[NeMiZiS]

A leak down test should help determine.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Do those two things and let us know, what you find then we can go from there.

 

[Jay-Wel]

Well do do a compression test, check turbo for shaft play, could be a few things check those first.

Its on my 1.8... haha so no comp means its a blown ring, and low comp means blown HG?

 

[92AWDHX40]

1.8 oh i was unaware of that, do a compression test, i cant guess,, what the black smoke is from, my cars never smoked black, only white, when hg was bad.

 

[Jay-Wel]

1.8 oh i was unaware of that, do a compression test, i cant guess,, what the black smoke is from, my cars never smoked black, only white, when hg was bad.

Said theres no black smoke that would mean theres oil being burnt if there was black smoke.

 

[TSi Kid]

Black oil burning white is water, but you can still burn oil with a bad HG.

 

[stars]

Easy answer.. Compression check here's why...

Change your oil, if you got water in the oil you got problems. Best to do a compression check right then before you go any further. If all is o.k no water in the oil we go to next step.

Start the car up, if it is running rough, stumbles or stalls then you have to figure out that part first, could be bad plug/injector/coil or wire. If no problems found with faulty ignition components then you may have a cylinder that is losing compression which is sometimes caused by faulty "rings" or bent/ burnt valves. You are still going to have to run a compression check, so now you definitely have to do the test before you go any further.

If results from compression test look "o.k." then suspect the o-rings need to be replaced inside the turbo. Leak down test or compression test or any kind of test mentioned is the best place to start first before any major work is even done. There are some FAQ's on this subject you have to dig thru the old posts. Plus you have this forum to post your test results. Hope this helps.

TSi Kid you are correct. You will have 0 compression when you "crank over the engine...So if your reading let's say are 160-158-161-0 (sometimes it may register like 5-10 psi but that can be because the piston still going to shove some air into the gauge so watch for any fluctuation when doing a compression check). You spotted a big problem with just doing that test alone. That's why you write the numbers down as you do the test, so you can spot such discrepancies.

 

[dalesocks]

Do a compression test and on the affected cylinders do a leak down test and it will tell you exactly was wrong.