cylinder head cracked or not!!!!!!!

[dobbey1]

i started getting oil into the coolant so i done no more than removed the cylinder head and sourced another head , i removed the rad and coolant hoses and flushed out and fitted donar head with a head gasket from euro car parts, now im getting neat black oil coming in to the coolant bottle, the only thing i could not clean out was the heater matrix, could this be the excess oil from the heater matrix or could it be a duff cylinder head, or poor head gasket quality can anyone help

is there anyway cylinder head can be tested for internal cracks and is there any non place they crack on the head

cheers for any help.

[kam-325i]

Nasty.......

sounds like a very bad seal, or lack of.

the head can be tested, but it has to come off to do it.

[dobbey1]

cheers you just confirmed my worst fears

[Speedtouch]

What condition were the old & replacement heads in?

With luck it might just need flushing out under pressure and refilling.

[SPADGE]

How do you know the replacement head was in any better condition than the old one?
Hope its nothing too serious fella

[DJ_B4L]

hi dobbey

you can get the head pressure tested that will show if its cracked and where theres a few places in kent that can do this

by the way did you get the other head skimmed before you fitted it?

[dobbey1]

got the head off a running engine with the original 2.5/2.7 stamp on the side did not have it pressure tested but carried out a full visual inspection

[Speedtouch]

You could always give this stuff a whirl: http://www.steelseal.com/eng/home.html

[dobbey1]

didnt get head skimmed do you think its advisable, would'nt i get lumpy idle or missfire if head was warpped

[SPADGE]

1st thing i would do would be to drain and flush the cooling system again including the heater matrix. To be honest if the problem is as bad as it sounds this may make very little difference but its the cheapest/easiest option and you may be lucky!

[SPADGE]

didnt get head skimmed do you think its advisable, would'nt i get lumpy idle or missfire if head was warpped

Not if its only leaking between water jacket and oil way no!

[dobbey1]

cheers people il drain and flush it first then go from there if problem still there il remove head and pressure test it and skim it and use bmw head gasket.

[SPADGE]

Stick a low pressure water hose into a pipe into the heater matrix and see what it flushes out the other end mate you never know. If the problem is worse than before it doesn't sound good though to be honest. All the best with it!

[Templ8e30]

Euro car prats gaskets are shite. Get one from www.gsfcarparts.com, they are made by Elring who supply the original BMW gaskets.

Don't forget to fit new head bolts too.

Cheers,

Iain T

[Brianmoooore]

Stick a low pressure water hose into a pipe into the heater matrix

Depends on what your definition of low pressure is, but in at the bottom stub and out at the top, or you risk damaging the electric heater valve.

[Brianmoooore]

I'd give this one a couple of days before panicking, in case it just is residual oil. It can take weeks to all work its way out, and it does tend to end up in the coolant bottle.
A replacement head should always be given a light skim before fitting.
Have you checked the old head for cracks? Look for a thin grey line along the bottom of the rear or next to rear cam bearings in the head.

[SPADGE]

Stick a low pressure water hose into a pipe into the heater matrix

Depends on what your definition of low pressure is, but in at the bottom stub and out at the top, or you risk damaging the electric heater valve.

Low pressure as in a garden hose not turned on fully and certainly not a jet wash!

[Brianmoooore]

Low pressure as in a garden hose not turned on fully

That's only low pressure because of the low flow rate.
If you fed this the wrong way, and the heater valve closed, the low pressure would rapidly become high pressure (around 3.5 bar here) and the valve would probably be damaged.
(This post is based on experience, not theory, by the way!)

[SPADGE]

Low pressure as in a garden hose not turned on fully

That's only low pressure because of the low flow rate.
If you fed this the wrong way, and the heater valve closed, the low pressure would rapidly become high pressure (around 3.5 bar here) and the valve would probably be damaged.
(This post is based on experience, not theory, by the way!)

I was talking purely about the hose pressure Brian and not the heater valve.
If this is done with the ignition off the valve will be open will it not and you have already explained which orifice to stick the hose down

[Brianmoooore]

If this is done with the ignition off the valve will be open will it not and you have already explained which orifice to stick the hose down

Valve will be open when you start, but water going through it the wrong way can force it shut.

[SPADGE]

If this is done with the ignition off the valve will be open will it not and you have already explained which orifice to stick the hose down

Valve will be open when you start, but water going through it the wrong way can force it shut.

Cool which is why he needs to stick it down the correct pipe as per your earlier instructions

[Andyboy]

I did a 525e auto with a cracked head a while back. I went to Asdas and bought 2 gallons of cheap liquid bleach and filled the cooling system with that. I ran it around town for a couple of days and drained it down again - the amount of shiyte it brought with it was something else.
It sounds like the head has got a serious problem though. This happened to my very first E30, a 1983 323i which filled the header tank with neat engine oil.

[E30Adam]

Something people fail to realise when purchasing a head from a "running engine" is the way the head has ben removed from said engine. It may well run perfectly when fitted to an engine but there's a method to removing them and if this procedure isn't followed then the head can warp and if not skimmed you'll end up with problems.

As has been previously stated, you'd be better of using the packaging that came with the gasket rather than an ECP one, total rubbish. GSF or dealer daskets are the ones to use.

Run the car for a few days, keep changing coolant and keep an eye on things. If you've got overheating or the engine doesn't seem to be running right then get a compression test done. If the worst comes to the worst, you'll have to take the head off again and get this tested for cracks/warping and take it form there.

[DJ_B4L]

can that seal stuff fix a head no matter how badly its cracked?

[E30Adam]

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, do the job properly.

[Templ8e30]

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, do the job properly.

Agreed, it's worth doing the job properly.

Cheers,

Iain T

[dobbey1]

the thing is the car is not overheating in any way, well ive flushed it out and the heater matrix for over an hour , now i will run it and see what happens.

[gareth]

when my 2.5 head cracked, the amount of crude oil that got into the coolant was immense! the rad was so badly clogged that i binned it!

did you flush out the water jacket on the block while you were at it? a lot can lurk in there and not necessarily drain out if it's started to emulsify (mayonaise).

the stuff to use to flush it out is TFR (traffic film remover) as remommended to be by a host of other zoners. i got a gallon of comma TFR/general purpose degreaser from my local motor factors for about a tenner. i drained and refilled with 25% TFR / 7% water and left it for a day and it came out like gravy! i repeated this a few times before a final flush with cooling system flushing stuff before refilling with proper coolant mix. this method cleared it out so well, the inide of the hoses etc were squeaky clean!