What is the cause of this mess?

[Dhan]

I'm doing the timing belt and swapping turbos on my awd 1g. I took a peak inside the exhaust side of the head and three of the four runners look like the first picture. I'm referring to the caked on, built up deposits of carbon and oil.
Also, the car burned off a good amount of oil at nearly every start up. Given this info, are the valve seals expired?

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Just for comparison, here's the one clean runner.

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Another question unrelated to the above: can anyone tell if this is the OE head stud for a 1g?

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[Colt4G63 also]

Yes, you need valve seals.

 

[Dhan]

Got it. Thank you for the answer.

I have a follow-up question. In order to replace the seals, I'll have to remvoe the head. However, I neglected to rotate the engine to TDC before I took the timing belt off. Will this matter? After I take the head off, can I just rotate the crank until the pistons are at TDC (and the crank is aligned with the arrow)?

Also, what about the cams and cam sprockets? After the head is rebuilt and machined do I just put the cams back on as they were?

 

[AWD Street Terrorist]

I would check your charge piping to see if your turbo has blown seals, check/clean the EGR valve because it may be stuck, and definitely change those valve seals.

The engine doesn't need to be at TDC to remove the cams, but you are going to need to CAREFULLY follow the timing belt procedure in the service manual especially if you still have the balance shafts.

 

[dsmcurse]

Yes that looks like a stock head-bolt. Do you mind me askin why your pulling the head? If your gonna pull the head just to change the valve guide seals stop right there. Its possible, and rather easy to change the valve seals with head still on car. If your just gonna put a new Tbelt on it and that was the main purpose of the mission and then you discover you wanna replace the valve guide seals too, well, you don't have to remove the cylinder. Head to do so. If your serious about changing valve seals with head still on car, then just ask how and ill glady give you detailed instructions on how to do so. If your already hell bent and set on removin head, then disregaurd everything I just said

 

[DSM_2GB]

If your engine has alot of miles, its probably worn out the valve guides too.

 

[TucsonTSI]

Yes, with the head off you can rotate the crank to TDC. Use the crank pulley to make sure it lines up with "0" on the lower timing cover. Once the head is done put the cams back in with the dowels pointing upward (the dowels for the cams to the cam gears). The exhaust cam will want to turn on you, that's fine, just let it; then once you are installing the timing belt you'll need to rotate that ex cam to get the dowel pointed up again.

I also agree that it looks like a OEM head bolt.

Got it. Thank you for the answer.

I have a follow-up question. In order to replace the seals, I'll have to remvoe the head. However, I neglected to rotate the engine to TDC before I took the timing belt off. Will this matter? After I take the head off, can I just rotate the crank until the pistons are at TDC (and the crank is aligned with the arrow)?

Also, what about the cams and cam sprockets? After the head is rebuilt and machined do I just put the cams back on as they were?

 

[jbeaton9292]

Absolutly an oem head bolt i just pulled apart my untouched laser about 4 months ago and those are what i had in there be careful they were pretty easy to strip luckly i only messed up one of them still a total pain good luck man

 

[Dhan]

A lot of good info, thank you everyone!

A little more background: I got the car this summer. It's a stock 1992 AWD Talon w/154k. I noticed the t-belt had a couple of stretched spots, so I began collecting all the needed parts to do a t-belt job. I also noticed that it blows a heavy cloud of blue smoke at start up, so I figured the seals were expired, which looks like it's the case on three of the cylinders (although it still passes CO smog/emissions).

My plans for the car are a small 16g at 18psi with all the appropriate supporting mods (injectors, Supra SMIC, ECMlink, etc). This is the setup that was on the cow car in my avatar. I would just rather have this setup in my AWD now.

Anyway, I did a compression test and leak down prior to taking things apart. The results were 90 across the board +/- 5 for the compression test, and the engine passed the leak down as well.
But even though compression was okay, I felt that with the extra strain the motor would see and its age, I would replace the head gasket and rebuild the head along with ARP studs. I can only assume the car is on the original equipment.

Maybe the car could handle 18psi just fine, it's hard to tell. I'm not super hard on my cars. I'll go for a spirited drive here and there into the mountains, but day to day, I'm pretty gentle. I might hit the strip once or twice with this car.
So that's the plan, but if anyone has any input or experience they want to share, I'm all ears.

EDIT: is there a right/wrong way to remove the OE head studs? Striping one of those would be a nightmare for me, given that I do all my work in my parking lot. I've done a head gasket on 2.0L n/t DSMs, and I think I just used a hex socket with a breaker bar. Is that the best way?

