head gasket?

**redynscire** · 06-22-2011

Pulled my spark plugs after about 500 miles since installing them...
All the front plugs are nice and pretty.. Start on the rear,
#2 the insulator is all brown and it was wet looking..#4 insulator is brown
but does not look wet..#6 was as pretty as the front.
Now there has been a bunch brown greasy crap i have been flushing from my radiator.. thought it might have been some stop leak from the previous owner....this brown crap is about the color of #2 and #4 plugs.
but with #2 looking wet, it was kinda oily looking. would burning oil make the insulator brown? or could it just be the brown crap that is in the radiator and the wet look is from antifreeze?
Guess i'm asking,...Blown head gasket or jacked up bottomend?

**JoRoW99** · 06-22-2011

Is there blue smoke coming out the back? or white for that matter?

**RamonGTX** · 06-22-2011

bad LIM gaskets?

**redynscire** · 06-22-2011

LIM gaskets replaced 200 miles ago...
No smoke what so ever...

**JoRoW99** · 06-22-2011

did you mix a different coolant with your dexcool? do you have any misfires?

**redynscire** · 06-22-2011

no dexcool for awhile now. been running water to flush out the sludge.
Yes i have miss fires at idle from cyl. #2, no codes for it though..
like i said this motor dont smoke at all. has NO blowby. uses NO oil. oil is clean..
i am confused?

**BillBoost37** · 06-23-2011

You say you did plugs. How about wires and or cleaning the coil towers if they are gross?

Headgasket is about one billion to one in these cars. I'd rule that our nearly from the start and confirm everything else in the universe first.

**redynscire** · 06-23-2011

did the plugs, wires, coil packs look new.
gonna do another compression test..

**blueguy** · 06-23-2011

I was gonna say maybe the valve seals are trashed...but then you said no blue smoke...

**redynscire** · 06-23-2011

i know no smoke...its confusing..
compression test results

dry
1)105
2)85
3)100
4)95
5)100
6)95

wet (oil added)
1)170
2)170
3)165
4)150
5)150
6)150
so now i am leaning toward sticky or worn compression rings..time to seafoam..

**BillBoost37** · 06-24-2011

The rings aren't likely to be worn or sticky. Our rings are low pressure rings and they don't wear out like the avereage ring. That's why our motors live forever if maintained.

**redynscire** · 06-24-2011

what are you suggesting this could be then?
broken rings? damaged piston? head issues?

**redynscire** · 07-07-2011

what is a good head gasket? just the standard felpro?

**matt5112** · 07-07-2011

was that compression test cold?

felpro's are decent gaskets.

**redynscire** · 07-07-2011

Originally Posted by matt5112

was that compression test cold?

felpro's are decent gaskets.

not cold...ran it down the highway, let it sit for about 15 minutes
then compression checked it..
i pulled it apart and had some pretty fat cracks in the heads
between all the valves..some were hairline, but noticeable.

**matt5112** · 07-07-2011

Cracks are typical.

compression is not.

**redynscire** · 07-07-2011

yeah...took the heads off, turned em' upside down on a bench..
filled the chambers around the valves with antifreeze.. went back to em a few hours later..all the antifreeze leaked out through the cracks on my rear head..front head had a little seepage..
the cracks was causing my compression loss on a couple cylinders..
is a crack about .045 typical? all the way through the seats and into the runners?

**BillBoost37** · 07-07-2011

No.. 96-early98 heads were known to be prone to cracking, but typically it was only noticable when having the heads magged.

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