Intro

[jameswalker8420]

Intro

Hello SAU!

My name is James but I go-by Jay. I hope the start of everyone's new year is going as planned, if not I hope it gets on track. I live in the US and I bought my 1991R32 from Okinawa, Japan to TX, so far its received a warm welcome. I haven't got a chance to push it yet because I have something going on that I hope you guys can help me with. I put it on the DYNO and found out I have a misfire. I opened up the spark plug area to remove the coil packs & spark plugs and all of a sudden I notice that I have coolant in 2nd spark plug well, where would it come from? I cleaned everything and put in new plugs and took in for a spin, the coolant came back :(. 

 

James

[Shoota_77]

Hi mate, that's definitely not the start to GT-R ownership you would have hoped for.  Basically you've been stitched up by a dodge seller.

There's 3 main possible causes of your issue. 1) Leaking head gasket 2) Cracked/warped head 3) Cracked block.

Either way I'm afraid you're up for a few dollars to fix.  The order of the possibilities above is the order that you would hope for as in just a leaking head gasket would be the most preferrable and cheapest outcome and a new/replacement block and the required mechanical work will cost you a bomb.

Welcome to GT-R ownership where your wallet lives in a constant state of openess!

 I really hope you can get some assistance from your seller (but doubt it) and that when it's all sorted you get to enjoy the car in all it's glory.

[jameswalker8420]

I shoota_77, thank you for the insight. I need to clarify my post a little bit. I bought the car in Dec 2014 when I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

In May of 2015 I bought a rebuilt engine from a shop, the engine came with metal gaskets, tomei cams, r33 crank, N1 oil pump, new and a water pump. I added a power fc, R34 N1 Turbo's, 850cc injectors, tomei fuel rail, sard fuel regulator, oil relocation kit, oil cooler, orc super single clutch, big intercooler, aluminum radiator, boost controller, new coil packs, and plugs.
When I retired Dec 1 1016 the Air Force let me bring my car to the US. My wife is going to kill me cause I have to put more money into this car...the Gtr life lol

[Shoota_77]

Oh ok.  I didn't pick up on the time frame!

Fingers crossed it's not too $$$ to fix so the wife doesn't make you trade it in for a Camry and a beige cardigan! (I think you have them there too??).

Hopefully head off, quick skim, new head gasket and you're good to go!

[PranK]

Hey Jay, welcome to the site!

As this is the newbie intro's section, this topic wont get much attention from the peeps in the know. I can move it to the tech area for more exposure if you'd like. Although, @Shoota_77 seems to have you covered.

[jameswalker8420]

Prank & Shoota thanks for the great introduction to the site. I'm sure shoota is absolutely correct but prank if you don't mind please move it over[emoji6].

[Trex]

Welcome to the forum, James. Moved your topic  

[jameswalker8420]

Thank you Trex, I'm glad to be here among such great enthusiasts:)

[burn4005]

That's a bummer...

If you mean coolant is in the valley around the spark plug and not in the cylinder itself...

I'm going to say head is cracked. If it was cyl 1, 4 or 5 there is a grub screw that may be leaking through the thread but cylinder 2 doesn't have one. No other way for coolant to get in there other than through a. Crack in the head. I'm assuming all other spark plug areas are dry except for cyl 2?

[jameswalker8420]

[jameswalker8420]

[jameswalker8420]

No coolant where the spark plug is but around it, I've attached a few pictures. All other wells are dry

[burn4005]

Disconnect the injector so it doesn't foul the plug and run it at idle on 5 cyl when warm. Use a cloth to dry the area and you'll see where it's coming from.

[GTSBoy]

Head is cracked.  Can probably be fixed, but the head has to come off, be dismantled, cleaned up and welded.  The welding will require grinding of the crack and all the usual hoo-hah required to deal with the head distorting, such as strapped to a plate.

[89CAL]

Its been a while but arent there some plugs up around that area? I assumed they were for coolant but could be wrong. Worth pulling the whole coil pack assembly off i would think if you havent already done so.

Also, its easier to undo the 5 bolts that hold the coil pack brackets in place to do plugs than to pull each individual coil pack off. If it helps

[jameswalker8420]

Wow! Thank you for all of the technical information gents, I really appreciate it. It looks like I'm going to have to pull the head off. Question, would you guys get the crack repaired (if it's cracked) or buy a new/refurbished head?

[GTSBoy]

That depends on what the relative costs are (where you are) and how prepared you are to spend money.  If you drop a lot of money on stripping the head, you may as well rebuild it at the same time (or at least do those things that it appears to need).  If you do this, then you're investing in the future of that head, and to certain extent that engine and that car.  If you've bought an R32 GTR, then you possibly have intention to keep it forever, so in the long term you won't hate spending the money.

By the same token, buying a used running head that you can just slap on means that you now have 2 heads.  And everyone knows that if you own an R32 GTR you need at least 2 of everything!

[Shoota_77]

Get a quote on the repair first and make a call then.  A brand new bare head over there you'll pick up pretty cheap ($800 USD) so the repair would need to be comfortably less than that to stick with it.  The new head *shouldn't* need machining (but should be checked) so there's less to spend on it but you would still need to get all of your valves refaced to suit.  While you're at it I'd personally throw a set of bigger valves and stronger springs in it and make this into an opportunity to gain something out of a bad situation....

[jameswalker8420]

Great Information Shoota & GTSBoy. I was thinking of saving up some mula and buying a crate engine. I would save my current engine and learn how to build an engine so I can have as Mr. GTS PUT "have 2 of everything"! I'm learning about engines, all of the parts, and how they work. I tell you it's a lot to learn. I now will look up how the valves work and the reasoning for having them bigger and of course why have stronger springs.

[jameswalker8420]

Also how difficult is it to remove the head? 2 hour job or 2 day?