So I decided to replace the head gasket on my 2.4 LD9 due to constantly topping up coolant and white smoke on cold start. Finally managed to remove the cylinder head and expose the head gasket. Thing is, it appears to be in pretty good shape (no signs of blown/broken head gasket causing leaking coolant into cylinder(s). I think it is a very small leak, so it would be difficult, I guess, to see where it is leaking.
Have a look through the pics and tell me what you think:
That should help you a bit better.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, July 02, 2006 8:12 PM
Can't see anything in the head. In the block, try rotating all those guide pins so that their open slot is pointing away from any nearby opening. You want them to be pointing to the middle of the largest flat, non-passage area. They are what caused many of the 2.2s to have head gasket failure. One of two in my 2.2 was pointed directly AT a coolant passage right next to it!. The other was OK. Has to be an automated process that puts them in.
looks like Cyl 1 is getting some sort of Brunt, i would want to think thats where its coming from.
Looks to me you got some whitish yellow deposites on youre cyl head valves, Notice their is alot of burnt oil or carbon deposits in youre cyl pistons, Was youre car running hot or overheated?. If so I am thinking you could have a hair line crack on youre cyl head, In which you would be better off getting a remanfactured cyl hd, Then getting it rebuilt and resurfaced, Cause with a pressure test done, Down the road you could have a cyl hd problem happen again. I had the same problem on my 89 cavalier 2.2L. It was a easy cyl head job, But wasted time and money, Better off paying a little more now doing it the right way. Instead of having to do it over.
Good Luck,
Thanks for everyone's replies so far.
I have rotated both guide pins so that the gap is facing the largest non-passage area. Thanks for the tip.
Yeah, I noticed too that no. 1 cylinder was looking kinda "wet" with either oil or coolant. Interesting that it was the easiest to clean the crud off the top of the piston and combustion chamber on cylinder head. All other pistons/ chambers were encrusted with carbon deposits. Had to use paint and varnish remover to get it off.
The car has never been run hot or overheated ever. The hottest I think it ever got was in the dead heat of summer idling in traffic with A/C on full. Even then, only got slightly above 90 C (half-way on guage). It has 160,000 km's on it fed with 87 octane and oil/filter changes religiously every 5,000 kms/ 3,000 miles. Mind you, I am not exactly easy on it either in regards to throttle
I rarely accelerate slowly, always on the verge of wheel spin from a start, full throttle blasts merging onto highways, etc. Also I drive every day on the highway for at least 2.5 hrs a day to and from work.
I have been driving it in its current condition probably for about 3-5 months. I recently started noticing that after the car had been sitting for 8+ hours or so, upon start-up the idle would be kinda rough and white smoke would come out of the tailpipe. After a few minutes (when temp guage moves) the idle smoothes out and the white smoke disappears. I figure that as the engine warms up, the aluminum cylinder head "expands" and "seals" the leak.
So you guys really recommend to have the cylinder head machined and checked for cracks? I have cleaned the head/ gasket surfaces really good and can see absolutely no cracks (I guess some hairline cracks would be almost impossible to detect just "eyeballing" it.
I don't know how many hours I have spent so far just on the tear-down stage. I really don't want to have to do this again at least for a few more years.
Thanks for your help and advice!
Jason
2000 Z24
yes i would definately get these things x-rayed. especially since u didnt see any obvious gasket failure, and the sight of the yellowish deposite on cylinder one, seems to me like wen the engine was off, u were getting oil into that cylinder, so my guess is that if there is a crack in the head, its in the cylinder 1 conmbustion chamber area. good luck. and make sure u get ur cams and crank timed right the first time on assembly, these are zero tolerance angines, meaning if its out of time, say good bye to your vavletrain and pistons...
also sandpaper does magic on finding small cracks
they will show up with some really light non- directional sanding
also moderately soaking a rag in brake clean and wiping the head will find most low spots/cracks in a head after it's been cleaned up
