so i finally finished removing my heads from my Z. the initial reason for removing was cause i thought i had blown head gaskets. when i took both off there was no blown or cracked gaskets ..now im thinking it might be my heads or block..were would you look to see if the block is cracked and coolant would be coming into the cylinders..? is there any other way coolant could be leaking in? bolts got loose?

It got to the point were my Z didnt want to start up.i removed the driver side spark plugs then cranked the engine and it spit out water..finally it started and i drove it to the hobby shop were it has been now for 1 week and a half.

do my heads and block look pretty normal by the pics?, well id appreciate some input.thnx

 

Im no expert on this, but I was always told if you are getting coolant in one cyl that one will be cleaner than the rest. none of yours look any more clean than the others.

 

Hmm interesting.

Here is a TTT for you. I think if the cylinder walls crack, they usually do it vertically not horizontally. You may have to take it somewhere to check the block out. What are the chances that the head is cracked into the intake runner and the antifreeze is getting in that way, not through the head gasket?

PS: If the block is good, now is the perfect excuse for a heads/cam package.

 

Im guessing that when the motor was still together, you diddn't do a pressure test? a radiator hand pump pressure tester can many times induce the leak so you can pinpoint it?..... with past engines where I was loosing water in one way or another, this method worked all but one time......that particular time I had a small vertical crack in one of the cylinders that connected to a water jacket, and only when it was up to operating temps, the crack would open up just enough to leak steamy water into the cylinder which was then burned up........"If" the heads have been off your motor before in the past, is it possible that you diddn't seal the head bolts well enough with non- hardening permatex#2 type stuff?........some of your head bolts do look kinda dry to me but it's kinda hard to see from the pictures.....Also, if you look close at the cylinder head in the first picture, it looks like the first combustion chamber (on the left) the valves are slightly washed (it's the cleanest intake valve on both heads by far) might just be a hair lean there but, It could also be coolant wash for a short time... check that cylinder and intake port real good for a crack......I hope it's an easy fix that shows up quick

 

That's what I was going to say too. What does the other gasket look like? Plugs? The more pics & info, the better!
Mike

 

I've had a blown headgasket and then later a cracked block, so I do have some experience with this. Looking at your chambers and pistons it really does not appear to me that you have coolant getting in there. If you have coolant getting into the combustion chamber in ANY way the piston and chamber will look squeaky clean-especially if you had coolant squirting out of one of the spark plug holes like you described.

Look at the pictures below, and notice how clean one of the pistons looks compared to the others. This was with a very tiny crack in the cylinder bore, the car didn't even smoke half of the time, but it was still enough to steam clean the piston top-

 

well the both heads are in a machine shop i should be getting them back on monday..as far as doing a pressue test i did one the first time i took it to the shop.it held pressure very good,

what has been bugging me is that the previous owner had the engine rebuilt. i have the customer copy of that rebuild and in the labor section it says" Welb/Crack Repair 2 aluminum heads W/ press. test.." what kind of repair is that and does anybody think thats something that might have gone wrong again.??

both head gaskets look the same. what would explain my car hesatating to turn on then not want to start at all..? also the car used to high idle when i took the spark plugs out the driver side most all were wet with cloudy clear fluid/ which im sure was water mixed with a bit of coolant.

if the heads are damaged and i need new ones what would be a good package to get..i dont know about getting a new cam just because of the fact i dont no **** about digging that deep into an engine..i dont wanna mess up my Z that i just bought this jan...but it would be nice to have that extra power, and the only place i can work on my car charges 5 $ a day..so its starting to add up.

well thnk u guys for all you input and pics..and ill post some more up later..

 

Rami,

I know this doesn't help you much, but is there anyway you could do a quick run through of how to get the cylinder heads off? I am going to have to take mine off when I have a chance to get some bolt holes repaired for my header install.

Thanks,

-Gabriel

 

well im no expert at all..it was my first time doing it and it was a b@#ch to work around those headers..but how i started was discconect the back battery wire. make sure you dont have that radio with the autotheft device that locks up your car. but disconnect and label all wires like i didnt haha..disconnect all hoses and metal lines(fuel,coolant) . when the area is prety clear remove intake blots.remove throttle body. if you need to pry the intake be very careful..and becareful with the fuel lines at the back of the intake dont bend them. remove covers off the heads. then remove header bolts ..move your way to the head bolts..the top ones are easy but the bottom 8 can be a pain.. on the passenger side head the pulley bracket has 3 bolts that bolt onto the head remove those..losen rocker arms then pull off the push rods MAke sure you label or make a set up on carboard ..so the push rods go back to the same place you took it off. it was suggested to me to use new head bolts if you have stock ones because they strech and wont fit in properly again..i ordered some 96 dollar ones from ARP.

my heads came off pretty easy if you remove the spark plugs that way they dont catch on the headers when you are trying to pull them..try not to let to much debris fall in the intake area and in cylinders..i got my heads cleaned and resurfaced in a machine shop..kinda expensive 85 dollars a head for cleaning and pressure test...

well hope i helped out a bit and good luck..

 

...trust me , you can have a coolant leak into the chamber (like he said, water was coming out of a plug hole) and not have things too much cleaner....I had it happen a couple times and things were just slightly washed, and another time things were completely washed like yours..........usually the less drastic the leak (where the car still drives somewhat ok)things do get steam cleaned pretty good, where as a bad leak without too much hot steam can be less clean.

 

well today i received bad news from the machine shop..both heads cracked..F#%k i said..what will i do??or should do.

 

Get new heads

Either build up some cheap stockers or go talk to loyd and see about a package.

 

Pick up another set. LT1 heads are cheap. $150-200 for a set.

The bottom end is going to cost you more than that. At the least the bearings are going to be shot.

If you have the money, now is the time to do a performance rebuild.

 

This may be a stupid question but why would his beering be shot if he cracket a head? the reson im asking is i just blew a head gasket last week and am in the process of fixing it. and anthere question i have is how do i make sure i get all the bad oil out of the car when i go to start it up for the first time? not there is a lot i cant evan see anything on the dipstick

 

Cause antifreeze will have leaked past the rings. This in turn can lead to a severe lack of lubrication. Especially on the bearings. However, if the oil is drained, and isnt too "milky" I would run it on some cheap oil for a few minutes, drain it again to flush it out, then fill her up with some god oil and run it. See how it is. If oyu dont need to redo the bottom end, why do it? Especially if your not going to do a performance build up on it with anything too crazy.

On the flip sid,e you already have the heads off, its not alot more work to pull the motor now and replace at least the bearings and pistons/rings with forged ones. Then once you get her together maybe you can run her on the bottle for a while.