BHG Analysis

[TurboWeenie]

Ok, a while back I did a combustion leak test which came up positive. I don't think the leak was very bad because I wasn't having problems with coolant blowing out the overflow, steam out the exhaust, or "milkshake" oil. Also, when I did the leak test, it was slow in changing color. Nonetheless, the car was running hot, and after a drive you could hear the coolant boiling and the radiator cap hissing, indicating gas in the coolant system. Anyway, I just pulled the head off my car and found that the head was only torqued to about 50 ft/lbs. After examining the block, head and gasket, everything looks fairly ok. So I'm wondering what was causing the leak. It looks like all water jackets on the exhaust side of the gasket are disfigured and torn away from the gasket material. Is this the culprit? Is something else to blame? Pics are below. If more pics of anything would be helpful, let me know. Any light shed on the subject will be appreciated.
-Ryan

 

[IJ.]

50 ft/lbs is what caused the leak....

 

[Supra7MG]

50 ft/lbs is what caused the leak....

I have to agree with the elder gentleman.
From one old guy to another.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

I agree. That's why your exhaust side cooling passages are warped because of the lack of torque, combustion pressure was leaking into the exhaust cooling passages causing the gasket to warp. Mine looked the same only worse. The passages on my stock gasket at cylinder 2 were broken, and cyl 6's was almost touching itself. I've seen many mk3 stock head gaskets look like that, even worse though. Glad you caught it before it started eroding the cylinder head away.