my road car has popped its headgasket again and the worry is that there is a trace of oil in no2 exhaust port and a little bit in the turbine housing . i cant see any marks on the piston and can see the top ring is in tact around no2 piston .

the engine is a saab b234 and running well over 500hp the header tank started to vent a little with water temp at over 110 and the steam was coming out of the breather pipe not the exhaust plus the piston wasnt steam cleaned as i would normally see . if steam is coming from the breather perhaps oil is getting in via the same route but its a new one on me .

have some pics




above no2 cyl low spot which is opposite the blow on the gasket

i very much doubt the oil has come up via a broken ring as i have run 3 bar by accident on another engine with no ring damage and the gasket took the hit this time .

i had the car idling for a few minutes with the bonnet up after a few boost runs for data logging and as usual the temp had climbed over 100 and i let it come down to 95 before shutting off but this time it didnt come down after a few minutes so i had a look under the bonnet and saw the header weeping and a then a bit of blue smoke out the back

no matter how i look at it i cant see how oil has got into no2 exhaust port as the oil feed is on no1

looks like it could do with a skim,oil in the ex port could be valve guide or seal

increasing water jacket pressures i have found due to slight warping of the block. (combustion gas into water holes via gasket.)

head skim is a must, but even then, for high compression, block is worth skimming flat.

not sure about oil.