So tell me its not my head gasket...

greg968CAB · 2012-09-28T17:56:20-05:00

About a month ago I had a drivetrain failure. It had exhibited all the classic symptoms of the flex damper ripping itself to shreds. So I towed it to a mechanic that my regular mechanic recommended. Guy turns out to literally live a couple of streets over in the neighborhood and other people said he was good. And I will say he seems to know what he is doing. A bit overzealous on trying to fix every single part that is out of spec. I.E. he decided my hood latch needed to be fixed and tore into. The fact I had never had an issue with the latch is a whole different matter. At any rate, turns out that literally everything from the flywheel to the front of the transmission tore itself to shreds catastrophically. So in the process of fixing this it was also discovered that the balance shaft belt had gone haywire as well. The following have been replaced: Rear Crank seal Damper Plate Timing Belt Hydraulic Tensioner Roller Auxiliary Shaft Roller Power steering belt Alternator/AC belt Balance Shaft Tensioner Shift Cable Drive Tube Flex Disk Exhaust Gaskets Transmission reservoir and seal The last because he detected a crack in the plastic above the fill line but he decided that it could leak and had to be replaced. So after a month of scrounging the parts and doing the teardown/rebuild he started it up. He got about two miles round trip and had white smoke all the way. He decided the head gasket blew. And I'm pretty sure its indeed that. But here is my issue that I have. He told me he noticed that my reservoir for the antifreeze looked a bit low and he topped it off before he went for his test drive. Three things concern me. 1. The heater settings were on cool and had no indication of having been slid over to full heat, meaning its likely the heater core wasn't engaged in the coolant circuit when he filled it. 2. He did not utilize the bleeder screw. 3. He idled and reved the engine to check flywheel when he was determining the extent of the damage. He discovered that the balance shaft belt had popped off a roller and was not engaged. I have no reason not to believe this guy and that I am just insanely unlucky and by a total fluke my head gasket just decided to go today because my car likes living in a garage for the past month. But I had always treated the bleeder valve with utmost respect since I owned a 924. And I know that people not using it correctly can cause huge issues as well as issues caused by not having the heater core open as well. I'm assuming that the fact he has a 944 owner mechanic on staff as well as his own experience would preclude this error. As to the current symptoms... Pulled the ignition leads and looked for coolant evidence, and found none. Checked oil dipstick and found no foam, the oil still looks new. And it should since its less than 2 months old. No frothed oil in the coolant reservoir. White smoke comes out the tailpipe. When bleeder is opened droplet laden steam comes out. A lot of steam is being pushed into the coolant reservoir when you have the pressure cap off. And with it closed and running a pinhole leak has developed a couple of inches away from the filler for the coolant reservoir that bubbles. So I know something is creating the pressure buildup. My default is to assume it is indeed the head gasket. I had one go on me on my 924. The gasket in that case allowed oil to travel to coolant, thus turning the coolant into a consistency of coagulated brownish white foamy baby poop. This time it would seem that the gasket is allowing cylinder pressure to escape into the coolant circuit creating the pressure/steam. I'am I likely;y to be missing something? My mechanic stated there was no way my car wasn't running super hot and steam had to be coming out of my hood before I brought it in. All I can say is that my temperature gauge has normally always been at 8:30 on the dial and only got higher when it was really hot outside and I was stuck in traffic. A couple weeks before the drive train barfed I had checked and topped off all fluids. I added about a quart of antifreeze bleeding it with heater core open. Thats always been about normal for this car after a year of use. The pressure tank's cap had a gasket that was enough to occasional let coolant escape. The level of steaming coolant being forced through the reservoir as well as the white smoke out the tailpipe is impressive, but it didnt exist before the breakdown. So i'll open it up for condolences now. If I'm lucky one of you will tell me it isn't the head gasket and instead its a simple fix. If I'm unlucky you guys will tell me that the 968 has an Achilles Heel unique amongst the wasser boxes that costs ten times what it costs to replace a head gasket. An d incidentally how much does it cost to replace a head gasket? Contemplating doing it myself since I used to do all my own work. But I'm tool limited at this point as well as not currently having a garage.

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So tell me its not my head gasket...

flash
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#61

10-22-2012, 04:03 PM

that's actually too high for your mileage. that tells me there is something else in there raising the compression. of course it could just be carbon too.

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94 Midnight Metallic Blue Cab Porsche 968 w/deviating cashmere/black interior and WAY too many mods to list - thanks to eric for creating www.968forums.com

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