car problem

[jrkrider]

last night i had just gottan out of the dance from my school around like 11:30 and me and my date just pulled up to a stop sign when my friend pulls up in his riced civic, so of course i had to race him(and just left him behind). after we raced i was sittin in front of him and i noticed my car was smoking really bad out the exaust and idleing real low. that was the first time i had raced my car and was just wondering if anyone knew why it was doin that.

[Frank B]

how long did you hold on to first gear?....also, how does the exhaust smell?..

Yo,
Frank B

[Lawrence Coppari]

What color smoke from the exhaust?

Is car overheating now?

[todwic]

I got $5 on a blown head gasket. Any takers?

[gt350mike]

I wouldn't bet .25 that its the headgasket because............Its the headgasket.

You need to do a compression check.

[todwic]

Firstly, Jrk, check your oil for milkshake (your oil will be foamy white from water mixing with your oil). And check your expansion tank for oil, either is bad. Do that FIRST! Don't do a compression test on an engine with water in the oil, you don't have to. If you have either, the head has to come off, I'm sure, making a compression check redundant.

[Frank B]

Hey Todwic, ...cha-ching!!

[Scootin159]

How much replacing the head gasket cost to have done? (I know it's not much in parts, but all in labor). Also how hard is it to do yourself on these cars? What would be the problems associated with running w/ a bad head gasket for an extended period of time?

[todwic]

Hiya Franki Felonious Fingers the Ford Fencer!

Depends on a lot of things, scooter. If you're getting water in your oil, it won't take long B4 you'll have to do a complete rebuild. Those bearings in there weren't meant for U-boats, and just won't take that kinda crap for very long. Oil in your water will degrade your hoses pretty soon you'll have to replace every one of them, along with some other bad stuff. If you just have steam comming out of your exhaust (water jacket exposed to your exhaust valves or into the ignition chamber), you could drive it for a little while with no ill effects, probably, maybe, but when you shut your engine off, water comes in and that stuff in there rusts up pretty quick. Something will eventually get clogged or jammed or broken, and it's usually something very expensive.

as for doing it yourself, the most worrisome thing is retentioning of the timming belt. Screw it up, and you're looking at a head job, and not the kind that cost $25, either.

Do a quick search on the board member "overkill". Read a few of his posts.

[Scootin159]

Originally posted by todwic
Hiya Franki Felonious Fingers the Ford Fencer!

Depends on a lot of things, scooter. If you're getting water in your oil, it won't take long B4 you'll have to do a complete rebuild. Those bearings in there weren't meant for U-boats, and just won't take that kinda crap for very long. Oil in your water will degrade your hoses pretty soon you'll have to replace every one of them, along with some other bad stuff. If you just have steam comming out of your exhaust (water jacket exposed to your exhaust valves or into the ignition chamber), you could drive it for a little while with no ill effects, probably, maybe, but when you shut your engine off, water comes in and that stuff in there rusts up pretty quick. Something will eventually get clogged or jammed or broken, and it's usually something very expensive.

as for doing it yourself, the most worrisome thing is retentioning of the timming belt. Screw it up, and you're looking at a head job, and not the kind that cost $25, either.

Do a quick search on the board member "overkill". Read a few of his posts.

Hmm...about how long do you think it would take for someone who has never taken an engine apart before? (let me give you this perspective....I would have to go buy a torque wrench, but I have done some other minor repairs - new stereo, replaced power window mechanism, ect.). I would really rather do it myself though (#1, I have no $$, #2, I would enjoy doing it myself). As for tensioning the timing belt, is there any way to go about having it done short of buying the $500 tool (which I'm assuming I can't rent from napa)?

The reason I ask is that I can smell oil in the exhaust (not real strong...but you can tell it's there)....head gasket seems like a logical problem...or what do you guys think? Coolant & oil seem clean, although I'm just going from my memory of last time I checked the levels, haven't actually looked closely to see if it is really clean.

[afx]

I am in the process of redoing the head on my 944. I had my timing belt fail and crushed some vavles. I have never done any major work on cars so this was a first for me doing the work. I have not started putting anything back together yet, but taking it apart was not too difficult, just time consuming. Once I get it back together, I plan on taking it to a Porsche shop to get the belts tensioned, I figure it will be easiest to let them deal with it. It probably took me about 10 hours of actual work time to get it apart working only a few hours a day.

[todwic]

I've never done it myself, but I've read a post or two. Like I said, Search "ovekill" and read his posts, he's doing that very same job right now, and he has some pictures, and I think he was introduced to a "allen wrench" just this last summer. (no offense, o'kill, yer doing great, buddy!").

As for tensioning, the Hayne's manual procedure won't do you a darn bit of good if you break your belt.There are a few folks on here that use the "half turn" method, but they also have a good "feel" for what a good tensioned belt should feel like. There are a few good posts about this subject on the board. search "951Carter" or "Scott R.", I think they are the tits wihen it comes to shadetree belt tensioning.

If you are losing a lot of oil outof the exhaust, It could be a few things. While your car's running, put your ear to the expansion tank with the cap off. Put your ear right on the rim of the opening. Maybe you can hear bubbles. Do a leak down test. To a compression test. There are methods to finding out just what is wrong with your car. You should really find out with a high degree of accuracy as to what the problem is and what'll fix it before you start doing any kind of major work on it. Maybe you tear your head down and it's just the oil cooler gasket that was leaking. Now not only do you have to put your head back on, but now you have to change the cooler seal, as well. Don't jump in half assed, you'll prolly regret it Esp. if your on limited funds, it'll pay you to be cautious. Get a CO₂ meter and test your radiator water. There should be none in there, if you have some, there's a gasket blown or your heads cracked. Or your block.

[overkill]

TODWIC, your right! My tools are only like a couple of months old I'm just breakin them in now!

Scootin159, I know you said you need to otrque wrench but do you have any other tools? If not you going to need some tools and if you can't borrow they are expensive as hell. Doing to actual work isn't all that hard at all! I was thinking the way you are right now, OVERWHELMED! When I started I was typing lots of notes and taking picyures. After awhile the typing of notes and picturing taking got kinda of annoying. All I really needed was the factory manual and the guyz here. I still take notes and pictures here and there if needed. Alot of the stuff you have to remove is a pain in the ass. It takes time and after spending all that time to remove one little thing you automatically remember what you went through to get it off. SO, you'll remember where it goes and how. The hardest part for me was getting the head out of the car. I couldn't get the head out until I took of the exhaust flanges but then I couldnt get the exhaust flanges off until I got the head out. I found out that you can get the flanges off by using some force(beatin the $hit out of it) to work it off. I think you'll really like it! Good luck, if you have anymore questions, i'll be happy to answer them if I can.