Anyone care to teach me how to change a headgasket?

[madkaw]

Wow- what a mess! Something's not right for sure. It's a shame a supposed Z guy handed this crap off to you. Good thing these engines are tough.

This far along in the game I would be inclined to take the head off and hand it to someone to be checked for war page and any coolant passage issues.

I would also be checking the timing cover as suggested . Take it off and clean it up and post pics. Haven't read too much about the cover cracking , but maybe the hack that sold you the car boogered something up.

[dpascual1986]

Wow- what a mess! Something's not right for sure. It's a shame a supposed Z guy handed this crap off to you. Good thing these engines are tough.

This far along in the game I would be inclined to take the head off and hand it to someone to be checked for war page and any coolant passage issues.

I would also be checking the timing cover as suggested . Take it off and clean it up and post pics. Haven't read too much about the cover cracking , but maybe the hack that sold you the car boogered something up.

Yes, that is the goal at this point

1. Get head machined - Valves, etc...

2. Replace timing cover with new. Is this even available? Any links?

Ive already ordered a new gasket set, new oil pump, water pump.

I'm a little perplexed, If it was coming from the headgasket, it would only be a little bit of fluid, spilling into the cylinders and not the entire contents of the cooling system (assuming there is two gallons in the cooling system) (1 gallon oil, 2 gallons of coolant = 3 gallons of milky sludge)

So I am assuming at this point that my leak is somewhere near the bottom where gravity would drain all my coolant and enter into the oil. Has anyone heard of a crack/leak within the cylinders? Would an improperly sealing timing cover funnel all that fluid into the oil pan?

Sorry for all the questions - I am waiting for my parts to come in through the mail, I figured id ask as much as I can while I wait.

[Zed Head]

I searched around on hybridz.org where a lot of engine work tends to happen and found the thread below. There's a core plug (aka "freeze" plug) behind the timing chain cover that might be the source of your problem. You'll find out when you remove the cover. If it is, check to see if the PO just dinked around with the plug and messed it up or if it's rusted out. If it's rust you'll need to check all of the other core plugs. Clear some space in the garage.

Problem: Oil POURING out of the coolant inlet on the block - Nissan L6 Forum - HybridZ

Found the thread with this in the Google box - site:hybridz.org coolant leak timing chain cover

Here's another, same core plug - http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/82490-coolant-in-the-crankcase/

Edited November 18, 2013 by Zed Head

[dpascual1986]

I searched around on hybridz.org where a lot of engine work tends to happen and found the thread below. There's a core plug (aka "freeze" plug) behind the timing chain cover that might be the source of your problem. You'll find out when you remove the cover. If it is, check to see if the PO just dinked around with the plug and messed it up or if it's rusted out. If it's rust you'll need to check all of the other core plugs. Clear some space in the garage.

Problem: Oil POURING out of the coolant inlet on the block - Nissan L6 Forum - HybridZ

Found the thread with this in the Google box - site:hybridz.org coolant leak timing chain cover

Here's another, same core plug - Coolant in the crankcase - Nissan L6 Forum - HybridZ

Excellent find Zed Head. This looks promising. I will buy a new freeze plug set and replace them all. I am certain this is the cause of my milkshake woes.

Any tips for me on removing the distributor? I know this affects timing as well.

[Zed Head]

The distributor is not an issue but make sure that you get the oil pump shaft installed correctly. That's where the problems with distributor adjustment happen. The procedure is well-described in the Engine Mechanical chapter.

Interested to see what you find, take pictures. You might have to remove the engine to replace all of the core plugs, I've never done it.

[siteunseen]

You should read page 42, "Oil Pump/ Distributor Drive", in your How to Rebuild Nissan Datsun book. When you go to put it back in read pages 136 & 137.

[dpascual1986]

The distributor is not an issue but make sure that you get the oil pump shaft installed correctly. That's where the problems with distributor adjustment happen. The procedure is well-described in the Engine Mechanical chapter.

Interested to see what you find, take pictures. You might have to remove the engine to replace all of the core plugs, I've never done it.

funny you should recommend that, I have the Haynes book opened to the exact page (aligning the oil pump drive to the pump) on my night stand at home. something about aligning the dots. Good to know.

[dpascual1986]

You should read page 42, "Oil Pump/ Distributor Drive", in your How to Rebuild Nissan Datsun book. When you go to put it back in read pages 136 & 137.

will do. I will post results as soon as my parts come in and I am ready to put things back together.

[EuroDat]

Excellent find Zed Head. This looks promising. I will buy a new freeze plug set and replace them all. I am certain this is the cause of my milkshake woes.

I work in the pharma bio-tech and one thing I have learnt in all the years of contaminations, lost batches and panic reactions.

Never narrow your line of thought by focusing on a possible problem that may not even exist. You will end up missing things that can haunt you later.

I would dismantle the timing cover and inspect the freeze plug.

You can always buy the things you need later and if you buy everything at once you can ask for a discount or at least save on shipping. When your waiting for the parts to come in, you can start cleaning everything and getting ready for re-assembly.

Chas

Edited November 18, 2013 by EuroDat

[alternativez]

This is perplexing; I recommend more troubleshooting, at least some info about your latest sequence. Was the coolant at the proper level in the radiator before you drained it? Any chance you pressurized the cooling system before you removed the radiator and water pump? Did you remove radiator, then water pump and thermostat? Removed block drain plugs? Did you collect all that coolant? Earlier you had reported no oil in the radiator. Was there no oil in any of that, just good, clean, bright green coolant? So, with three gal or more mixed from the oil pan, how much fluids were in the engine and radiator? Have you removed the oil pan? Have you noticed any evidence of steel or aluminum shavings or bits? Are the insides or mating surfaces of any of the parts or block badly pitted or corroded? I favor defining the cause of the problem or at least an informed hypothesis and using further disassembly to gather as much fact as possible. You may well end up replacing lots of parts to correct the problem, but you don't want to replace a lot of parts and not correct the problem. You pretty much have to imagine or know what all the possible problems could be and eliminate them, and this is likely a combination of problems. As you started with a "hack job," I imagine you don't want to end up with one. I think you have some empathy here because many of us have decades of personal and professional auto mechanics experience, yet we've all had to learn a lot of it the hard way, as you seem just as willing to do. I don't usually hang out on forums, but I'm literally laid up with some muscle injuries, so I've been very interested in your story. I do hope you get this figured out soon, before I'm back on my feet! I'm still looking for reasons why coolant has been pumped into your lubrication system, but doesn't seem to have returned as that mixture to the radiator, and doesn't seem to have made it into the compression chambers. Good luck!

[siteunseen]

Switch books! Tom Monroe's is much better.

[Zed Head]

Never narrow your line of thought by focusing on a possible problem that may not even exist. You will end up missing things that can haunt you later.

Chas

This is perplexing; I recommend more troubleshooting,

These guys are right, and to be clear I was just offering things to look at and another perspective. Considering how well emulsified the oil-water blend is it's possible that the OP or someone drove the car for quite a while with a small coolant leak. And when the engine is running the crankcase is under vacuum while the coolant system is under pressure so a small passage from coolant to oil in the HG might pass that much coolant. Who knows.

As you're taking things apart don't clean things up. Leave the grime and old gasket material in place so that you can see signs of damage.