John Sez:
> It already has a brand new head gasket with roughly 10 miles on it! It
> was also a high quality permatex one with metal rings round each
> cylinder. I also made sure that I very methodically cleaned both gasket
> mating faces. If it was a blown head gasket how did the oil get there?
I think you definitely have your answer...if you only got 10 miles on the
new head gasket, then it's very likely it didn't seat correctly and you've
blown it. This is both quick and comparitively cheap to fix. It happens,
even if you've done a good prep job, and correctly torqued things...there
is always the outside chance you goofed on the torque order and skipped
one too...we all make mistakes from time to time.
The oil is always there, a bit, but a lot of it gets burned and purged
when the cylinder fires. If you have more than a little, it's also quite
possible that the oil came in where the galley passes through the head
gasket into the head, and is consistent with a blown head gasket.
Just the fact that you replaced this so recently makes me think it's the
likely culprit - be happy: it's relatively cheap and easy to fix! Change
all the oil and flush the cooling system - oil and coolant always trade
places when this happens (another indication it's a head gasket is an oil
film visible on the coolant in the radiator - pull the filler cap and look
at it). Similarly, if you drain the oil, and find some coolant, you've
got another good sign. Of course, these are all symptoms of a cracked
head as well - so hope for the gasket.
Good Luck!
Scott
==================================================================
Scott Ruffner
Computer Systems Senior Engineer Computer Science Department
ruffner@cs.virginia.SPAM.EDU University of Virginia
(434)982-2219 http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~jpr9c
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