Interpret my head gasket

[grendiers]

This piccie is from an abused '88 924S, with about 95,000 miles on it. Pulled the head, and from the looks of it, this is an original HG. I have the engine on a stand, and plan on replacing most of the gaskets and seals. Want to build the beater-class car into a 944 spec build, but for doing DE's. If I don't like the car, then I'll sell it this winter, in Arizona. Here are a couple of pics, and am wondering if this is 'normal' ?


Oil cooler:

Looking at hg when on block:

Underside of hg:

[v2rocket_aka944]

kind of looks like someone used some of that "leak sealer" **** in your engine.
find a radiator shop and see if they can boil that oil cooler clean.

[John_AZ]

"Normal" ...funny.

Obviously, you have severe coolant sludge & rust damage to the HG and parts.

A better answer if the engine should be rebuilt requires a picture of each cylinder bore and crank.

It may be cheaper to get a decent operating engine. The '88 had 160HP and earlier 944s/924S only 150HP.

J_AZ

[djnolan]

Very cruddy looking. Cooling system was seriously neglected.

[grendiers]

cylinders look smooth. pulled 2nd rod bearing, plenty of beef.

[Slam]

I see what you did there: posing that dead HG on a dumpster.

Oil cooler looks quite sad. How's the sealing face on the head? Looks like a lot of corrosion in there. PO use tap water?

[thomasryan]

Is it possible someone mixed inorganic with organic antifreeze to create the sludge aka orange and green make brown))

[88Silver924S]

It does look like the Dex-Cool sludge (on google images enter "dex cool sludge") as Thomasryan suggested. I will never use dex cool again after seeing what it can do, it can pit aluminum and eat some gasket materials. The internet has lots of horror stories about it and there was a class action settlement I believe which ended before the old General Motors declared bankruptcy.

[grendiers]

Coolant was green, but, who knows, probably a few owners in the background. I'll clean everything up, disassembled the head today, pulled the cam, and all looks ok. Exhaust guides are a bit loose, all the valve stem seals are hard as a rock.

[dp951]

looks like your head will also be pitted...

give the block and coolant system a good flushing, then run the 50. 50 mix

[Lapkritis]

Rotted, old hg. They don't have an indefinite life span and old coolant or straight water can cause it to rot... along with coolant passages and head/block contact surfaces.

[Lapkritis]

Originally Posted by grendiers

cylinders look smooth. pulled 2nd rod bearing,

Looks like some dirt embedded with the striations... I would have new rod bearings on my list if you don't already.

[grendiers]

update: Buying a rebuilt head, and new rod bearings. And the gazillion o-rings, seals, gaskets, hoses!

[thomasryan]

pentosin NF antifreeze is reasonably priced on-line. Change it every few years. The Ph of antifreeze climbs to 10+ after a few years and makes all the plastic items brittle.

Despite the rot, it looks like the HG was still holding.

[grendiers]

Yeah, I think it did too; the holes happened after I removed the HG. And, dodged a bullet as I was thinking of not taking the head off at first. whew!

[Slam]

I love happy endings...