Suspected head gasket fail

[Chad]

Bit more done today , but rain stopped play for the moment. Bit of a cleanup of pistons, fitted new npr rings I’ve spent a lot of time measured all the ring gaps, ,I’ve got to say they seem perfect in all measurements, as I’ve posted before I believe these are the only direct replacement rings for the mahle pistons afaik ,,if they are not as I believe the oem rings anyway??? Looked at the cost of oem £800 now total ripoff, these npr £170 ,, I’ve also fitted new oem rod shells as I had some ,, or would have used the king race shells ,will keep them another day,, no turning back now as pistons are fitted back in the block ,, hopefully can crack on and fit the head back on soon, not sure if I’m going to lap in valves,, but that may bug me if I don’t :whistle:

[Mike RT4]

In for a penny in for a pound - do the valves or your OCD ill mean you won't sleep at night :blalalala: .

Should have done a before and after dyno to see how much power is lost / regained :hahaha: (I know it is a bit late now, but hey-hoe :whistle: )

[Chad]

Long day on the old girl, plastiguage and bolted the rod shells , bang on 0.040-0.045 so all good, Npr rings all perfect,, new head gasket bolted in ,, not bothering lapping in the valves as I recon they are all good, that can be done at 100k :smokin: ,,I have to say. Probably would be easier to take the engine OUT especially doing the 3 stage rod bolt installation,, :bigcry:,, as the npr rings look so perfect! I’ve picked up another set of rings from suppliers while stocks are there!.

[Chad]

It would be interesting to know what the lads find,regarding rings gap measurements , who work on csl,s / m3 on a regular basis are finding,,??? Or is this something that just doesn’t get checked if compression test or leak down check’s look ok :whistle: can’t wait to get the old girl going just to see what the difference is.

[Chad]

Just fired the old girl back to life :smokin: Few bits to bolt back on then will take it for a gentle spin :thumbs:

[Chad]

All done :smokin: just had it out for a spin tonight! absolutely worth the the pain motor feels so alive, ok power must have been down with head gasket gone between 1+2. But new rings definitely make the difference. Takes me back to mx race bikes, new rings got you that hole shot, simply puts that punch back in the motor,, I can definitely recommend if you doing the head gasket, chances are you’ll be doing shells ,, just “DO” the rings as well,, :thumbs::thumbs:. .. I’ll redo a compression test the same way and check results when I put a few miles on the old girl..

[Chad]

It would be interesting to know what the lads find,regarding rings gap measurements , who work on csl,s / m3 on a regular basis are finding,,??? Or is this something that just doesn’t get checked if compression test or leak down check’s look ok :whistle: can’t wait to get the old girl going just to see what the difference is.

:whistle: anybody got anything to add regarding wear on rings, surely owner’s and tec’s not all in denial,,, :banghead:

[Chad]

Morning all. If it’s of any interest to anybody,, new npr piston rings seem to be all good so far ,, only done a couple of hundred miles with them in , will recheck with a compression test soon! and post up findings.. car really feels like a mad cat after motor rebuild :smokin:

[Chad]

Hi For anybody interested. I’ve now done over seven hundred miles on these new npr piston rings I fitted in the csl ,, inc first trackday Just re done a compression test I get a good 155 psi on all cylinders using same method a before,, checked oil level on dipstick no oil used :smokin:::thumbs:,, On a lessor note while I had air box front off, just thought I’d re oil air filter as they tend to run a bit dry after time. Used K&N red filter spray oil ,, ??? Anybody else bother doing this. ?:smokin:

[Chad]

It would be interesting to know what the lads find,regarding rings gap measurements , who work on csl,s / m3 on a regular basis are finding,,??? Or is this something that just doesn’t get checked if compression test or leak down check’s look ok :whistle: can’t wait to get the old girl going just to see what the difference is.

Just having a read through , see if I’ve missed anything ,, “NOPE “.. but I’m still interested to know what the chaps who work on e46 m3 for a living have found regarding piston ring wear:whistle:

[Chad]

Still not able to post pictures ,, is it not possible to go back to the old way of posting pictures directly from my iPhone?? :whistle:

[alexk]

Hi For anybody interested. I’ve now done over seven hundred miles on these new npr piston rings I fitted in the csl ,, inc first trackday Just re done a compression test I get a good 155 psi on all cylinders using same method a before,, checked oil level on dipstick no oil used :smokin:::thumbs:,, On a lessor note while I had air box front off, just thought I’d re oil air filter as they tend to run a bit dry after time. Used K&N red filter spray oil ,, ??? Anybody else bother doing this. ?:smokin:

I have 2 air filters and I clean them with the K&N kit.
I install the 'freshly' cleaned air filter.

[Chad]

I have 2 air filters and I clean them with the K&N kit.
I install the 'freshly' cleaned air filter.

Hi Alex Good to know I’m not the only one to do this. As it’s something that seems to get neglected on a regular basis,,””ok they do get changed on a full service “” they do get full of junk so has to be better to do more often ,, :smokin:

[alexk]

Hi Alex Good to know I’m not the only one to do this. As it’s something that seems to get neglected on a regular basis,,””ok they do get changed on a full service “” they do get full of junk so has to be better to do more often ,, :smokin:

The changing bit is interesting too.
These filters are BMC and perfectly serviceable

[Chad]

I’d like to think the track day lads do filter for ever Trackday , csl even sound better when filter freshly cleaned and oiled ,,:smokin: