Hey everyone! I am pulling my motor tonight and taking it apart. One of my heads is more than likely bad from a shattered piston. As for the other one i need to check for warpage. I work in a machine shop so can I just put the head in a mill and run a indicator across it to check for warpage instead of paying another machine shop to do it? Any suggestions or things to look out for would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

i havn't heard of it so far with the vq35 and not sure if it is a potential issue, but look closely around the exhaust valves for cracks in the casting. if it's going to happen, thats where it will.
not trying to scare anyone, just common areas for heads to crack.

 

Im running a leakdown test on mine in about ten min. Ive heard this is the best way to tell if a head is bad.

 

Whew Im all good!

 

If the "good" side head was not exposed to flying fragments of piston, then the head is likely just fine. I would just make sure it's not warped, as you are planning to do. We usually take a couple thou off the heads and block, just to make sure the surfaces are perfectly smooth, flat, and uncontaminated.

 

Sharif do you guys ever run a leakdown test? Mine was at 20% about the middle of the green. Thats cool right?

 

20% is pretty high. i dont trust the colors on the gauges, as they are too general. Generally, anything more than 15% is concerning to me.

 

Ok well I will be able to at least tell if the head is so far out of wack that I need a new one. I am assuming the other head is bad because there are pieces of piston in my manifold. I will find out tonight

 

as far as piston parts in the manifold, you will need to pull ALL your valves and check straightness. plus inspect all your seats for knicks from debris passing through.

 

i am sure the one head is prolly bad. I will be getting all new valves, springs and retainers.

 

Well I guess Im cool. Just called a friend that works at the dealer. Because the motor was out of the car and cold 20 is great. He said if I would have done the test with the motor warm it would have been more like 15. This is great news for me. I thought my head was no good.

 

Always pays to have both heads chked even though just one is deff bad.Depending on the head ---Magnaflux,Dye,Press test whatever. ALWAYS at least have a minimum mill done if for no other reason to get a good surface to Gasket Mate.