3SG(T)E folk.. have you encountered this?

[Grrrrrrr!]

In what I assume is a vain bid to avoid trying to pull an engine and swapping in the not quite finished rebuilt one in before the toyota trackday in 13days...

Has anyone with a 3SGTE ever encountered spark plug wells full of boiling water and not discovered they have a blown headgasket/cracked head issue?



All the spark plug wells were like that (at least i assume #2 was, didn't pull that one due to throttle body being in the way)

Oil is still golden clean, so no water getting into the oil, and it was raining while i was driving.

Car is a sw20, and the previous owner did the rain guard delete mod (and a dozen other retarded things..) so there would have been water dripping onto the engine as I drove it this morning.

Water temps stayed normal until I removed the radiator cap and it spat water everywhere, then i had to wait and rebleed the cooling system once it cooled down. Runs better than it ever has since I bought it, traction is definitely optional in the wet.

Anybody ever had the same thing and not had an engine problem? (I'd really love to be able to thrash this thing at the trackday..)

[iOnic]

Water shouldnt be able to get past the plug lead caps but if it runs fine/bleeds up fine just clean it up and put it back together and try it. If it's not pushing water out it probably doesnt have combustion and coolant mixing.

[jbod]

Not the same symptons but i have seen 3 3sgte's with cracked head gaskets that do not overheat, cooling system makes bubling sounds and sometimes water out the overflow tho temperature stays true! Very odd that they dont overheat, or atleast not on the gauge! Engines continued to run years after to.

[Mr Revhead]

Looks like its prob just from that silly bonnet mod you mentioned.
Clear it out and spray some crc etc in there to displace the last dregs.
Then once its all gone maybe pull the plugs and lube the plug threads with crc to make sure they don't rust it. Replace bonnet shield thingy.
There is no way water can there from inside the engine

And don't open rad caps when hot

[Dell'Orto]

When has there been any rain of substance to do that though?

[Grrrrrrr!]

Okay, I think the only sane option is to go for a sedate drive out west and see what happens. Need to complete my fuel economy test too.

The main reason I discounted water getting in there past the plug caps is that the noise I heard was steam whistling out the vent hole, so I figured they must seal pretty well. They are new leads, so rubber is still plenty soft.

Bubbling noises in 3gtes after shutdown don't bother me, thats just localised boiling in the turbo from what i've heard.

Spark plugs probably already have antiseize on them, but will pull and clean once i can blow all the crap out of the holes.

Cheers guys

[Grrrrrrr!]

Well, it survived a Sunday evening drive along scenic drive, unlike some other poor bastard who was being hauled out by the fire service. Unless the morning finds a crankcase full of cream or an empty coolant reservoir then i'm going to assume the engine is up to taking a thrashing around the track. So only the other 15 things on the to do list to worry about.

[Mr Revhead]

When has there been any rain of substance to do that though?

I dunno maybe he washed it? I'd be amazed if the head cracked in such a way as to fill 3 plug holes!

[Grrrrrrr!]

Wash the racecar? What a strange concept! Auckland had 3-4 hours of steady rain yesterday.

[MacrosSiR]

TK test it!

[allencr]

When was it pressure washed?
Don't.

[Grrrrrrr!]

When was it pressure washed?
Don't.

Never.

[Mr Revhead]

Car is a sw20, and the previous owner did the rain guard delete mod

Wash the racecar? What a strange concept! Auckland had 3-4 hours of steady rain yesterday.

I'm struggling to go past those two things really....

[Grrrrrrr!]

Still failing to see how water dripping from the engine cover onto the hot rocker cover (which is at a 20ish degree angle) got past the same seals that made it pressure tight enough to get a steam whistle effect going on. Vibration is the only thing that I can see doing that, and i'd sorta hope the engine wasn't vibrating that badly.

[Mr Revhead]

Water sitting somewhere will seep in all sorts of places.

Given you can't find any other sources or symptoms, it's looking likely!

[Dell'Orto]

BHG

[Grrrrrrr!]

BHG

Its a 3S, its a work in progress

[rollaholic]

someone removed the water seal between firewall and bonnet on my old 85/86, if i parked it on the wrong angle and it rained i would end up with water in similar places

the fully sik drift spec spaced up with washers bonnet probably didnt help

[RomanV]

BHG

Kinda miss that guy...

Kinda.

[iOnic]

If im honest, it's not often that I hear of bhg 3S's.