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944 Head Gasket

Andy 944

Andy 944

New member
Apologies, not been around for a while, family health issues coupled with Covid challenges have restricted play time.

I believe that the head gasket on my 1984 car has gone south, signs of 'mayonaise' in the expansion bottle.
Car is on 95k miles, all four pots showing 160+ on a compression check.
Any other ideas, or what to look for ?

Plan is to replace head gasket and valve stem seals whilst head is off. Will also replace water pump with a later item with fitting kit as advertised thru Design 911, belts will also be done.
What else should I look at while head is off ??

Thanks peeps
Andy
 
Sounds like a good plan, I’d ring Max at FrazerPart for info and buy the parts from him rather than Design911 though. Their technical support is oft found severely lacking and their keen-looking prices don’t include VAT.
 
From what I've read it is unlikely to be a head gasket - more likely to be the oil cooler gasket and seals located underneath the exhaust manifold (the part that the oil filter bolts on to).

You can pickup the entire set of seals for the oil cooler pretty cheaply from ebay and perhaps carparts4less.co.uk.

I'd almost put money on it being the oil cooler seals / gasket.

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You can buy the gasket set with or without the additional o-rings (or the o-rings can be sourced direct from Porsche), you will also need the oil pressure relief valve alignment tool to ensure it is lined up and free to move within the housing.
 
dlknight said:
From what I've read it is unlikely to be a head gasket - more likely to be the oil cooler gasket and seals located underneath the exhaust manifold (the part that the oil filter bolts on to).

You can pickup the entire set of seals for the oil cooler pretty cheaply from ebay and perhaps carparts4less.co.uk.

I'd almost put money on it being the oil cooler seals / gasket.
Click to expand...


Was going to say the same if the compression is good - not definitely the case - but the oil cooler seals were a common failure on early cars . The oil warmer / cooler is a coolant / oil cooler rather than air / oil
Tony
 
944Turbo said:
Was going to say the same if the compression is good - not definitely the case - but the oil cooler seals were a common failure on early cars . The oil warmer / cooler is a coolant / oil cooler rather than air / oil
Tony
Click to expand...


Yes I've heard many say that the head gaskets on NA 944s are bomb proof really, only the Turbo really where you see failures.

Changed the oil "cooler" gasket / o-rings (different on Turbo but has same seals / o-rings) back in 2019 on my Turbo and this was the state of it, the oil pressure relief valve o-rings were flat and brittle and broke into pieces when I picked them off.

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I suspect they still rot in the coolant areas, but the combustion pressures are probably low enough that they don't push out the fire ring,
Tony
 
Thanks guys, greatly appreciated, certainly makes sense.
shall give frazerpart a shout tomorrow, will let you know how i get on

Andy
 
Update
Thanks guys - found Max at Frazerpart to be very helpful, new spares now in my sweaty palms.
Strip down started, yep the Oil Cooler O rings were toast, one was split and the other brittle.
Cam Tower and Inlet now at powder coaters, need to source a new metal coolant tube than runs above the exhaust manifold, the ends just crumbled/collapsed and new cooling systems hoses. Shall ring Porsche Sidcup in the morning.
Shall keep you in the loop.
Has anyone been tempted to put aftermarket Cam in ? Got a friend who works for piper, apparently they have supplied to 924 race series, he's going to look at gains on the 944 item

 
Depends what your aim is really RE: upgraded cams, a lumpy cam may make your car not much fun to drive on the public road but great on a race track.
 
Good point - missed that this is a N/A car. I had my cam done to take advantage of some headwork (bigger inlet valves, porting, etc.) and kept it on the mild rather than wild side. You could stick a late N/A cam in - gives an extra 8 degrees (IIRC) exhaust duration and will be dirt cheap.
 
It's a long time since I've fitted an uprated cam, but in the past you had to fit new followers or have bucket type followers surface ground.
 
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