I was doing other work on my car and had it up on ramps. Apparently, that tipped it enough there was a slow drip from somewhere. I finally tracked it down to probably coming from somewhere expensive (picture below). That looks suspiciously like the block/head junction, which means money, which I don't have a whole lot of. There is no water in the oil, so in my humble opinion, that makes it a good candidate for those snake oil "block seal" products I keep seeing at the parts store, and I always wonder if they actually work. Youtube videos are a crap shoot; some say they work like a charm, others say they will blow up your engine and other apocalyptic scenarios if you so much as THINK about using them. What say you folks?
Should I:

1. Ignore it, keep putting coolant in, eventually it'll blow out like nature intended
2. Try Super Whiz-Bang Radiator/Block Sealer Goop and Hair Tonic
3. Save up my pennies and get a head/block job done by professionals like normal people do.

EDIT: Forgot the picture. The slow leak is coming from the area circled, just below the rear-most spark plug. A small drip will build up over the course of a minute or so, then drip off.

 

Yeah - looks like a head gasket leak. If you are handy with tools and have a torque wrench, it's not so bad a job to do yourself. You will need a gasket kit which if I remember correctly runs about $70.

 

any time you pull the head, it should be sent to a machine shop who can test it for flatness, and mill it down flat if its out of tolerance but still has sufficient metal. test cost is usually under $100, milling cost w/ test, around $300, give or take. not a bad time to replace the valve guides and such, but that adds more $$.

 

This is very common on B230 with around 200K, I just did my 1992 745, yes it is the head gasket. I play with head gaskets a lot.

It's a simple job to fix but it takes some mechanical knowledge and tools, as simple a HG as it gets. You don't need a trip to machine shop unless the car was overheated, or has other symptoms, so the cost can be low, under $100 for parts if you do it yourself.

I have used Blue Devil head gasket repair in a bottle with great success. It is pricey, $66, but it is guaranteed to work or $ back. Don't use the Blue Devil PourNGo, I haven't had good luck with it. The difference is that you have to take out the thermostat out with the regular Blue Devil, which is easy on these cars. Follow the instructions religiously, it'd work in this case very successfully. The BD doesn't work on HG compression leaks which is not the case here so you are OK!

Bottom line, do it the right way if you feel up to it, use the Blue Devil if you just need a quick cheap short fix.

 

You can also test for flatness yourself using a straight edge and a feeler gauge. Assuming you have these tools.

 

OK, I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but it looks like I have no choice. Sure, I'd love to just dump some sealer in the coolant and call it good, but I've read too many bad stories to think that's going to solve my problem. I have the basic tools (metric wrenches, sockets, torque wrench, etc.), and IPD sells a very nice gasket set. I also have the Bentley book, which looks to cover everything step-by-step. I will be putting some penetrating oil on the rusty nuts until the gasket set arrives, hopefully they won't be a problem. The previous owner says it never overheated while he owned it, but no idea what happened before that, and I don't have a crystal ball that says he's absolutely truthful either.
A few questions...
- About how long should this take for one's first time doing this? A 3-day weekend? A week's vacation? I'll be meticulously labeling everything so I don't lose track of what hose goes where, etc. I'm no stranger to replacing peripherals, but a core job like this is new to me.
- Are there any other tools I might need? I've changed the timing belt recently, so I have the tool for that.
- I noticed that IPD also offers a head bolt set, should I get that as well? IIRC, the Bentley book says not to replace them unless the head has been removed 5 times or more. I doubt that has happened, but I really don't know for sure.

Thanks for your advice.

 

The hardest part is avoiding breaking an exhaust manifold stud--they are stuck on pretty good after 200k! Soak them in penentrant as much as you can! The job itself is not hard, the easiest HD there is but no way to tell how long it'd take you, a good tech can do it in 5 hrs not counting machine shop time if needed. You don't need new head bolts but they have to be torqued. Not a lot can go wrong, it's a non interference engine.

 

OK, so that means I can get it done in about 2 days if I stay focused. I replaced my heater motor in 3 days, and the timing belt took most of one day and half the next, but I've done a timing belt job before on a '93 VW Passat .
The exhaust manifold bolts do look a bit frightening, maybe I should order some extras of those while I'm at it. A while ago I replaced the down-pipe that goes between the exhaust manifold and the catalytic convertor and twisted off one of the flange studs. That was not a pleasant job to remedy...

