head gasket gone

[Torry Skurski]

Yeah, you read the subject right.  I blew my headgasket..on my QR25!

About a month ago, my radiator blew up.  Some of you may have heard the
story.  Anyway, the car overheated, I had it towed to the dealer.
Radiator was replaced under warrenty.  I asked how the headgasket was
and they told me "the head gasket is fine, I really don't think it will
cause any problems.  We didn't see any leaks."

I took their word, and drove off, but had a feeling my headgasket was
now weaker.  Anyway, this past weekend, I went to Deal's Gap, NC with
some friends to do some mountain driving.  After the first run through
Deal's Gap, I shut the car off at a lookout.  When I tried to restart it
about 20 mins later, it did not want to start.  It would turn over, but
not catch.  Finally, it caught, and I drove off (didn't think much about
it, maybe it was heat soaked?).  I drove back through Deal's Gap, and
when I pulled back into the parking lot, my car was popping and smoking.
Our first though was a blown motor.  The motor was shaking very badly
like it was running on 2 cylinders (which, turns out, it was).  We
pulled the fuel pump fuse, and cranked it.  It had compression on all 4
cylinders, you could hear it.  Good sign :-)

So after running the car at idle and revving it a few times, it cleared
up, and sounded normal again.  I drove back to Helen, GA, keeping an eye
on the temp gauge.  I let the car sit overnight at the hotel, and pulled
the spark plugs this morning.  Cylinders 3 and 4 had standing water in
them.  Rather than turning it over and spitting the coolant out, I
decided to have it towed back to Atlanta to the dealer who did the
radiator.  Right now, the car is at the dealer awaiting service.

I just pray they cover it under warrenty.  I have headers, intake,
exhaust, removed balance shafts..and the scary thing..removed knock
sensor.  I wanted to put it back in but we didn't have the bolt with us.
That, and it was pouring rain all day and had very limited tools.  I
know the reason it blew was because it was weakened from the radiator
blowing up and overheating.  But getting the dealer to replace it under
warrenty is another story.  Got my fingers crossed!