[Redline]

well, I'm sure some of you know the situation with my car now (from previous posts).

anyways, my dad and I paid a visit to the mech today to see what was being done to the car now, after many unsuccessful repair jobs (basically trial and error :disappoin ). We saw the whole engine dropped out of the engine bay, and the headers removed. They looked like new; they were cleaned. The mech told us that the 1st time he took it to another shop to get the heads inspected, they returned it within 2 hrs, saying there was no problem. This time, they checked it again, and said there was a cracked cylinder head.

Now, my question is (maybe I should post this in the gear heads forum): Will a cracked cylinder head cause a car to overheat? What can cause a cracked head?. I need to know, just so I know the guy isn't BSing me
:bullshitz:

I'm s'posed to get the car back tmr. Let's hope this is the final solution to cure my ailing Camry. Wish me luck!

Redline

 

[alltrac165]

Haven't read your other threads, so I don't know the history of your car, but a cracked head can definitely cause overheating. The head itself can crack from getting too hot, or severe detonation, or just fatigue if it's a poor casting. Don't know in your situation.

 

[Toysrme]

Definately, there is a large list of things that can happen with a cracked head. A loss of coolant is nearly a given.

If it get repaired(welded) or they find some junk heads, get someone to port and polish them before they go back in! You might as well get some kind of power gain from your troubles!

 

[toylover]

These guys are right, but 4 out of 5 times it was caused by fatigue or a crappy casting. I'd try to figure out why it cracked, be it detonation, mistorqued bolts, bad head gasket, etc.

 

[Redline]

cool...thx to all those who replied.

how can I check if I have severe detonation? I'm guessing it's not something that can be easily diagnosed. Also, about the poor casting...I guess I was just unlucky to get a car with a bad cast job :disappoin

Toysrme: hey yah...I shoulda asked them to port and polish while the headers were out : Woulda been nice....alas, I don't have the extra $$ to get them to do it...I'm already down a lot of $$ since the first visit

EDIT: Thx mods for moving this to the appropriate forum

 

[alltrac165]

If the head is still off, you can look at the pistons to see about severe detonation. The piston tops might look like granite, or have melted edges, or otherwise not look nicely machined. You should have been able to hear it if you had it going on before the engine failed. Bad knocking/rattling sound.

 

[Redline]

^ ahh...ok...there wasn't knocking beforehand, so I doubt it was severe detonation.

Ok..I got the car back, and it runs. The RPMs are a little on the high side when fully warmed up (~1000 RPM).

One other thing I noticed is that the engine is significantly louder at idle, more specificaly its the lifters. It's pretty loud, actually, compared to before. I would only hear it clearly when the hood was open and me standing in front of the engine bay; now I can hear it when I sit on my driveway with the driver's door open and the hood closed. Is there any reason as to why the lifters are so loud now? Any way of tuning this myself, or should I bring it somewhere to be done?

Thx for any input...

Redline

 

[alltrac165]

If its dohc, the cam rides on the valve buckets, and you *may* need to yank the cam to shim the buckets. I'm not familiar with that engine specifically, so hopefully someone will post the exact procedure.

 

[88 LE]

Is there any reason as to why the lifters are so loud now? Any way of tuning this myself, or should I bring it somewhere to be done?

http://www1.autozone.com/servlet/Ui..._us/0900823d/80/15/72/42/0900823d80157242.jsp

 

[alltrac165]

^good link
So it's a shim over bucket design. You won't have to pull the cams, you just need a special tool to push the valve down while you swap shims if they are out of spec. Nice Saturday afternoon project for ya.

 

[Toysrme]

Great link 88 le.

 

[Redline]

hey thx, 88LE....good link! :thumbup:

however, since I don't have the proper tools to do this, a Saturday afternoon project will turn into a full day project :disappoin Maybe I should get someone to help me with this :

Thx for the replies. Oh, and one more thing...I read in that link that with improper valve clearance, the engine will run poorly and unescaped gases will damage the valves. Is it ok to drive the car for a short period until I can get this done (within the next week)? The car is my daily driver, and I have things to do that require the car.

thx again!

Redline

 

[alltrac165]

You should be ok. Just don't wait a year.

 

[Redline]

^ cool...thx! I'll get this thing done ASAP...hopefully it helps