88 Shadow Issues (head Gasket?)

[fatdudeslim]

ok ive had my 88 shadow here for sale since oct, been driving it and ran into an issue, power seems down some, idle is rough and a noticable change in sound of engine on acceleration than it used to be, almost sound like an exhaust leak kinda tin canny?? anyway oil smells gassy and is kinda dark, used to be clear right after oil change normal??, im thinking head gasket because if the idle, it kinda goes pop pop out exhaust pipe. coolant looks ok, doesnt overheat, run great on hiway, upper range power seems ok. one other thing there id oil in airbox and on air filter?? pvc valve is working, turbo boosts fine up to like 10 psi or so, no codes. btw car is 2.2 turbo, auto with 48k original miles. what is the best way to check head gasket?? thanks to all

[Ninja]

do a compression test... its sounds like rings or a HG.

[91shelby]

Im gonna go with the HG

[fatdudeslim]

from compression test how will i know if rings or hg???

[dragbaron]

the way i tested for bad rings: do a compression test on all cylinders. if and when you find one that is low on compression, pour a small amount of oil in that cylinder and re-check the compression. if it shoots back up close to the other cylinders, then i would say rings. with that mileage i highly doubt that you have bad rings. if you happen to find two cylinders down that are beside each other than it would most likely be a hg. at least do the compression test first to see what cylinder is causing the problem, if any of them are even bad at all. i haven't had any hg failures cause gas in the oil, but that doesn't mean someone else hasn't had that problem.

[fatdudeslim]

thanks man, ill try and test em over this holiday and post results, thanks, what would cause oil in air filter box???

[dragbaron]

on the valve cover where the pcv is, you'll see an extra outlet on the rubber fitting. a tube goes from it to the airbox and vents crankcase pressure while under boost. the air going through there is has oil in it and some ends up in the air filter box. when people put cold air intakes on, some of them just add some hose to the tube and vent it to the ground. i think there is supposed to be a little foam breather in the airbox where the tube connects.

[fatdudeslim]

cool, so thats normal then??

[dragbaron]

i wouldn't expect to see alot of oil, but yes, there will be some. it's been awhile since i had a stock airbox setup. that's usually one of the first things to go!

[mwrenn]

Excessive oil in the airbox could be caused by a compression ring leaking. The combustion gases go past the piston and increase the pressure in the cranckcase.
When you do the compression test, listen for air escaping from the pcv valve when you do each cylinder. If you hear a lot of air, then the problem is with that cylinder. If you hear air out of the exhaust = bad exh. valve seat. Air out of the intake = bad intake valve seat. Air out of the PCV = bad compression ring. No excessive air leak, but low compression on two adjacent cylinders is probably head gasket. Sometimes on bad head gasket you can double check by pressurizing the coolant system. If there is a bleed-down it's probably the head gasket. If the gasket is gone between two cylinders, then the compression test is still your best bet. Hope this helps!

[fatdudeslim]

still didnt check yet, need to buy or borrow compression gauge ill keep yall posted thanks

[55trucker]

It's been a lot of years since I owned brand spanking new Chrysler product with a 2.2 T1 engine...(86 Lancer ES)....but the heads were prone to warping..at about 70kilmeters (not miles) thats about 50,000 miles.... the heads would decide to warp. The dealer where I purchased the car was always busy with warranty comebacks on this item. Seeing as this car has only 48,000miles on it...it sounds like it's right in that window, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that your head is warped as well. It's not the end of the world., but, it means more work on the engine

[fatdudeslim]

i really dont think the heads warped, it doesnt use any coolant and does not overheat, just put in new plugs, old ones all looked normal, no oil, coolant etc. i still need to get or borrow compression gauge, but from what ive seen im not sure i dont think its head gasket or rings but ill find out, if its head gasket no big deal, ive did job in a day, it maybe another issue??

[55trucker]

Well...when you DO get it apart....do take the head to a machine shop and have the surface checked. It costs almost nothing, and its an effort well spent, better to be safe than sorry, rather than just replace the gasket thinking that's all it was instead of knowing for sure.

[turbo98]

sounds like the fuel pressure regulator may have popped a hole in the diaphram. check your fuel pressure and pull the vaccum line from the intake manifold to the regulator off if there is fuel leaking from there this could be your whole problem.

Ken