1995 S14 Sr20 DET in a 1995 S14, i think its the Head Gasket

[chicos240]

I was driving up a hill at a good amount of boost. Suddenly the power started to diminish, the revs were up but the speed was was dropping. At first I thought maybe the turbo lost pressure or I had a bad Vacuum or something. Then I saw a white puff of smoke and the engine died. I do not remember the car overheating. I pulled over and tried to restart the engine, it cranks and tries to start but it doesn't start up again. Any chance i just blew my HG?Also how do I check for this?...correction
Modified by chicos240 at 5:52 PM 5/23/2007

[MaximA32]

Check your oil. IF you can, drain a small amount of it into a container and let it sit for about 30 minutes. If there's coolant in it, it have seperated and begun to float on top of the oil.

[elwesso]

I would also do a pressure test on the cooling system, but that is probably the simplest thing.

I have heard sometimes on the Northstar V8's that the coolant and oil dont always mix when the gasket goes...

[MaximA32]

[chicos240]

Thank you very much guys, so if the oil has coolant in it, than more than likely I have a blown HG. Also, If I did Blow the HG any chance the Head is OK?So the next natural question is;What if there is no coolant in the oil, any hypothesis on what the problem could be based on the symptoms?

[elwesso]

Its very possible that if you didnt overheat that the head didnt warp. You would probably want to take it to a shop and have it checked out before you put it back on, just to be safe but if it didnt overheat for any length of time then it could be just fine.

If theres no coolant in the oil or no oil in the coolant (check both), then id proceed to the pressure test and then a compression test. Once all those are completed we'll go from there.

[chicos240]

Ok, will do. I just need one thing for clarification, when you say pressure test do you mean vacuum test?

[elwesso]

No theres actually a tool you use that applies pressure to the cooling system so you can see if the pressure holds and/or if it leaks anywhere.

I would think autozone would let you borrow one. Basically you take off the cap to your radiator and plug this thing on it, and pump it up to the pressure that the FSM tels you to.

[chicos240]

Ok my friends..Here are the results of the compression test on the cylinders0 50 0 1200 100 0 175 In the FSM it says to add a little oil and these are the results after adding a little oil to each cylinder.Heresa picture of the plugs(these plugs have 1000 miles on them), the 4th one is fine, just black

So the way I am interpreting this is 2 fold, I probably have a blown HG and I probably have either a valve stuck on 2 cylinders or bad rings.I am assuming the next thing is to take the head off and go from there right?Any help will be appreciated.

[elwesso]

you could very likely be losing compression solely because of the HG. Pull the head off and lets see what sgoin on!

[chicos240]

Ok, I just read the FSM and looks like pulling the head off is one hell of a process.Intake Mani, Exhaust Mani, Liquid drain, Radiator pull....is there a shortcut?Im going searching....

[MaximA32]

You shouldn;t need to pull the radiatorto pull the head. Both the intake and exhaust manifold will have to come off in order for you to pull the head. I find it hard to believe those plugs are only 1000 miles old...

[chicos240]

NSRA, do a quick search on my username and you will see that I have had very little time to drive this car, i think I just wasnt meant to drive an SR . BTW the fourth spark plug is gorgeous.

[MaximA32]

I wasn't doubting you, it just looks like they're like 150k old is all.

[Slipstream]

Where are the posts on your plugs? I'd seriously consider a tear down just to see if the pistons aren't also damaged.

[sr24084]

Your **** is ****ed. My bro's timing belt broke in his eclipse and his plugs weren't have as ****ed up as yours. He pulled his head off and there were huge holes in the tops of his pistons.How much boost were you running? Looks like timing chain tensioner broke or rocker arm jumped. Take a rachet extension and feel in there for piston damage. Good luck.

[tiger]

OH my GOD! What the heck happened to those plugggggs?!!@??!?!1 I'd love to know what happened inside there! AHH. I hope the pistons aren't damaged!

[chicos240]

I took no ill will out your post.So heres a pic of the head look at all the foamy love..theres definetely a lot of coolant in this oil.More images as I keep working on it.
Modified by chicos240 at 8:43 PM 5/23/2007

[chicos240]

Nothing happened to those plugs, just a walbro fuelpump and a bigger fuel filter, and a ebay manual boost controller that was turned all the way down.

[chicos240]

ok im about to cry...look at the damage and tell me what i can doI have to go take an econ final....wish me luck

[chicos240]

bumpo.....I need some advice so i can order parts and have them overnighted for the long weekend....thank you in advance

[elwesso]

It looks like one of your valves is toasted!!!

Did you have the head looked at by a machine shop.

[chicos240]

well, I showed them the pictures of cylinder 3 and they said it would need a bore and that the head would probably need to be rebuilt....which I find a little hard to swallow. Im assuming I can just replace the exhaust valves and replace the bad piston?