3FE head gasket go kerplunk - but I hope not (1 Viewer)

[Spook50]

Ugh. I guess at least it made it 355K miles. No road trips in the 62 this year unless I get a ton of overtime and get this job done with a quickness.

Couldn't have happened last spring when I had the top end entirely stripped down to the cylinder head and could've bought a couple extra parts with a few more hours of work

Now what I haven't done yet is check for any fouling on the plugs. The engine hasn't been sluggish at all that would indicate excessive fouling, and the oil on the dipstick looks immaculately clean. But this residue after a 30-minute run on the highway is obviously concerning. Had I seen it only on a cold engine without a thorough warm up and run, I would've passed it off as just a byproduct of the short drives to work in cold weather for the last few weeks.

Fingers are crossed that I'm wrong, but what worries me is that this is a new occurrence, the coloration of the residue, and obviously the age of my engine.

Checking plugs and a leakdown test are definitely on the itinerary for ASAP now.

 

[OSS]

A leaking head gasket is better than a cracked head...
Will be waiting on pins and needles to find out what happened...

 

[Spook50]

A leaking head gasket is better than a cracked head...
Will be waiting on pins and needles to find out what happened...

Well there is that. Gotta love the "there's always a worse possibility" scenario

If it does turn out to be the head gasket, I'll have the head decked and the valves upgraded while it's off. Guess I'll be borrowing my mother's 4Runner........again

 

[Skreddy]

My 2F head cracked right at a freeze plug. The valvetrain and valve cover were covered in that snot but no coolant made it to the oil in the pan or bottom end.

Hoping it’s not a cracked head.

 

[Spook50]

My 2F head cracked right at a freeze plug. The valvetrain and valve cover were covered in that snot but no coolant made it to the oil in the pan or bottom end.

Hoping it’s not a cracked head.

Oooohhhhh lord I hope that's not the case.

Was it a leakdown test that confirmed your head was cracked?

 

[Skreddy]

Pulled it and had it magnafluxed.

Compression test was fine, pressurized each cylinder with 30 psi air and valves closed and 2-5 all blew out coolant out the radiator fill (cap off). I had the cracked head AND head gasket was blown between 2-3 and 4-5.

 

[Spook50]

Pulled it and had it magnafluxed.

Compression test was fine, pressurized each cylinder with 30 psi air and valves closed and 2-5 all blew out coolant out the radiator fill (cap off). I had the cracked head AND head gasket was blown between 2-3 and 4-5.

Oooooohhh yikes that worries me.

 

[Godwin]

Pull the plugs to see if any have been steam cleaned. Pull the valve cover and check for the gunk in the rocker assembly and under the VC. Do a compression test. Drive it and watch for steam out the exhaust. Check for oil in water, water in oil.

 

[Skreddy]

Oooooohhh yikes that worries me.

I used a gallon of coolant going from downtown to the north side: 15 minute drive. Massive steam cloud and boiling out the overflow but not overheating.

 

[Spook50]

I used a gallon of coolant going from downtown to the north side: 15 minute drive. Massive steam cloud and boiling out the overflow but not overheating.

Okay mine hasn't been nearly that bad. Given what I've noticed, no more than what's been the normal coolant loss during winter weather. So if there is a head gasket issue or (God forbid) a cracked head, the coolant transfer is very small.

I did see that the oil level on the dipstick is no higher than the last time I had checked it also, so that gives me hope.

@Godwin all on the list to keep my eyes on. So far I've noticed no steam in the exhaust and no sign of oil contamination in the coolant overflow. I have yet to pop off the radiator cap though and see if there's been any oil that's gotten into the coolant.

 

[Bryan062087]

Hoping it was just moisture or condensation under the oil cap, good luck.

 

[toy_tek]

Could be failed PCV.

 

[OSS]

The few cracked cylinder heads I've seen were all on 2F cylinder heads. I didn't know what to look for but the machine shop on one head I brought in showed it to me after it got magna fluxed. It was clearly visible.

On that engine, (2F) the cylinder that got the coolant spray from the crack was immaculately clean. All the other cylinders looked normally dirty with carbon.

 

[Spook50]

Could be failed PCV.

Certainly not impossible so I'll give that a peek today. I can't remember if I put a new PCV valve in or reused the current one when I had the top end torn apart last spring, so it's worth checking.

At first I had considered that my plugs would be fouling if I had coolant getting into the cylinders in any way, but @Godwin and @OSS are right; it should be ridiculously clean in any cylinder that's getting coolant into it.

 

[Spook50]

A little reassuring today. While the engine was cold I popped the radiator cap and there's no sign of oil in the coolant. Started the engine and no bubbling from the radiator. Took it for a much longer highway run today and on getting home there was much less buildup under the oil cap. I'm still bothered by the intense yellow color of what's there, but maybe it's just how it would look with the AMSOIL oil I'm using

Used AMSOIL the last two winters though and never had this buildup appear. Same mostly short cold weather drives too. Also checked the PCV and everything was good there.

Still concerned, but crossing my fingers that it was just the common cold weather moisture buildup and the yellow color is either a fluke or just related to the oil formulation.