Crapola!!!!! Blown head gasket!!!!

As you may have guessed i blew my head gasket yesterday. Was at work when on my way back to the shop i had some temperature issues, not a huge rise in temp but more than usual so i started paying more attention but didnt worry about it since my temp has always been a bit wonky on this car, always going up and down but not too bad. Then i went on another delivery and a few blocks from my destination, about 4 miles from the store, it started to climb again. Came up to a light and saw no steam and heard no gurgling so i figured it was probably my guage being weird and made it to where i was going without any issues. Once i got there i checked it out and sure enough it had pushed most of its water out to the overflow bottle. So i called the shop and told them what was going on and waited for it to cool off, turned my key on so the fans would run to help it cool off quicker. went to put more water in the radiator and while it was running and it kept pushing it out and then going down like it had air bubbles in the system, so i got as much as i could get in there and tried to get it back to work so i could park it. After a hour or so i finally made it back and called my gf so i could use her car for the rest of my shift. At this point i was pretty certain what had happened. The car has always been a bit lacking in power and been missing a little bit upon startup and not to mention the wild temp fluctuations its always done ever since i bought it. Knew i blew the head gasket, i suspect it was bad all along but i just didnt know it, i always suspected it but it is alot of work for just a hunch lol.

A little back story about my 89 gts coupe, when i bought it it had about a 2 inch crack in the radiator and the guy didnt take very good care of it at all. All he knew is it overheated on him on his way to work one day, he probably toasted the head gasket a bit before i got the car.

I know everyone is going to say, "i hope you did the valves while you had it off" or something like " hope you had the head checked for cracks and warpage" ,,, well sorry guys, i didnt, the valves i didnt do because for some reason nobody had the right valve spring compressor. And as for getting it checked? All i can say is i had to call in today so i could get this done, supposed to work tomorrow and as it looks right now its not going to be done since my wapter outlet busted while i was bolting it back on. Having a hell of a time finding a different one, was hoping someone would know of one i can mod to fit or something since i cant find my engine or my car in any junkyards around here at all. But anyways, i dont have the money or the time to get the head checked out. This car is my daily driver and i cannot afford to be broke down at all since im saving money so i can move out. So as far as that goes all i can do is replace the gasket and hope for the best.

here are some pics, i have the new gasket installed, just getting her put back together.

where it busted on me, im so sad




yup here is the problem.


i would have gotten it done today, but after the part busted on me and after losing my rachet i decided to call it a day since it was getting dark

 

Sorry malfax i would have posted an update sooner but it seems the site has been down for a bit lol.
so much work ive put into this car it would be a shame to give up over a head gasket.took me two days to get it tore down, fixed and reassembled.
some of that time was wasted as i removed a bunch of stuff i didnt have to because plan A was to leave the intake manifold on the head and just remove the exhaust. well that didnt work out so well since the bolts to the braces behind it holding it to the block pretty much rounded off. so plan B, leave the intake in the car by removing it from the head, this of course was a gigantic pain in the rear as i had to blindly remove the bolts. that and i had to get creative with my sockets, extensions, adapters and rachets to be able to clear things enough to get it done. I had previously purchased a gasket kit for my engine since every seal on my engine was leaking oil, with the rear main and oil pan being the only exception. so luckily i already had my head gasket, its a standard one not a metal one but it will do for now, an intake gasket and tvis, exhaust and a bunch of other small gaskets and o-rings needed to do this job right. And while i was in there my new timing belt and water pump set came in the mail finally so i went ahead and installed those as well as a new thermostat. old one i installed a few months back when i got the car but i figured id might as well be sure. I also installed my keyless entry and shaved doorlock system, ill be posting about it with pics and a vid in the aftermarket section if anyone in interested.

After i got her all together i noticed my fuel rail just didnt look right, i forgot about checking its alignment as i was excited to try to fire her up and hear her purr again. of course she didnt start, even spat back out the intake some, rechecked my timing, it all checked out, double checked my dizzy to be sure i wasnt 180 off, nope it was correct as well. then i remembered those injectors just not loking right. so i went ahead and pulled em to see what was up and sure enough they didnt seat in the head. got them in and she fired right up. then i noticed i was leaking fuel from the rail, pulled it yet again and sure enough no2 injectors top o-ring broke. easy fix. now shes running like a champ. got more power than ive ever felt from this car. and there was an annoying sound ive been hearing for the last couple of weeks, kind of sounded like a knocking from the top of the engine, it would come and go and get worse when climbing a hill or accelerating. not at idle or when i was listening under the hood. very very frustrating, well that sould got alot worse when the gasket blew and the good news is now i dont hear any sign of that annoying sound anymore at all. From what i can surmise the gasket was probably bad when i got the car and got worse as i used it more and more till it totally gave out.

so here are some more pics, and even one i took today when i saw a mr2 parked at the dollar store. it was very clean, sigh, someday mine will look as good.

 

Yeah im hoping that they are over for a while at least, i put at least 100 miles on her every day that i work which usually ends up being about a quarter of a tank of gas lol. If anything else goes wrong im going to have to quit my job and find one that wont end up killing my poor car. i was wrong about the mystery knock sound, wasnt the head gasket, dang!, its driving me bonkers, i have no idea where the heck it is coming from. Here are the symptoms, i hear it only when the windows are up and the doors are closed, it hasnt been getting any worse but it does get faster or slower depending on the rpms so its definately something spinning while the engine is running, when it is making the sound you can go under the hood and listen to the engine while it is idling and you wont hear it at all, even revving it up you dont hear it!!!, But when you get back inside and close the door you hear it clear as a friggin bell. It does seem to get a little bit louder when climbing a long hill. I really need to figure out what it is so i know if i need to worry about breaking my car or not. There are sooooo many things that it could be, tranny, torque converter, broken center of flywheel, rods? doubtfull that its a rod since i cannot hear it when i listen to the engine. i put my ear against the valve cover and didnt hear it so im doubting it is engine related. If it is tranny related then i will do away with the auto and install a decent manual instead. I took a short video of it but you really have to listen to hear the sound. it seems photobucket is down for maintenance so ill have to upload later, it seems to be coming from the driver side of the car, well it seems that way from what i can hear. and the only thing that is on that side is the tranny. ill try to get it to make the sound again tomorrow and jack it up and slide under her and listen.

 

here is the video of the noise, you can only hear it while in the car, im going to slide under her today and investigate since i dont hear it under the hood. if it decides to make the sound today i mean.you never know when this sound will start it is totally random and decides on its own when to misbehave.


perhaps i should do a new post on this subject.
crap, arrrrg. i clicked on the pic and tested the vid out, you cant even hear the noise. which is messed up since you can hear it when i play the video on my phone, try and have a listen anyway and see if you can hear it.