I just finished pulling the head off my '94 945T and am not convinced the gasket is my problem (see previous post below). I am perusing stealthfti's site and poring over his head info/pictures. I am not seeing any of the telltale signs he refers to but maybe I am missing something.
No apparent damage to the head gasket can be determined. There is a small amount of black discoloration between #2 & #3 cyls. but no obvious metal degradation.
Brinelling seems to be minimal if it exists at all.
Not seeing any evidence of oil-to-coolant crossover contamination via the gasket.
I'll clean it up tomorrow (after I take pictures) and remove the cam so I can check for warpage and see if anything jumps out at me.

My coolant pressure test went for a period of 12+ hours and dropped from 16 PSI to 7 PSI with miniscule leaks detected at various hose connections.

Oh well, at least I get to clean off any carbon buildup in the combustion chambers.

By the way, 210K+ miles and the factory crosshatch on the cyl. walls is still visible.

Still going back to my original question: where else (besides the head gasket) can engine oil enter the coolant passages? Is that the ONLY place they can cross-contaminate?


"Last September, the heater hose blew and the coolant drained from my '94 945T. I hoped I had noticed in time to avoid a warped head but...

I replaced all my coolant hoses as well as numerous other items since I was in there (pulled the intake manifold to make everything easy to get at). Also cleaned IAC, TB, breather, etc.

Drove to the beach (4 hours). No problems noticed on the way down but while there, the car started bucking and missing badly, I did make it home. It ran alright at a constant speed (low and highway) but objected to acceleration, under boost or not.

Did nothing to it because of numerous reasons (life got in the way) until now. I recently noticed oil in the overflow reservoir (very black coating on the inside of the tank, gooey white gunk on the cap). No noticable water in the tranny nor the oil pan (the radiator is a metal tank unit about 2 years old). I put the system under pressure (approx. 16 PSI with a Stant tester) and the pressure is dropping SLOWLY (about 1 PSI/hour). So I cannot hear or see any leaks outright (I will let it sit overnight). While starting to pull off items preceeding disassy. I found a thumb-sized hole in the intake hose between the AMS and the turbo which very well could be the source of my hesitation/bucking problems.

What do you think? Warped head? Could there be a crossover leak somewhere else? How about the turbo or the oil filter cooler? I really don't want to pull the head if it isn't necessary but without any viable alternatives to look at first, now would be the time.

Just looking for some input before I commit...thanks."
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Bob K