My car (1966, 1098) had been smoking a little for a while, so I installed a set
of nice modern valve stem seals - no difference. There was maybe some valve
stem leakage though, because I noticed after that that only one plug was now
oily (number 2). I figured I could get a little more life out of it by running
a slightly hotter plug in that cylinder to avoid it fouling up so much. After
one day of running around like this, I came off the highway after a short run
and started experiencing the worst detonation type sound I've ever heard. The
slightest load on the engine would have it rattling like a coffee can full of
marbles. I figured it was the plug, so I swapped the old one back in and let
things cool down. No apparent improvement. Anyway, I managed to limp home and
dumped it in the back of the garage until last night when I finally got around
to pulling the head off.
I found the exhaust valve in number 2 cylinder to have a very thick carbon
deposit (the others are nicely dusted). There's the reason for the detonation
(or is it pre-ignition?). Also very evident was a nice hole burned through the
head gasket between 2 and 1 - presumably the result of the detonation.
So, here's a question: Why did this come on all of a sudden? Was it
coincidence that the plug change was followed immediately by the problem, or
was that really the cause. Was the carbon buildup just sitting there waiting
to get nice and hot as a result of the new plug?
And another question: If I scrape away the carbon and put on a new head
gasket, will I most likely get a season of driving out of it before I'm forced
to fix the real reason for the blue smoke (obviously a ring problem)?
Thanks in advance,
Phil
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