Head Gasket symptoms

[Slideways]

Would you happen to know how confirmation of head gasket failure is ascertained from a leak down test?

I.e. when conducting the leak down test, what exactly would indicate head gasket failure?

If you plug in the leak down tester into a cylinder and audibly hear air leaking out of the spark plug tube of an adjacent cylinder/s, that would indicate a headgasket failure. You'll also see it on the leak down tester gauge that pressure is leaking out of the cylinder. If you have a cheapo air compressor, you might struggle to keep 100 PSI of pressure in the cylinder, but even with 30 PSI, you'll hear it leaking from an adjacent cylinder.

When performing the test, spark plugs should be out so you can hear and feel the air escaping from other cylinders and the cylinder you are testing should be at TDC.

[R60BBA]

If it is pinging (you'll hear a metallic clicking through the firewall) under these conditions - 4th gear, 2k RPM and 100% throttle, head gasket is most likely broken between cylinders. Confirmation is done with a leak down test. If it is bad enough, it'll show up on a compression test.

Would you happen to know how confirmation of head gasket failure is ascertained from a leak down test?

I.e. when conducting the leak down test, what exactly would indicate head gasket failure?

[Slideways]

May be easier and safer just to take them to your local machine shop and have them cleaner there.
Rookie mistake i missed was to take all these parts mentioned with me to the machine shop when i had the head machined. Rocker cover should of gone in as well, to clean up the varnish on the underside. Another thing that came to mind, as soon as the head is removed, Plug every hole ( coolant and oil ). I have done 4 oil changes now in less than few hundred miles, as there was some black spots in the filter, i gather it was gasket material falling down the oil channels. Now i am too afraid to drive the car, so i am dropping the sump, taking that to the machine shop with the oil return pipes, installing new oil pump, new rod bearing and more oil changes after.

H2 Motors on youtube cleaned the iron block on an Alpina B3 and they said to close off all the oil holes with small bits of blue shop towel. That keeps the debris from ending up in the oil. The coolant jacket is a little harder since it is much more open, so for that, it is probably better to just leave them open and flush it with distilled water a few times once the head is on. Getting blue shop towels stuck in there would suck.

I thought about taking the small bits to the machine shop, but it would be nice to clean small stuff like this at home if possible. Definitely took the valve cover with the cylinder head to the shop to have them clean it since it is a big piece. It all came out looking new.

[BL92]

May be easier and safer just to take them to your local machine shop and have them cleaner there.
Rookie mistake i missed was to take all these parts mentioned with me to the machine shop when i had the head machined. Rocker cover should of gone in as well, to clean up the varnish on the underside. Another thing that came to mind, as soon as the head is removed, Plug every hole ( coolant and oil ). I have done 4 oil changes now in less than few hundred miles, as there was some black spots in the filter, i gather it was gasket material falling down the oil channels. Now i am too afraid to drive the car, so i am dropping the sump, taking that to the machine shop with the oil return pipes, installing new oil pump, new rod bearing and more oil changes after.

[Slideways]

Has anyone else tried the method of soaking engine parts, mainly the rocker spring clips, intake and exhaust VANOS sprockets and hubs which are all steel, in diluted Simple Green and boiling water for 10-20 mins? I noticed another forum member did this when he was installing Cat Cams and it removed all the oil varnish. I'm not sure I would put the cam caps in there though since they are aluminum.

Results shown at 8:30 and 17:00

[bmwfnatic]

For the oil I have some Dollar General-tier 5w30 that just goes in and gets idled up to temperature and dumped out again, new filter, 10w60, send it.

[bmwfnatic]

Yeah, machine shop seems like the way to go. The machining stone is a nice idea if it does not remove as much material as a machine shop would. It would be great to keep as much cylinder head material as possible until a full rebuild.

Are you changing the engine oil immediately after the headgasket work or cycling the oil and draining after the first start? I have a feeling a small amount of coolant and other debris can go down the oil drains in the block.

If there is no damage to the cylinder head then it should not need any significant material removed. The last one I did cleaned up with only 2 thou.

I also had one that was already machined once before due to a failed head gasket, measured it as having over 0.2mm taken off, still no issue and works fine, but that’s an extreme case.

[Slideways]

The heads I bring to the machine shop, costs me 75 bucks, not even worth my time trying to do something else at that rate.

For the block I use some loctite gasket remover (it feels like paint stripper) and a plastic scraper, and lots of elbow grease.

If you feel like you must sand the block, I have a piece of aluminum that is longer than the block with some 400 grit glued to it. Use WD40, should only hit the high spots that way, not professional engine building advice, but with the engine in the car sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do…

Yeah, machine shop seems like the way to go. The machining stone is a nice idea if it does not remove as much material as a machine shop would. It would be great to keep as much cylinder head material as possible until a full rebuild.

Are you changing the engine oil immediately after the headgasket work or cycling the oil and draining after the first start? I have a feeling a small amount of coolant and other debris can go down the oil drains in the block.

[bmwfnatic]

For those that have cleaned up a cylinder head in preparation for a new headgasket (not a full rebuild), would the BMW special tool - 83300495104 - for the S65 Alusil block work to clean up the aluminum S54 cylinder head surface? Or could it be used to clean the gasket material off the iron block?

The heads I bring to the machine shop, costs me 75 bucks, not even worth my time trying to do something else at that rate.

For the block I use some loctite gasket remover (it feels like paint stripper) and a plastic scraper, and lots of elbow grease.

If you feel like you must sand the block, I have a piece of aluminum that is longer than the block with some 400 grit glued to it. Use WD40, should only hit the high spots that way, not professional engine building advice, but with the engine in the car sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do…

[Slideways]

For those that have cleaned up a cylinder head in preparation for a new headgasket (not a full rebuild), would the BMW special tool - 83300495104 - for the S65 Alusil block work to clean up the aluminum S54 cylinder head surface? Or could it be used to clean the gasket material off the iron block?

You can see the tool used in the video below 32:55 and 40:52:

[terra]

Check your section 1 to section 2 bolts. Mine were loose enough to rattle when cold but things tightened up enough after warming up to make the sound go away. 2-3k was particularly noticeable.

[travisp412]

Do you have OEM US cats? Did you make any changes to your exhaust setup. The honeycomb material in the cats can dislodge and make that noise once the car reaches operating temps. Do you hear the noise when the car is warming up?

Nope. I have euro catless headers

[tlow98]

Sound like these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3__4P6RSVsE

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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/F0o7k1a5XU8

I love how the engine is cold and they’re just going for it. How on earth did those head gaskets not give up 50k earlier?

[AWE46M3]

Do you have OEM US cats? Did you make any changes to your exhaust setup. The honeycomb material in the cats can dislodge and make that noise once the car reaches operating temps. Do you hear the noise when the car is warming up?

[travisp412]

Sounds like an exhaust leak or something in the driveline.

Thank you. I have an appointment later in the month with my mechanic to pinpoint the noise. I'm a bit more hopeful now that it isn't a head gasket