sprayzz
sprayzz
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2007
- Messages
- 155
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 18
- Members Ride
- vs commodore
Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.
Yes it means you need new gaskets. Clean up the mess and install new gaskets.
Completely normal for bad inlet gaskets.....while the engine is open...replace the gaskets (the plastic gaskets in your first picture)
It's the most common issue on the V6's.......very unlikely to be a head gasket issue
Might be worth checking out something better than the standard plastic gaskets that have such a history of failing. Aren't there some aluminium ones as an upgrade?
Absolutely normal, nothing to be worried about.
The reason the **** builds up there is because no coolant flows through there, look at your intake manifold and you'll see only 2 passages (what lines up with the blocked passages in the head will be square rust marks with some pitting, providing the corrosion and pitting don't extend past the square mark in the gasket then it's fine)
Essentially without getting to technical the depression made by the thickness of the gasket and hole in the head will create a low pressure zone where **** will stick and stay there to build up as the coolant flows past (along with minor corrosion on the allow etc etc)...
The gasket will crack as it's a crappy silicon impregnated plastic design that has been compressed and used, plastic deteriorates over time and now you've undone it then it'll crack, there doesn't seem to be any visible signs that there was a leak prior to removal, but as said they are a common failure point and it never hurts to replace them on a high km engine.
Now why are they there if they're not used? Simply the left and right head are exactly the same and can be installed on either side of the engine, lets say you swap the heads over from left bank to right bank, the currently blocked off unused passages would then be at the front of the engine and the nice clean ones would be at the back.
As said above, very unlikely to be a head gasket issue, these cast iron block and head combinations are pretty bullet proof unless they have not be maintained and serviced with regular coolant changes etc etc.