Possible cracked head- how to go about

thekidd · 02-25-2011, 09:22 AM

My car had a slight leak in the radiator, so I went and bought a used one last week, did the install and found some milkshake coming out a couple pipes. Im thinking that last time I drove her the tempo did get way up there, but stoped and let her cool off to half way, and started her up, and coasted the .5 miles the way home, restarting her when I came to a stop sign and other motorists were there. Tried to play it very safe.

But I am wondering how difficult is it to remove the head? How much do machience shop charge for resurfacing/ welding the crack together on the head?
What parts should I get for the job? Dont know if Im ready for a Timing belt job or not. I have read claeks garage, I have had everything off the top of the head before, but how many left the headers in place when taking the head off? Looks like they shouldnt even be a factor, but Ive never took the head off before. Is there a way to clean the cooling system of the milkshake? Jesus I love working on my car, but not looking forward to this one bit. Thanks for any input.

Techno Duck · Techno Duck's Garage

Head removal is relatively straight forward. Headers can remain in the car or removed still attached to the head. Either method works and neither has much of an advantage over the other.

I wouldnt even bother fixing the head if its cracked. Cylinder heads are dime a dozen for these cars.. you can probably find a complete one for about $100-150. Take it to a machine shop and have them rebuild it and deck the surface if needed. Total cost to rebuild will probably be in the $200 range.

You minus well just do the timing belt while your at it, it needs to come off to get the head off anyhow.

Are you sure its not just the oil cooler seals?

HondaDustR · 09:53 AM

If the head is cracked, it may be more economical to find a good used one if it's just a NA 2.5L 8v head. If you've had all of the other stuff off the head before, then you've done the hard part. I think it can come off with the headers still attached, but I'm not sure. It does just come straight off the top once the nuts are removed, which also requires removal of the cam housing. The other PITA is cleaning the old gasket off. Just a long, not too technical job. Just be sure to always use new nuts and either use new washers, or scour up the head side of the old ones with coarse sandpaper so they don't move when torqing the nuts.
See this post for a good recomendation for cleaning the oil mess out of the cooling system.
oil in coolant

The factory manuals are useful for this job as well.
Documents - Porsche 951 - texasblake.com-

Techno beat my post, but +1 on the oil cooler seals. It is a very common problem for these cars. If there are no classic head gasket failure signs such as smoke on startup, missing, coolant in the cylinders, cooling system overpressure, etc. then I'd just do the oil cooler seals and go from there. That job does go much better with the headers removed, though.

ernie9944 · ernie9944's Garage

If it's the oil cooler seals you'll probably will have the milk shake in the expension tank as well & a lot of it,hope it's the seals even though it's a PITA job it beat removing the head .Like mention the early 944 are prone the OCS failure & not many of them on the road still got the OE one.Good luck.

thekidd · 11:47 AM

Well, havent drivin the car yet since this happened. Should I put some coolant in, drive for a little bit and check if I have a milkshake in the expansion tank? I did re-fill the coolant when the engine was hot, I thought that I heard a crack somewhere on the left side of the engine. I wasnt thinking when I was doing this, and when I heard the crack my heart fell and actually thought what I was doing after I did it.
Everytime I work on my car, it seems that either a bolt or 2 are either stuck, or extremmly rusty which makes any job on these cars hard for me. A limited tool set, and a car with 194K makes this seem like a difficult job for me. I have the arnwerx? timing tools with the kriket tool, flywheel lock, and that weird wrench. Should I buy the T-belt and HG kit from here if I do the job? Aything else that I need to do? How long will these jobs take for a first timer that has never done real surgery on these cars? Why do some people say remove the headers, but others says they can stay on? Are they attached to the head?

Techno Duck · Techno Duck's Garage

Check your oil, if you have a milk shake in there do not drive the car or you will destroy your crank, main and rod bearings.

Even if its just oil mixed into the coolant i wouldnt drive it much, you are just further contaminating your cooling system.

For a first timer on the cylinder head, i would set aside atleast 20 hours, probably more in your case.

Yes, the headers are attached to the cylinder head. The head can be removed with the headers still attached to the rest of the exhaust. This saves you the trouble of getting the 6 lower flange bolts off as these are usually rusted to hell. The downside is you need to pull most of the studs out of the head in order to pull the head off. If you leave the headers attached to the head, you need to deal with those 6 usually rusted to hell bolts. Plus the cylinder head plus headers still attached is pretty heavy so you may need some help pulling it off the block.

Do yourself a favor and just replace the oil cooler seals first. That is the most likely cause.. i doubt your head is cracked.

kfray · kfray's Garage

Have you run compression test?

thekidd · 02:30 PM

no no compression test yet. No tester, sell for about $20 at parts store though.

OK ill order the oil cooler seals. But when I filled the expansion tank, it sounded like the crack came from the cam tower area and not the bottom of the engine.
Techno, why do you think I didnt crack my head? Is it very difficult to crack the head. I think my temp guage was at the begining of the last yellow block (hottest) on the tempo guage. Thats why I think I broke the head bacause was pumping the hose the goes into the block to try and fliud all through the system as much as I could. If I do have milkshake when I check my oil (through dip-stick Im guessing) then that would be the oil cooler seals? But I dont get how by just checking the oil, that would be saying that my selas are bad? I thought that if you have oil in the coolant, then the cooling system is at risk. As in a bad gasket or seal(s) anywhere in the system.
Was told to ask how to tell if my head is cracked, or my oil coller seals went bad, or if its the head gasket at fault here.

EDIT: no milk shake on oil dipstick
Could anyone rent me the oil cooler alignment tool? Doesnt seem too smart to buy it if I'm going to use it once. Maybee again on my next car a few years down the line.