Why is one head more dirty than the other?

Damn this is crazy. what does it mean when one side of the engine looks MUCH MORE DIRTY AND NASTY than the other side? please tell me what would cause this!
this is the cleaner side\/


and this is the dirty nasty side. \/





valve covers side by side.

What would cause the two heads to look so much different? It looks kind of dry on one side and the other side looks like nothing but sludge.

could be that's the side where the gasket is gone meaning the water oil mix is happening just there

mjltigger said:

could be that's the side where the gasket is gone meaning the water oil mix is happening just there

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Are you talking head gasket or valve cover?

I just took the oil pan off and it didn't look too bad (compared to the heads)

you wouldn't get a water leak through the rocker cover... I was talking head gasket...

I had assumed this was the old engine but looking at your other thread is it the new one???

mjltigger said:

you wouldn't get a water leak through the rocker cover... I was talking head gasket...

I had assumed this was the old engine but looking at your other thread is it the new one???

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sadly yes, new to me anyway I bought it used from a guy (against my better judgement) that said it had 80k miles on it.

so...you think head gasket? am I wasting my time with this engine? It actually doesn't look much worse than the engine that came out of the disco.

I'm not an expert but I wouldn't want to put that lump in until I knew a bit more.. plus if it does need remedial work then it will probably be easier to do on the bench than in the vehicle.. head gasket was my first thought... so if it were mine is the first thing I would look at but it might be better if there is a second opinion around...

i'd say the breather pipe is blocked,definitely not head gasket imo.

i'd say blocked breather as well.....

how does the breather system work on the rover v8? the ford v6 i'm rebuilding is a bit weird as it sooks air in one side of the V and draws a draft through the engine block to the other side where sooks the air back out and into the inlet manifold. i'm saying its a bit weird but its the first V i've built so it could be a normal type set up....

I go with blocked breather , how come you took it apart was the engine giving any probs ,

mjltigger said:

I'm not an expert

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yep, that build up of crud is down to a blocked breather, the oil is gloppy whereas it would be milky and brown if the head gasket were ****ed

madfrank said:

I go with blocked breather , how come you took it apart was the engine giving any probs ,

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Its a used engine. The wife ran the old one out of oil so I bought this lump.

The breather is the stove pipe thing on the valve cover right? It is very dirty.

I am swapping the distributor over. Is there a way to tell if I'm on the compression stroke with out the valve cover being off and I am assuming that the cylinder under the oil fill is #1.

green-lantern said:

Its a used engine. The wife ran the old one out of oil so I bought this lump.

The breather is the stove pipe thing on the valve cover right? It is very dirty.

I am swapping the distributor over. Is there a way to tell if I'm on the compression stroke with out the valve cover being off and I am assuming that the cylinder under the oil fill is #1.

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number 1 cylinder front left hand bank ,
firing order 1.8.4.3.6.5.7.2.
left hand bank 1.3.5.7
right hand bank 2.4.6.8
hope this helps .....................

madfrank said:

number 1 cylinder front left hand bank ,
firing order 1.8.4.3.6.5.7.2.
left hand bank 1.3.5.7
right hand bank 2.4.6.8
hope this helps .....................

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yes it does. thanks

I got the distributor swapped over and SP's in @ 0.032 gap putting on wires now then its ready to go in.

green-lantern said:

yes it does. thanks

I got the distributor swapped over and SP's in @ 0.032 gap putting on wires now then its ready to go in.

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for the points you might want to try 0.014-0.016 or 0.35-0.40 mm

i would,nt go above 0.025- 0.030 or 0.60-0.80mm on the SP,s

madfrank said:

for the points you might want to try 0.014-0.016 or 0.35-0.40 mm

i would,nt go above 0.025- 0.030 or 0.60-0.80mm on the SP,s

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the plugs out of both motors where about .042 and the part stores (I called two) said .032 so I set them a loose .032 (about .032-.035). I will be pulling these after a few miles to see how they are burning so if it seems to be an issue i will re-gap them.

well its ready to go in. it looks a little better than when I got it.

that looks great.. and .42 (I think) is the gap for LPG... but I have already proved how much I know