So I have been posting on here a bit lately. My car overheated from an accident and I drove it home. Stupid, I know! Anyway, car has been fixed and is running perfectly fine, no signs of anything, but I am going tomorrow to get a compression and leak down test just to make sure. I know these tests look for head gasket problems and how the engine holds and builds pressure, but my question is, if my head got warped from overheating, how would I test for that? I am concerned with this because it seems there is no test out there to confirm if the head is warped or not...

 

Typically, an engine with a warped head will begin to run roughly. An erratic idle and possible overheating because the mating surfaces from the head to the VQ block are no longer perfectly aligned. The motor could stop if the engine oil becomes contaminated with coolant (due to the block leaking coolant from the precisely aligned passages into the head). This could affect the main engine block itself. Rod or main bearing failure could result in catestrophic damage.

But nothing you've posted in your other thread has indicated any of these signs are present. You're needlessly (and somewhat annoyingly) worried about something that hasn't happened yet. If you're still not satisfied after the leakdown test, there's something else to consider. A used oil analysis (UOA) the next time you do an oil change will help determine what kind of contaminants--if any-- are in your engine oil and the overall condition of your engine. Please do a little more research before you ask who, what, where and how much a UOA costs. The info is out there if you take some time to read it.

 

A warped head is much more uncommon that people think. Cast metals are not very prone to warping...which is why cracked heads are more common.

 

what you are looking for is headgasket failure that allows oil and coolant to mix. you will see coolant sludge build up inside the oil cap when this occurs. if it does not occur, then majority of the time you are okay and did not over heat the engine hot enough to cause the heads to expan enough to crush the gasket and over stretch the head bolts.