944 possible head gasket gone????
Discussion
Hello, i saw i was leaving a couple of drops of oil on my driveway from my 1991 944 S2 cabrio. On inspection of oil levels this morning, you can imagine my face when removing the dipstick to find white gunk on the stick. On removal of the oil cap, the cap is 1/2 full of white gunk with this gunk going down the main oil top-up pipe. Ifear this may be the head gasket either on its way out or gone, is this going to be the case, how nasty a job is it going to be, time and expense? All information and advice are greatly recieved as i want to have a rough idea of what i'm in for and if i'm going to have to go skint for months for the repair bill...
Cheers guys
Dave
Cheers guys
Dave
AJLintern said:
The other possiblity could be the oil cooler seals - I think that can cause water to get into the oil.
Seem to remember from a previous thread on this subject that a porker professional made the same comment. Seal failure in the oil/water heat exchanger is a known issue, so hopefully your head gasket is OK.
Try the search function (if it's working again).
tried the search, it's still disabled so had to start this thread toget some info. The temp wasn't going any higher than normal when driving it, but it is a daily driver for relativaly short journeys, and i'm not sure about the bubbling (not very technically minded). If it is the seals you mention, is that a lot easier / cheaper than if the head gasket had gone? going totry and get it booked in to have it looked at asap but thats not going tobe nxt week not, so need a rough guide on how reddies i need to beg for...
How old is the oil? It could be a build up of condensation from short journeys. Difficult to tell without seeing it.
The biggest clue about where it comes from will be your coolant level. Has it dropped? If not, you could try giving her a good motorway run for an hour or so and then flushing the oil.
Just looking at the positive options too.
The biggest clue about where it comes from will be your coolant level. Has it dropped? If not, you could try giving her a good motorway run for an hour or so and then flushing the oil.
Just looking at the positive options too.
Car was given a 12K service in november from grange garage in stockton on tees (a recognised porsche dealer/garage) with all belts & chains changed & checked at a cost of over a £1000... coolant level seemed to be a bit low this morning but to be honest, the levels haven't been checked for the last month or so (presumed everything should be ok due to recent service) I don't really want to run it a lot due to the amount of white gunk in the engine oil top up pipe, from the cap going down 1 side of the pipe, it seemed caked in the gunky stuff and don't want to cause any damage that hasn't occured already.. 
>> Edited by davieg on Friday 11th March 11:46
>> Edited by davieg on Friday 11th March 11:46
Could quite easily be a build up of condensation due to the very cold whether we have had recently coupled with the short journeys - your engine won't get hot enough to burn off the condensation and large capacity engines can suffer from the problem. Although you do seem to have a lot of it from what you have said.
I had this happen on my previous Cerbera last winter with white gunk up the dipstick tube and around the oil cap. Turned out to be condensation and I could breathe again!
Try and find a local garage with a block test kit. This 'sniffs' the fumes from the header tank to test if there are exhaust gases present which turn the chemical a different colour if they are there. This is a good indication of head gasket failure.
Are you a member of the RAC/AA?? When my waterpump went on my S2 the RAC performed a block test before recovering it to a garage of my choice.
If the block test proves negative I would be inclined to flush the oil filler neck & dipstick tube (I used Wynns engine flush which was recommended for getting rid of the condensation), change the oil/filter and mark the header tank level with a biro to make sure you're not losing water and then keep your eye on both oil and water levels afterwards.
Good luck - I hope it turns out just to be condensation.
I had this happen on my previous Cerbera last winter with white gunk up the dipstick tube and around the oil cap. Turned out to be condensation and I could breathe again!
Try and find a local garage with a block test kit. This 'sniffs' the fumes from the header tank to test if there are exhaust gases present which turn the chemical a different colour if they are there. This is a good indication of head gasket failure.
Are you a member of the RAC/AA?? When my waterpump went on my S2 the RAC performed a block test before recovering it to a garage of my choice.
If the block test proves negative I would be inclined to flush the oil filler neck & dipstick tube (I used Wynns engine flush which was recommended for getting rid of the condensation), change the oil/filter and mark the header tank level with a biro to make sure you're not losing water and then keep your eye on both oil and water levels afterwards.
Good luck - I hope it turns out just to be condensation.
Unfortunately i'm not an RAC/AA member, got free breakdown on the classic insurance. There's a different local garage who have looked at the car in the past who i will try and get it booked in with, they seem to know their stuff. Hopefully it'sjust going tobe condensation build up, it's just with the drops of oil on the driveway that bring concern, would condensation create the leak, which isn't huge, maby 3-4 drops a night?
http://ca.autos.yahoo.com/maintain/cylinder_headvalves.html
This is one site I found when I did a Google search for 'headgasket' There were quite a few others, thought I'd saved them but haven't.
Have you noticed any heavy white smoke from the exhaust under load? Or smell of coolant?
This is one site I found when I did a Google search for 'headgasket' There were quite a few others, thought I'd saved them but haven't.
Have you noticed any heavy white smoke from the exhaust under load? Or smell of coolant?
BliarOut said:
How old is the oil? It could be a build up of condensation from short journeys. Difficult to tell without seeing it.
The biggest clue about where it comes from will be your coolant level. Has it dropped? If not, you could try giving her a good motorway run for an hour or so and then flushing the oil.
Just looking at the positive options too.
Agree with this. My Turbo has a new gasket (March 04) but I still get a bit of cream on top of the coolant if I do short journeys.
Whatds the oil level like?
Whats the collant leve like?
Let us know for a proper diagnosis, or is they are fine go for a long drive and I bet the cream will not re appear.
Will
89 Turbo
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