Hey,

I think I have a blown head gasket in my G35. The car had been putting out a little bit of white smoke out of the exhaust. However, there was never a coolant problem. Until recently. I was on the freeway the other day, getting random misfires CEL. Power seemed to be down just a little. Exhaust sounded more like a 4 cylinder. The next day I checked all the plugs. 2 of them were soaked in oil. and had some type of gritty material on them. The grit looked like metal, like it could have been bits of a piston ring broken up into tiny granules. I thought they would be metal, but the bits were brittle.

My question is, would the head gasket material look like metal but also be brittle? I'm curious as I've read the oil could come from bad valve seats, or from crank case by way of slipping past the piston rings. At any case, this block is probably shot. Hoping to have it swapped out by next weekend!

That sounds more like a failed cat sucked into the engine. The melted material often crystallizes into a sort of gray grit that scrubs out the cylinder walls after it cools, and the damage to the jug walls in turn oil-fouls the plugs.

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:01 pm

That sounds more like a failed cat sucked into the engine. The melted material often crystallizes into a sort of gray grit that scrubs out the cylinder walls after it cools, and the damage to the jug walls in turn oil-fouls the plugs.

I just Googled this. Yep, sounds about right. I'll bet this is what happened.

Oh boy, that is not good!

Niti QX4 wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 04, 2022 4:54 am

Oh boy, that is not good!

It's beyond "not good", cat inhalation is pretty much 100% fatal. The cylinder walls in the affected cylinders will be scored beyond boring out, and there will be molten crap melted into the backs of the exhaust valves and probably the combustion surfaces in the cylinder head. Basically, the engine will be unsalvageable.

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 04, 2022 6:28 am

Niti QX4 wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 04, 2022 4:54 am

Oh boy, that is not good!

It's beyond "not good..." Basically, the engine will be unsalvageable.

Currently getting a JDM engine swapped!