Dam-I think I just blew a head gasket

[Reverend]

I was afraid too when changing the head gasket for the very first time in my life, thx to this forum, i managed to do it well and car is in superb condition now. Didnt have your symptoms though. Mine was just leaking from the HG.

[madkaw]

I will see if I can find that block check stuff locally!

I'm not afraid to change the headgasket-I'm the one that put this engine together----maybe I should be afraid;)

[madkaw]

I rented from autozone a pressure tester for the coolant system to help narrow down my problem. According to the instructions, once hooked up and the car running I watched for a rise in the pressure. As the engine warmed up the pressure rose quickly and the instructions stated to pull spark plug wires to see if it diffuses the rise in pressure. My suspect cylinder #3 was the first plug I pulled and the pressure immediately stopped rising-so I would say that the headgasket is the issue and it is in the vicinity of # 3 cylinder.

Hr369, I asked for the block tester you recommended and they gave me the test fluid and this pressure tester. I should have looked at it closer, but the fluid wasn't meant to use with the pressure tester-but the pressure tester still was a good diagnostic tool.

[240ZGL]

You might have to pull the head to check this but the water jackets run just below the exhaust ports. On my E88 head I had #6 water jacket that ate away at the exhaust port. I found a hole in the bottom of the port. You might try pulling the exhaust manifold and checking the floors of the ports.

[LeonV]

Did you have the head checked for cracks before replacing it?

[madkaw]

The head was totally reworked

[madkaw]

Pulled off the head today and good news and bad news.

Good news is no detonation damage-cylinder walls looked great as well as the combustion chambers.

bad news is there is nothing that jumps out at me here as to why the gasket gave out. I can't see anything apparent for the coolant getting into the cylinder. Honestly I haven't been down this road before as far as diagnosing a bad gasket visually. The gasket didn't come off in one piece-some of the material was on both the head and block. The fire rings on the gasket looked okay. I guess I will post up some pics, but number 3 was definitely not burning correctly.

[LeonV]

Did you have a look under the valve cover and check the valves at that cylinder?

[madkaw]

Cylinder read 180 on compression test and the problem seems to be coolant, so what would I be looking for under the valve cover

[LeonV]

I'd check lash and double check the rocker arm and surrounding parts to make sure everything there is okay.

[madkaw]

here are some pics

[Diseazd]

Steve....Did you check your eyebrows in the block to make sure they didn't undercut your gasket? The detail in these pics of the block aren't very good, but it seems to me I remember your previous pics looked like they were pretty deep and wide. Just a thought. Guy