Uh oh.......is my head gasket failing?

well the oil leak is brand new information, so before you get into pulling the injectors lets take this one thing at a time.

if you have a big oil leak and oil came comes out, then gas and other stuff like water from wind driven rain or driving through puddles can get in if its leaking somewhere that badly so that must get fixed asap.

do you smell any gas leaks from under the hood? sometimes the fuel hose at the back of the engine can rub on something and leak so check the rubber as well as metal fuel lines around the engine for leaks. why didn't you get the oil pan leak fixed yet? that's pretty important and should be on the top of your list of things to do. im told its not an easy job and the stuff that holds it on makes it hard to separate the pan from the block.

the injectors are something worth cleaning and testing for proper operation but you should do one thing at a time so if things change you know what you did to cause it. if you are 100% sure there is no gas leaking down the engine block that could be getting into the oil pan because of that bad gasket then go ahead and do the injectors next, you just want to be sure you eliminate one thing at a time in the right order.

 

I've got a gasket coming for that in the mail and a mechanic lined up to fix it next week for cheap. It's an actual aftermarket gasket, not the OEM adhesive stuff. I know OEM is the way to go, but when it comes to gaskets my brain just can't get over the idea. Plus I'm not sure I trust my mechanic to get a good bead on it.

So gasket first, then see where to go from there? That at least should let me keep an eye on whether or not I'm gaining unwanted fluid. I found a shop that will pull injectors and test them, need to call back after their lunch break to find out how much.

I'll go double check, but I'm pretty sure there are no gas leaks coming from anywhere outside of the engine. I was just under it yesterday replacing a switch and I didn't smell anything. I'll go give it a good sniff topside.

EDIT: Definitely no gas smell coming from the outside of the engine. Dipstick is still honey colored from the fresh oil, but smells about the same as before I had it changed. I compared the odor potency to an empty gas can and it's not even close to that level. In fact after frying my olfactory sensors on the can I couldn't smell it on the stick at all. No wonder all the mechanics I've taken it to have been shrugging it off. Does a little bit of gas go a long ways, odor wise?

EDIT2: Mechanic just told me that there's no way to really test injectors to see if they're bad. Not a big fan of that garage anyway, but I'm thinking he's full of it or just doesn't have the equipment.

 

What a dork! Those injectors can most certainly be cleaned and tested for efficiency!

 

yep he just isn't educated enough to do it, I wouldn't trust him with anything more complicated then oil changes and would worry about him screwing that up.

special equipt definitely makes it easier, especially on the cleaning part but you can see on youtube that guys do it in their home garage with a little ingenuity. its just a matter of measuring how much flow they put out in a set time and the spray patterns are just a visual check for the most part. the leak test you just operate it a few times and then wait to see if it drips to leak test them. its not rocket science.

flow testing can even be done with soda bottles in your garage if need be, you just want to see level or nearly level amount from all injectors. the hard part is in rigging up the setup to feed gas and electrical trigger for all the injectors at the same time because doing them separately one at a time would be too hard to know they all ran the exact same amount of time.

 

How about a dealiership mechanic? Would I have to sell my firstborn to get them to run those tests you think?

 

no I doubt it, most dealerships as well as mechanic shops will take them out and most regular mechanic shops will send injectors out to specialty shops and charge you extra to do it on top of what it really costs to do it, the same goes for needing to get your heads redone.

you will need to find a specialty injector shop or one that specializes in them to be sure its done right. try googling for an injector testing and repair shop in your area

again, go to your account profile page and fill in you detailed info so we know where you live and perhaps someone can recommend a shop in your area or call the dealership and ask them who they use to do their injector testing

 

Good ideas, thanks. I'll try round 3 of calling around tomorrow, starting with dealerships. I live kind of in the middle of nowhere. Closest good size city is about 4 hours away.

If I've got only a small amount of gas getting into my engine from flooding it or running it too rich on short trips, would it be a good idea to take it for a long half-tank drive to see if it burns off?

EDIT: Finally found a mechanic who services injectors, or at least can (he said he doesn't do it that often and just swaps them if they go bad which is good enough for me-- he confirmed that cleaning them rarely fixed the issue in his experience). He offered to run the compression and drip down tests for 100 bucks. Seems a bit steep for diagnosis for me, but you know what they say about beggers and choosers. Going to change my driving habits this week and maybe take it on a long cruise at some point to see if that has any effect. I'll post results when I get them.

 

Alright, final update. Since there were no other engine symptoms besides the gas smell, and since I had fresh oil, I took it on a 2.5 hour scenic cruise. When I got back the dip stick still looked like honey and smelled quite a bit less potent (did lose quite a bit of oil out the bottom though, leaks + fresh oil don't seem to be the best combo). I compared the smell to my room mate's car (newer, well maintained), and his smelled worse, so I think I can retire most of my concern for the time being. Will still keep an eye on it.

Thanks for all the help and feedback. Love this forum.

 

glad its ok

now you just gotta get that gasket fixed, and don't drive it in the rain until you do