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Drivers side head gasket looked fine too, didn't see any issues that were really obvious to me, not that I really know what to look for. When I did the plenum gasket long ago I did replace the timing chain, so maybe I didn't do a good job of tightening things back down or nicked something. Would the intake gasket let coolant into the oil too? I was being really careful when I did all that back then (8 years and 45k miles ago) but maybe I overlooked something or didn't do something right and it took all this time to finally fail.
I don't know what to do at this point. Replace all the gaskets and see how it goes? I'd hate to sink money into new heads if a more serious problem is really there.
Another symptom I didn't mention, I had to double clamp the top radiator hose due to it kept leaking there. I just thought it was the new radiator outlet was a little smaller, but I was having to constantly keep tightening it a little more every so often. There was also a mystery coolant leak, which I attributed to the upper radiator hose issue but maybe it was somewhere else. I did always kind of wonder if maybe the cooling system was getting over pressurized due to gases leaking in...
Couple chambers on the passenger side head look cleaner than I think they should. Not all the valves are uniform color either.... Is it due to a bad headgasket though??? I really couldn't say for sure.
What does the cleaner look mean? And if it's not the gasket it's due to cracked heads? I've see guys saying they go to scrap yards and pull the heads and see they are cracked. Where exactly do I look to see if there is a crack?
Cylinder #4 with the pink valve has been my problem child for a long time now, had ~110 compression while everyone else was at 135 or more, but that's been for 100k miles or so. Squirting oil in the chamber changed nothing. Was having P0304 misfire problems too, replaced the fuel injector that helped but the code did come up a few times since then.
I'm exhausted right now don't even feel like trying to take timing cover off. Maybe take a look at that tomorrow or later I feel energetic again. I'd really like to know where that coolant leak is coming from.
Usually, the cylinders that are getting a bit of coolant will be cleaner, as they are basically being steam-cleaned when the coolant is flash-boiled by the combustion event. It's great for getting the carbon off of pistons and combustion chambers....
The crud inside the pistons is probably from having to move the heads around unnecessarily. They bolted the ATF fluid tube to the back on the head on the passenger side, and a ground strap on the drivers side. Didn't notice till I tried to remove them... those heads are heavy, especially when you arms are already sore and tired.
