Cylinder Head Gasket,

Looked at the block this morning and the lower gasket of the head seems to have a bit of oil and coolant seeping out of the sides, there is a coffee like residue that gives it away. There is coolant getting dropped on the radiator hose end that connects to the block, too. Going to do a little detective work to see whats causing that too.

Car in question here is a 97 RD1 2.0, 61,000 miles worn on

The reason this may of happened could of been from when the car was ran for a block with little to no oil, causing smoking engine, not overheated though. That culd of possible blew it..i'm not entirely sure though

Gonna buy a new head gasket and replace it, might as well get a valve cover gasket too, while i'm at it. Will post pictures soon enough if the weather stays decent. Alot of snow on the ground at the moment.

To properly seal a gasket, does anything else need applied to the gasket? besides making sure it sticks and on a smooth surface? This can be done without pulling the motor outta the engine bay can it not? Could use a second opinion here. This thead could have potential. Thanx for looking

 

Well basing on what you've stated I'd say that your block and/or head warped.

In which case you'll need to have both re-decked or it will not seal. So yes, you may need to pull the motor. Best thing to do is get a straight-edge a lay it across the block with the head off. Do the same to the head. That will give you an idea of how off it is...or may not be...

As long as you have flush surfaces and torque the head bolts in sequence and to proper torque, it will seal.

Your lucky that its only the gasket, after running without oil.

Good Luck

 

If it's only the gasket, then it's really not all that hard, just take it peice by peice. Remove all the intake piping up to the throttle body, the throttle/cruise cables, a bunch of connectors on the sensors on the top half of the engine. Leave the intake manifold attached to the head. Remove the exhaust manifold. From underneath the car, you'll need to remove the bolts fastening the intake manifold brace to the engine. After that it's a simple matter of draining the coolant, popping the valve cover off, removing the cams, and taking the head bolts out. Depending on who you talk to, you may have to purchase new head bolts, however I've read that they can be used up to 3 times.

I'd take that time to clean up the carbon deposits on the valves, and anything else that might need cleaning. . Also you'll get a shitload of coolant inside the cylinders when you pull the head, so have some rags or a shop vac ready to dry them out, so you don't have to do 2 oil changes to get rid of coolant in the engine.

 

Just the reply I was looking for.. thanks man. Should the exhaust manifold gasket be replaced as well?

 

I've reused then on my tib and my ex's elantra, no problems. If it leaks it's a 15min job to replace it anyway, so I'd leave it.