[Kim]

Valve job is a go. Also doing all engine seals, timing belt, balance shaft belt. Doing the Stage RS Barn thing with new exhaust and chip. Cleaning all interior parts of intake manifold.



Inspection #2.



1. teeth on cam sprockets are perfect

2. chain pads are good

3. no holes or obvious issues with valves

4. lobes on cams look good

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[94SilverCab]

So far this is incredibly good news!



Maybe you should think about a complete interior and exterior detailing when they are done and you will fall in love all over again.



Hope the good news keeps flowing,



Jay

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[Kim]

Inspection #3.



- head has been machined and is now flat and perfect

- special head gasket being ordered in from the Fatherland (and probably personally signed by a member of the Porsche family) a bit thicker than usual one to accommodate machined head to avoid increase in compression

- valve seals ordered

- still waiting on arrival of exhaust and chip from RS Barn



Ready in a week if exhaust gets here.



Jay - the falling in love thing is for women. Total infatuation is for cars.

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[Seadweller23]

Kim,



Perhaps you could post some pics of your engine bay and exhaust when you get her all put back together.



Thanks,



Joe

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[earossi]

I'm getting to this post a little late. I question that with compression readings all in the 180/185 range that you even had a head gasket failure. The cylinder exposed to the blown gasket should have provided a reading substantially lower that 180/185. How did the coolant look? If the head gasket leak been around an oil to coolant area of the head gasket, and the coolant should have been milky looking. So, I'm really stumped over the hissing sound you heard.



The good news in your posts was about the overall compression readings and the condition of the cam and cam pads. Absolutely amazing for a car with even half that mileage! You and the previous owners appear to really have taken excellent care of your car.





Since you are doing a valve job on the head, I assume that you are replacing the cam chain and its pads, right? You might also consider replacing the varicam actuator. I'm really not sure if these have experienced any problems; however, at a parts cost of less than $200, you might want to consider replacing it given all the cycles it has gone through. No incremental labor at this point.



Ernie

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[xrad]

I am sure you can still get high compression figures even with a blown head gasket....all it takes is a tiny pin hole leak which will not be demonstrated during a compression test. four cylinder comparison leak down test may have been more accurate. In any case, antifreeze in the oil is highly suspicious for most commonly a head gasket leak and less often another major problem such as cracked head or block.



On the other hand, a big gasket failure would be obvious, both with compression test and the after effects (such as the big cloud of white smoke out the tailpipe)....

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[Kim]

eraossi - the head gasket was eaten completely through in two areas and had a channel that allowed coolant to enter the cylinder. One channel was to the outside. Under one of the holes there was a pit in the head (now fixed). The coolant had simply destroyed it. I changed coolant twice in four years but I doubt it had ever been changed before. One thing i can assure you is this - the PO(s) did NOT look after this car. I have, in 4 years, replaced almost every moving part.



I was not planning to do the variocam chain and pads - they look fine to me. No wear to speak of on the pads. My bill without doing that, since I am replacing the complete exhaust system also with one from RS Barn, will be in the range of $11,000 as it is. I need to draw the line somewhere.



I will try to get some pics on Wednesday when I get back from Toronto. Engine is not coming out to do this - we decided that the disturbance to the wiring, given its age, might not be good. I just went through a big wiring thing earlier in the summer that cost me a lot of money to replace and repair worn wires under the hood. No clutch work was needed now and so we felt that leaving the engine in was best. But I will get some pics.

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[flash]

man, that's dedication - gotta give you credit for going this far (lol - sounds like you'll need to apply for credit to pay for the bill - ba dum bum)



as for the head gasket issue, you can blow a gasket and have even compression - the cylinders themselves are not the only thing sealed by the gasket, and any part or all of it can blow

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[Kim]

[quote name='flash' post='60755' date='Sep 29 2008, 09:51 AM']man, that's dedication - gotta give you credit for going this far[/quote]



There is a fine line between insanity and dedication.



