That's not the classic steam-cleaned look you sometimes see with blown head gaskets. Looks like it may have been running a bit lean -- vacuum leak for example. One more point in favor of oil seals...Poorsche44 wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 3:42 pm After pulling the spark plugs I didn’t see any coolant in the cylinder, although with no borescope it was pretty hard to look. However, the plug on cylinder 2 had some white buildup on it. Would this mean I have a head gasket failure at the front of the block?
Case of the missing coolant
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Tom
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Tom
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In theory, but it's pretty common to see variations among the plugs. Lots of variables -- injector health, leak locations, valve health, ring health, ignition health, etc., etc. That all aside, those plugs don't show any clues that would necessarily point toward a head gasket failure. That doesn't rule out the head gasket, of course, but more clues point to the oil seals from what you've shared so far...Poorsche44 wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 8:08 pm If it was running lean wouldn’t that be the case for all spark plugs? As I moved further back the block the plugs got less and less white.
Even with coolant mixed in with the oil, the oil still works pretty good (at least to a point.) That is why when this happens, the engines are not toast. You can certainly run a compression test that way, though I would be tempted to drain and refill with inexpensive oil for the duration of the test.
No way would I take on a head gasket change just for the heck of it.
No way would I take on a head gasket change just for the heck of it.
After some more thought I think I’m just going to do the oil cooler. Would it be safe for me to drive the car 1/2 mile to my friends house in it’s current state? I can’t exactly perform an oil seal replacement in my apartment complex parking spot.
‘83 Platinum N/A 944
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Tom
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How many miles on the motor (since the head was last off)? If more than 100k, it could probably benefit from a valve job anyway, if that helps justify removing the head. Otherwise, I would probably do a leak down test to see if that gives and clues and/or just do the seals and cross my fingers. Porsche recommends changing the rod bearings after the oiled and coolant mix. They did that under warranty on my car's original motor many moons ago. Legions of home mechanics have since gotten away without doing that, though I wouldn't tempt fate myself by running the motor with coolant in the oil....
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Tom
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They go up to 999,999, but sounds like true miles are unknown. I only mention it because it would push me slightly toward just doing both if you had other HG-related things that were due, like a valve job, belts and rollers, etc. That said, if the car ran fine until this and isn't due for related maintenance, it's not crazy to start with the seals and hope that's it.Poorsche44 wrote: Sun Jan 04, 2026 7:33 am Well I purchased the car with a broken odometer, and since fixing it I’m currently reading 65000 miles. Who knows if it ever rolled over though.
Ah I should’ve specified I have a 5 digit odometer. The only other thing I would want to do soon is the valve cover gasket as it leaks slightly, but I plan on doing that with my next timing belt job next year.
‘83 Platinum N/A 944