engine and drivetrain OK, Doc, give it to me straight! Head Gasket??

[Guest Anonymous]

All advice welcome on this one. '69 with original matching VIN engine, was set up for racing by second previous owner, with apparent overhaul (red paint on engine a clue)and dual 45DCOE's. Ran pretty well for past two years, just street and mountain driving. Engine suddenly lost power and quit on my son one night last summer... would not restart, although cranking had no weird sounds. He said it kinda made louder than normal engine sounds before quitting. Oil sprayed a lot on left side of engine, pretty well soaked. Towed home. Just now got to troubleshooting after leaving it parked for a few months. Compression is 60,60,30, and 30 (#1,2,3,4). Radiator also low, but now I find a leak in it as well. No obvious broken parts under the valve cover, and timing chain looks OK. Spark plugs looked fairly normal and consistent, although a bit of oil on outside of #3 plug when pulled.

So, does this sound like a badly blown head gasket?

Should I first pull the head with engine in car?

Thanks in advance.

Eric -- outside Anchorage, Alaska

(69,71,72,73tii, and a few more for parts only, plus a few 320iS's for winter commuting)

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/store/index.html

might as well pop the head and see what happened. you could always try a leakdown test first, but it seems like it will have to be cracked open for repair no matter what you do. take pics and let us know what you find out!

-Rob

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/store/index.html

intake or exhaust,,, somehow. you *sure* that chain looks OK? just a thought.. ;(

-Rob

[Guest Anonymous]

Hey, thanks for the additional clue to check, Rob. All I really did first was to look under the valve cover quickly to see if maybe the timing chain was completely broken or anything... I did not check to see if it might have jumped a few teeth, but that alone should not result in such low compression readings, if the valves close properly even out of time. I ran the compression using a screw-in fitting with flex hose to the compression gauge, with all plugs out, and sucessively put in the tester into each hole then cranked about 6 turns with the starter.

I guess I will know more about the condition of the valves and seats only after removing the head. Done only one head gasket change in my 27 yrs of 2002 ownership (several in sequence and concurrent), but I have factory manual (blue binders) and Haynes to help, so I will dig into it right away. I'll do some pics, but may have to email to one of you guys to post for me, as I still have not figured out that process.

Hey, how are you adjusting to that Alabama life down there? I spent about a week in Montgomery in the summer a few years ago (drove my wife from AK to AL when she attended the Air Force Air War College, then flew home for the year and she kept the car down there. It was unbearably hot and muggy for me. )

by the way, the head on my '69 in question is an E12 head. Is that good or bad?

Eric

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/store/index.html

pistons... with the valve cover off, do any of the valve stems look skewed at all?

-Rob

[Guest Anonymous]

If your help is strong you may be able to pull the block (with no head, intake, exhaust, starter, alt, oil) with just four hands. A poor mans engine stand: plastic milk crate.

Good luck,

John McA

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/store/index.html

also alabama is pretty OK... we had a "mild" summer this time which meant it never got over about 95degrees. humidity is brutal, especially in "non-mild" summers (of which i am innocent so far ).

im not sure if the BMW guides would allow the valves stems to actually skew... ive seen mercedes heads with bent valves that point all over the place, however. anyways, good luck with it!!

-Rob

[Guest Anonymous]

I can pull the engine if I find it looks bad on the bottom end needing a total rebuild, but first I will just pull the head and go from there.

[Guest Anonymous]

I think I will just get going on pulling the head, since I have a warm three car garage (heated floor even)to work in, and I don't want to put this car outside for the winter with the engine broke --- gotta push and pull it around out of the way of my snowplow! The '63 Porsche 356B coupe project car has the permanent spot in the "third stall", and my '73tii is keeping warm and dry in the second.

Eric

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/store/index.html

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

URL: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2442890377&category=2031&rd=1

But was wondering what's new with you. Drop me a note.

Al

[Guest Anonymous]

Story goes wife pushed the project car out to the garage apron where it sped down the driveway, into the street smashing into mail delivery van.

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

Yeah, I had BMW collection in mind when we designed and built the house in '84, for plenty of room. The heated floor is GREAT for parking a snowy/slushy/icy car in overnight, and both the car AND floor are dry in the morning (have a floor drain in there). I made some wheel dollies to move the Porsche around, but I also can manuever pretty well with one or two floor jacks. With stereo in the garage, this is home-away-from-home for me!