 

[Carny]

Yes that looks like a stock head-bolt. Do you mind me askin why your pulling the head? If your gonna pull the head just to change the valve guide seals stop right there. Its possible, and rather easy to change the valve seals with head still on car. If your just gonna put a new Tbelt on it and that was the main purpose of the mission and then you discover you wanna replace the valve guide seals too, well, you don't have to remove the cylinder. Head to do so. If your serious about changing valve seals with head still on car, then just ask how and ill glady give you detailed instructions on how to do so. If your already hell bent and set on removin head, then disregaurd everything I just said

not to thread jack and i am sorry. can you please mail me directions on swapping the valve guide seals? I cannot msg you directly.

 

[Tyeler18]

A lot of good info, thank you everyone!

A little more background: I got the car this summer. It's a stock 1992 AWD Talon w/154k. I noticed the t-belt had a couple of stretched spots, so I began collecting all the needed parts to do a t-belt job. I also noticed that it blows a heavy cloud of blue smoke at start up, so I figured the seals were expired, which looks like it's the case on three of the cylinders (although it still passes CO smog/emissions).

My plans for the car are a small 16g at 18psi with all the appropriate supporting mods (injectors, Supra SMIC, ECMlink, etc). This is the setup that was on the cow car in my avatar. I would just rather have this setup in my AWD now.

Anyway, I did a compression test and leak down prior to taking things apart. The results were 90 across the board +/- 5 for the compression test, and the engine passed the leak down as well.
But even though compression was okay, I felt that with the extra strain the motor would see and its age, I would replace the head gasket and rebuild the head along with ARP studs. I can only assume the car is on the original equipment.

Maybe the car could handle 18psi just fine, it's hard to tell. I'm not super hard on my cars. I'll go for a spirited drive here and there into the mountains, but day to day, I'm pretty gentle. I might hit the strip once or twice with this car.
So that's the plan, but if anyone has any input or experience they want to share, I'm all ears.

EDIT: is there a right/wrong way to remove the OE head studs? Striping one of those would be a nightmare for me, given that I do all my work in my parking lot. I've done a head gasket on 2.0L n/t DSMs, and I think I just used a hex socket with a breaker bar. Is that the best way?

90 psi is pretty low. 121 is the service limit, granted I've run them lower than that before. Especially at 5200ft that things gotta be a real dog out of boost. I know our 1g with 90psi at 8200ft hardly moved under its own power until it got into boost.

Technically* you're supposed to remove the headstuds in the reverse order they're put in. To ensure you don't strip the hex head off just invest in a quality allen key socket and use the smallest extension you can get away with.

 

[AWD Street Terrorist]

A lot of good info, thank you everyone!

A little more background: I got the car this summer. It's a stock 1992 AWD Talon w/154k. I noticed the t-belt had a couple of stretched spots, so I began collecting all the needed parts to do a t-belt job. I also noticed that it blows a heavy cloud of blue smoke at start up, so I figured the seals were expired, which looks like it's the case on three of the cylinders (although it still passes CO smog/emissions).

My plans for the car are a small 16g at 18psi with all the appropriate supporting mods (injectors, Supra SMIC, ECMlink, etc). This is the setup that was on the cow car in my avatar. I would just rather have this setup in my AWD now.

Anyway, I did a compression test and leak down prior to taking things apart. The results were 90 across the board +/- 5 for the compression test, and the engine passed the leak down as well.
But even though compression was okay, I felt that with the extra strain the motor would see and its age, I would replace the head gasket and rebuild the head along with ARP studs. I can only assume the car is on the original equipment.

Maybe the car could handle 18psi just fine, it's hard to tell. I'm not super hard on my cars. I'll go for a spirited drive here and there into the mountains, but day to day, I'm pretty gentle. I might hit the strip once or twice with this car.
So that's the plan, but if anyone has any input or experience they want to share, I'm all ears.

EDIT: is there a right/wrong way to remove the OE head studs? Striping one of those would be a nightmare for me, given that I do all my work in my parking lot. I've done a head gasket on 2.0L n/t DSMs, and I think I just used a hex socket with a breaker bar. Is that the best way?

The head studs on a 4G63 are 12 point 14mm. Just make sure your socket it squared up when loosening the bolts. Pretty much any other "How do I do this?" questions in this thread are covered in the factory service manual so make sure you secure a copy before you go tearing into your engine.

 

[Tyeler18]

The head studs on a 4G63 are 12 point 14mm. Just make sure your socket it squared up when loosening the bolts. Pretty much any other "How do I do this?" questions in this thread are covered in the factory service manual so make sure you secure a copy before you go tearing into your engine.

ARP head studs are 12pt 14mm, stock head bolts are allen keys though.

 

[AWD Street Terrorist]

ARP head studs are 12pt 14mm, stock head bolts are allen keys though.

Good point, I just realized we are talking about a 6 bolt engine here.