So I Think I SCREWED up!

[chuzie]

my cousin has an 89 turbo. just bought it the other day. ran great. the oil was fine when i checked it prior to purchase.

we bought some degreaser and tried to clean the muck off the engine. after we rinsed it there was oil/water mix spitting out from the spark plug channel after the engine heated up. I guess water got down in there.

we pulled the plug wires and sucked the water/oil mix out till it was dry. seemed like a lot of oil was in there though. maybe someone spilled it and it seeped in like the water.

anyway, now we have water in the oil system. we discovered this after seeing the dip stick (oil was not like that when he bought it). we drained the milky mixture from the engine and flushed it out. there was not a lot of water separated but enough to make me worry since the oil was not milky before.

MY question is: how could the water have found its way into the oil system from my just rinsing the top of the engine? is there something bigger at work here that I have missed. i cant believe i have blown a head gasket in the 5 days he has had the car. too much coincidence here.

I know i am not the first to come along with this but could not seem to find it in the forum.

thanks for the help.

-newby

[kikwear002]

Originally Posted by chuzie

my cousin has an 89 turbo. just bought it the other day. ran great. the oil was fine when i checked it prior to purchase.

we bought some degreaser and tried to clean the muck off the engine. after we rinsed it there was oil/water mix spitting out from the spark plug channel after the engine heated up. I guess water got down in there.

we pulled the plug wires and sucked the water/oil mix out till it was dry. seemed like a lot of oil was in there though. maybe someone spilled it and it seeped in like the water.

anyway, now we have water in the oil system. we discovered this after seeing the dip stick (oil was not like that when he bought it). we drained the milky mixture from the engine and flushed it out. there was not a lot of water separated but enough to make me worry since the oil was not milky before.

MY question is: how could the water have found its way into the oil system from my just rinsing the top of the engine? is there something bigger at work here that I have missed. i cant believe i have blown a head gasket in the 5 days he has had the car. too much coincidence here.

I know i am not the first to come along with this but could not seem to find it in the forum.

thanks for the help.

-newby

indeed you have a blown headgasket, he had it for 5 days but how many days has the previous owner had it!

[chuzie]

well, the owner said he did not have any problems with the car and that the radiator cap needed to be replaced because water was getting out. but that was it. i guess i took that for face value.


we replaced the rad cap but had some fluid leakage on the driveway which i had assumed was a faulty hose as we had to keep filling up with water.

All the signs were there but i just did not put two and two together.

He bought it for $2,000 so i guess it was a pretty good deal since it is in pretty good condition even though the head hasket is blown.

So. I am experienced in the V8 world as far as head gaskets are concerned and consider that job to be pretty easy. How difficult is a I6 head gasket to replace?

[Bullz_EyE]

Originally Posted by kikwear002

indeed you have a blown headgasket, he had it for 5 days but how many days has the previous owner had it!

Wow, he can tell just from that?! That's amazing . There are other symptoms to look for too, you should know them already though. You should run a compression check. If you are an experienced mechanic, following the TSRM, you shouldn't have too much trouble pulling the head. There's just a lot to remove before you can actually get to pulling it off. My biggest bitches were the turbo oil line, and the ABS harness that is part of the main harness. It runs all the way to the top of the transmission, where the plug sits. Other than that, there's a lot of hard to reach bolts.

When your about ready to pull the head, If you're keeping the lower part of the intake manifold on, there's a couple of vacuum lines underneath it. Also, don't forget about that ground wire connecting the head to the firewall. Those 2 items yanked me back when I 1st tried removing the head.

[mrnickleye]

Milky oil is usually an indication of a bhg. I would go get a block test done to confirm it, before just start pulling the head.

[stumpjumper]

SOund like a head gasket failure to me. Getting that head off can suck but with a little patience you should get er done in a day. Just keep track of all the damn bolts and brackets.

[rnoswal]

Let us know when you do pull the head. Most of us here have pulled one or two and can help with the process to make sure you get it right the first time out.


Russ