Look at it this way.



New Cayman, $90,000, drive 4 years at 40,000 km/year, car has 160,000 km, worth $35,000, repairs and mainatenace not covered by warrantly say $5,000, total in 4 years $60,000. costs money to drive, costs more to drive Porsches. I like 'em. Plus, what do you do with a dead one? I don't live in any area where a parts car would have value. I have no garage and it would look stupid in the driveway. Nah, I'll fix it and and just keep having fun and getting goofy.

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[flash]

lol - i'm with you - one of the most attractive things about this car to me is that it is so danged inexpensive - even after all i've done, including the purchase price of the car, i don't think i could have done better

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[Kim]

Report #4



- valve seals in now

- head being put on tomorrow

- new belts to be installed

- RS Barn exhaust arrived today - never saw anything so shiny in my life! The guys at Porsche were sure impressed with that baby. They didn't know I was getting the new header and cat also.

- should be done on Tuesday.



Mechanic suggested putting the new chip after a little while - if it was to knock or turn on the CEL it would be good to know that it wasn't the work done to repair the car. I said ok and will wait a week. Will be drooling too much after that to wait more.



Final update to follow.

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[Kim]

Report #5.



Two cylinders won't fire up. There is fuel and spark and they are sure that it is timed right. Ideas?

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[banditsc]

They should have a bore scope there to look at the position of the valves in the cylinders that will not fire.

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[flash]

assume nothing - just because something is new or rebuilt does not mean there is not a problem



are the 2 non-firing cylinders next to each other? if so, you could have a crack in the head, a leak between cylinders, yada yada



are you certain there is fuel in the cylinder, and not just at the injector?

are you certain there is spark past the plug?



what are the compression readings?

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[xrad]

valve timing is wrong or something is 180 deg out

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[Kim]

Flash - compression is 185 on all four. All I know now is 1) they have swapped the injectors around to no avail, 2) they have swapped the plugs around to no avail, 3) I would like to hope that the head was inspected before the decision to replace the gasket was made, 4) the car ran good in their shop just before the head was pulled, 5) the plug wires are are only about 2 years old, 6) the computer showed no codes other than the things that they expected based upon what was not connected.



I have asked them to recheck that the plug wires are connected to the distributer is the correct order - Pete said that it is easy to think they are correct when they are not. It is #2 and #3 cylinders that are acting up.



Any/all other ideas would be helpful - we seem to be at a wall here and can't get past it.



BTW - the new RS Barn exhaust looks fabulous. The old one was cracked at the down pipes to the cat in 2 places and also cracked just in front of the muffler.



Also, the RS Barn chip is not yet in - I am still running (trying, at least) on the OEM one.

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[flash]

i'm guessing wires - they are actually pretty fragile

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[Anchorman]

Kim, I have no suggestions - but I just want you to know that I (and others) feel what you're going through. Hopefully the firing issue will be easy - and the last.

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[Kim]

Thanks Anchorman - any further ideas would be helpful as we at at the wall on this. Any sensors (what about the two hall sensors that are somewhere around the cams / variocam section) / critical wires / do-dads that might break during a head removal that could cause this? The compression and leakdown tests done before the head was removed initially should rule out any undiscovered cracks. Brad didn't get back to it today but we are at a point where the question "what to do now?" seems to have no answer. I have given him my log-on stuff and he said he may come here tonight to see what help he can get. Be nice to him please.

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[xrad]

if you have spark and fuel to all four, must be a mechanical timing issue (cam angle sensor or vavle or crank) OR the ECU is not firing the coil igniter. Get a spare ECU and try it out.



because:

Fuel can sit in runner and still function even when out of time (batch fire principle)



Spark must be timed correctly, and if it works it works. especially if two cylinders are firing.



ECU can malfunction. If same situation exists after replacement, then back to crank angle sensors/cam angle sensor.



ALSO: the connecting plug at the back of the distributor (Bosch three prong) can become brittle and the contacts can fail

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