LT1John

so i have had a long history of over heating and come to find out that there was water/oil under my oil cap. a white milky gel if you havent seen it before. then i took off the valve covers and it was everywere. then the intake and it was the same thing under there. so my question is it worth it to change gaskets or mill/machine the heads if they are warped? or just change the gasket? the car would run strong still but over heat and run like garbage at idle after it warmed up. including misfire and white smoke from exhaust. please help!

brucer

the worst case scenario is if you ran it long with coolant in the oil it tears up bearings..


pull the heads,check the heads with straightedge to make sure they are flat, if they are flat replace head gaskets..

if not flat, mill heads.

LT1John

thank you much. i didnt know of a true way of telling if they are wraped. i have overheated the car a million times trying to figure out this problem. hopefully they are good.

LT1John

and another good thing is that there is none of that crap in the oil pan. oil comes out looking good. so one its not in the crankcase or two its to thick to flow out of the drain hole and just sits on the intake/springs and all the other parts of the top end

LT1559

iTrader: (5)

how do you check for warp with a straight edge?

LT1John

no idea im just gonna use common sense. but i been doing some research and it seems to be the way its donee (checking for warpage)

LT1John

bump for help

Black94Z28

iTrader: (12)

If its just on the top of the valvecovers/fill cap and your oil looks ok, its normal, just a little condensation. If your oil looks like chocolate milk, time to change head gaskets. Mine has a little of that on the cap every now and then. Just due to changing weather conditions.

Adam1203

iTrader: (5)

pressure test your cooling system. if it bleeds off then you have a problem. like someone else said it might just be condensation.

for the heads i would have them checked by a machine shop it doesn't cost much.

LT1John

ya but this stuff is everywere. and it over heats/misfires and sputters and losses all power at times. as well as white smoke out the exhaust. and it leaks a watery oil from front of engine. cant find out were. gonna change them and clean everything and look into milling and getting the heads in good shape. want to do this once and right!

LT1John

thanks guys for all your help

Black94Z28

iTrader: (12)

check your O2s. I had a similiar problem with it sputtering at various time, turned out my o2s were bad.

speed_demon24

iTrader: (6)

That's not always the case. My motor hydrolocked on coolant when I tried to start it and the oil still looked fine. But it did have the condensation under the valve covers and fresh air hose.

LT1John

i already replaced them. trouble shooting this problem. along with a new radiator all new hoses and almost brand new water pump w SLP 160 stat. that could of been money towards head gasket and ARP bolts but you live and you learn.

LT1John

oh yes and im looking into re surfacing the heads aslo but a local shop is Los angeles/burbank. i always though milling heads and re surfacing were the same thing. guess not right??

LT1John

pretty funny with all the problems i have (missfire/high rpm surging and white smoke) i ran an 8.8 in the 1/8 mile with a 2.0 60 foot. with long tubes and 3.73 with an A4.

Gojira94

iTrader: (4)

Milling, technically is removing a defined or undefined portion of the mating surface. You might mill the heads to up the compression ratio ("defined"), or to remove enough to correct a warpage situation where the head is deemed salvageable ("undefined").

Resurfacing is where you prepare the mating surface to bolt to another piece of metal; in this case the engine block, wiht a gasket in the middle. Google search the concept of Roughness Average ("RA"). For aluminum heads in a relatively high compression application where 2 dissimilar metals with differing expansion rates when heated come together, the RA needs to be less than 50. Iron head on Iron block is less critical. The aluminum on iron causes the gasket to experience shearing forces across the gasket surface, making it more vulnerable to leak/failure. The smoother the head is in terms of roughness average, the more this phenomenon is mitigated. MLS gaskets are expensive, but hold up better and are preferrable in boost & nitrous applications where high cylinder pressures are encountered.