Serious oil and head or head gasket

SRT356/911 · 03-08-2010, 11:25 PM

Most of us are 911 guys and know little about the 944.

We ran an 83 in 24 hours of lemons. The pan got a good seal. Questionable head gasket. We followed the book and replaced all belts.

The radiator was not holding water from the start and was pushing it out from the overflow.

We were seeing increasing amounts of steam from the exhaust and major oil from under the intake manifold on the drivers side. Splashing down onto the exhaust, esp under high rpms after turns.

At the end of Sunday's race, just starting the engine had water blowing out the overflow and 10 feet out the exhaust pipe.

In the end, the car- and this is amazing- ran 75 minutes under race conditions with absolutely no water in the radiator!! It took the checker in that condition. Is this an air cooled engine in disguise?

The oil seemed to be coming from the area surrounding the dipstick tube and oil filler pipe. Down by the block, under the intake. If we short shifted at 4500 rpms we did not get so much burning smoke. It smoked most from oil dripping on the exhaust when the rpms were above 5K

Clearly we lost either the head or the gasket?

Should we try to salvage the head?

Is there a common failure point for oil leaks on an 83?

We were all shocked and amazed that the car just kept on going under race conditions with no water at all in it.

Thanks for assistance in this.

Vicious · 03-08-2010, 11:34 PM

*WOW* ok now that's out of the way. gasket is shot, and from that extreme amount of overheating you can probably count on the head bein gone as well, only overheated mine to half the extent of racing and all water jackets on the head cracked. best of luck though

zedsn · 03-09-2010, 03:09 AM

If it were me I would throw that motor away and start over with a donor transplant. No cooling on an aluminum engine for 45 miuntes under any driving conditions not to mention hard driving is just plain bad.

John_AZ · 03-09-2010, 05:15 AM

Put it on CraigsList for $2000 as a "super" track car and someone will buy it...

ernie9944 · ernie9944's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by zedsn

If it were me I would throw that motor away and start over with a donor transplant. No cooling on an aluminum engine for 45 miuntes under any driving conditions not to mention hard driving is just plain bad.

+1 on that & peoples that don't know much about 944 motor don't realize how tough they can be. Good luck to you guys with your next one.

SRT356/911 · 03-09-2010, 08:46 AM

We have a donor engine already. In fact we have an entire 84.

Would still like to know if these problems are endemic to the 944.

Do not want to repeat the problem on another engine. It i s a lot of work replacing engines. And all of that oil being burned is bad for the air quality.

We have developed a great appreciation for the 944. It handles very impressively and is nimble and solid. And pasts are cheap.

Amazing that the car would continue to run for so long with no water in it.

Slam · 03-09-2010, 11:18 AM

Endemic? Probably not if maintenance has been good. The later cars had more HG trouble than the early ones.

I smoked the mother of all porcupines coming home from a rehearsal one night. Pushed the rad right up against the motor and smashed the front end up really badly. Drove home, about a 45 min. drive, at highway speeds, afterwards. Motor was fine but car needed over $3,500 in repairs. Another event: winter morning, -45C or so, and had to drive the car. Coolant had frozen solid and I didn't realize until after I'd gone a half hour with no heat. I thoguht I'd cooked the head for sure, but it thawed out and car was fine. I DID end up replacing my HG about 5 years later...

Yes, 944s are plenty tough.

dangerous · dangerous's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRT356/911

We have a donor engine already. In fact we have an entire 84.

Would still like to know if these problems are endemic to the 944.

Do not want to repeat the problem on another engine. It i s a lot of work replacing engines. And all of that oil being burned is bad for the air quality.

We have developed a great appreciation for the 944. It handles very impressively and is nimble and solid. And pasts are cheap.

Amazing that the car would continue to run for so long with no water in it.

No
There's nothing typical about that story
something was wrong

There is a rubber O-ring at the bottom of the oil filler neck that may dry out and leak. It could leak oil in quantity under the intake manifold.