Something's Blown

[eckoxl]

Back in early August, the car overheated twice, had a hairline crack in coolant res. Fun. It had been running fine for a while then started acting up but I found out that I had been affected by the bad BP gas. Even more fun. I found that out 2 weeks ago and since then its had a random misfire which I thought was because of the bad gas. So today I pulled the plugs and cylinder 2 looks like crap. Compression tests on all cylinders come back 150-160.


I figured out that somehow coolant is getting into the cylinder because when I pulled the compression tester out, there was coolant on the bottom of it and I took at qtip and swabbed down in there.

Also, I did the compression test a couple times and after every time I would open the coolant bleeder and a little air would come out, but the compression gauge stayed the same.

So do we think I have a blown head gasket? or LIM? or what? I'm lost at the moment.

[AleroB888]

Back in early August, the car overheated twice, had a hairline crack in coolant res. Fun. It had been running fine for a while then started acting up but I found out that I had been affected by the bad BP gas. Even more fun. I found that out 2 weeks ago and since then its had a random misfire which I thought was because of the bad gas. So today I pulled the plugs and cylinder 2 looks like crap. Compression tests on all cylinders come back 150-160.


I figured out that somehow coolant is getting into the cylinder because when I pulled the compression tester out, there was coolant on the bottom of it and I took at qtip and swabbed down in there.

Also, I did the compression test a couple times and after every time I would open the coolant bleeder and a little air would come out, but the compression gauge stayed the same.

So do we think I have a blown head gasket? or LIM? or what? I'm lost at the moment.

Some strange things can happen with just a bad LIM gasket. Was there white smoke out the exhaust?

I had a failure at the track that started as just poor performance, ran a few tenths slower than normal. Then there was misfiring and stalling, and finally raw fuel smell. At the time we all thought it was just a stuck injector, but there was also white smoke out the exhaust. The compression tests measured just barely the acceptable limit. I replaced the LIM gasket, and that was the only problem at the time, except it did not really explain the raw fuel smell. I changed the injectors also. But coolant was getting into a cylinder somehow.

I would give replacing the LIM gasket a shot, just for the simplicity compared to doing the heads also, especially if it does not have the upgraded LIM gasket.

[unchained01]

My bet is on a head gasket

[pocket-rocket]

Also, I did the compression test a couple times and after every time I would open the coolant bleeder and a little air would come out, but the compression gauge stayed the same.

Most all compression testers made have a check valve in them preventing the backflow of compressed air back into the cylinder. If it were not there the needle would move too fast and drop back down to 0 before you could get your reading.

[TGP37]

If she over heated twice and now you have coolant in the combustion chamber, ....great possibility it is a bad head gasket or you have a cracked head. More likely gasket.

Over temps, especially in the red, can wreck the head gasket. Days-weeks later it will start to leak, internal, external or both.

Not tooooo hard for a weekend project though it will have it's moments of frustration if it's a new thing for you. Better then paying the HUGE labor cost unless you have warranty or can afford the cost.