Blown head gasket
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 154
Likes: 1
From: Azle TX
Blown head gasket
A friend of mine has an LT4. He had the plugs changed recently and one of the wires was not connected properly. During an autocross event the wire came loose and the engine began to misfire. After he found out what was wrong he discovered that the head gasket was blown at that same cylinder. His question is could the 2 be related, i.e a dead cylinder causing a blown head gasket?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 2,872
Likes: 3
From: Wilmington NC
just out of curiousity, was it #7 that blew? I don't think a plug wire coming loose would do it as blown head gaskets either occur from overheating and the head warps causing a high spot between the block and head and the gasket support is lost and the slightest hint of detonation can rupture the fire ring.
the other way is blatant detonation where the fire ring is ruptured from sheer failure under stress.
has the car ever had a waterpump changed from a failure? or does it have an electric waterpump that may have blown a fuse? two of my LT4's blew the number 7 head gasket.. it seemed it was an oddity but both had waterpump failures and got hot.
I would say no the two are not related but there is always the slightest chance.
Chris
the other way is blatant detonation where the fire ring is ruptured from sheer failure under stress.
has the car ever had a waterpump changed from a failure? or does it have an electric waterpump that may have blown a fuse? two of my LT4's blew the number 7 head gasket.. it seemed it was an oddity but both had waterpump failures and got hot.
I would say no the two are not related but there is always the slightest chance.
Chris
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 6,130
Likes: 2
From: seattle WA
Depending on how far and how hard he was driving it...I would have to say it's a damn good possibility. In essence what's happening is the injector is still pumping fuel into the cyclinder...since it's being compressed without ignition it could have washed the cylinder wall, you'd thing it would all go out the exhaust valve...but that's not the case.Washing the wall could have caused that cylinder to overheat....and the weak link, the head gasket blew.Could he smell fuel in his oil?