 

Get a fresh can of AeroKroil. plan on drenching exhaust bolts daily for several days.

Don't take the exhaust manifold off the head, leave it on, take off the turbo or the exhaust pipe instead.

 

They are not bolts, they are studs with nuts which have to come off and are often impossible to remove, they are fused on there. The stud breaks and then you need to take the head to a machine shop to have a new stud installed.

 

Sounds like you have the necessary experience to pull it off in a decent time frame...

 

OK, finally got the gaskets and whatnot to do this job. I have the fan, shroud, top pulley cover off, belts tucked away, tensioner removed. First line of concern: I put the engine at Top Dead Center before I slipped the timing belt off, but the distributor seems to be a few degrees off, is this normal?


(the angle looks funny here, sorry I couldn't get my phone closer, but it's about 10-15 degrees clockwise from the timing mark.)

Like, maybe the advance was adjusted at some point, I don't know. I cleaned my throttle body a month ago, and ever since then, it idles high in Park. Could this be why?

Anyway, off to remove more crap to get to the task at hand...

EDIT: Never mind, I think I got that tweaked around when I changed my Timing Belt a while ago. Amazing it still ran as well as it did. I'll get that lined up correctly this time...

 

About 3 weeks ago, I soaked all the exhaust header nuts with Kroil every day for the better part of a week. I got distracted and forgot to keep up the regimen for the past two weeks. As I looked at those rust-encrusted warts today, I must admit, I was hesitant. The last thing I need is ANOTHER twisted-off stud. "What the hay?" I said to myself "Might as well give 'em a crank and see if anything wants to break loose. If not, no biggie, @Pierce says I don't hafta." Each one of those rusty little buggers came off with barely a squeak. As I took them off, I could see that the Kroil had soaked *to the bone* on all but one of them, even though they looked desert-dry on the surface. That stuff really is magical...

 

OK, I'm at the part where I separate the two parts of the fuel intake, and it ain't budging. I'm scared I'm going to round off the 14mm side, because it seems that part is made of softer metal, which may explain why they're locked together. Suggestions?

 

The fuel intake? Do you mean the intake manifold or the throttle body? It should be pretty easy, never seen one stuck, did you get all the nuts off? I leave the throttle body on there, I remove the manifold and the bottom support bracket and move the whole thing to the side.

 

Sorry, maybe that's not what it's called. Fuel coupling? Where the fuel hose attaches to the fuel injection system. There's a 14mm fixture, and a 17mm coupling nut. You're supposed to hold the 14mm part steady while loosening the 17mm part.
Here:



I have 14mm and 17mm flare-nut wrenches to tackle this job, but I just discovered the 14mm is a cheap POC that actually measures 14.5mm (per my digital calipers) and the sides aren't parallel, so it's trying to round off the corners of the coupling on that side. As soon as I saw it slipping, I stopped, but now not sure how to proceed. I'm tempted to use my vice grips, but...

The Bentley book instructions say to take the Fuel Injection assembly off the top of the intake manifold, but can I take that off safely with the fuel hose still attached?

 

Leave that alone! No need to open it, just remove the 8 intake manifold nuts and the lower bracket bolt enough to be able to move the whole assembly to the right enough to clear the studs, tie the whole thing to the driver's side hinge!

 

OK, I got all the intake manifold nuts but one removed. The last one is trapped underneath the the manifold and the octopus of wires and hoses snaking in and around the Fuel Injection system. I think that is why the Bentley manual advises to remove that stuff. There is no way to reach that nut from above, and no room (due to the wires and hoses) to get my hand in and remove it from below. Any ideas?

EDIT: I figured it out. I had to unplug a vacuum hose from the side of the flame trap tube and lift another hose with a screwdriver while I poked my wrench half-blindly in the space that made. Once it was loosened enough I could get it the rest of the way with my fingers, I poked a magnet tool there to catch the nut when it came off. Crisis averted.

 

Now I'm in the pink. Intake manifold tied off to the side, valve cover off, head bolts exposed.

They won't budge. I have a 12" breaker bar on a six-sided socket, do I need a longer one? I've been tugging on this thing for the last 15 minutes in every angle I can fit into, and it ain't moving. Just by way of experiment, I tried loosening #2, same result. I'm spent. I'll try again in the morning.

 

Yes, they are tight but not the worst I've seen. Six sided 1/2 inch socket is good, 12 inch is too short, use a longer bar or put a pipe on it as extension. You will need similar torque when you put it back on!