What does the head gasket have to do with the engine?

Question

I think I blew my engine on my 92 Mazda Protege, but it needed a head gasket when i bought it. Do you think their is a relationship?

Answer 1

The headgasket sits between the head and the cylinder block to keep combustion pressure from leaking out. Its a fairly important part of the engine.

Common signs of headgasket failure:
coolant in the oil
oil in the coolant
white smoke out the exhaust
erratic overheating
coolant leaking onto the block
and spark plugs that look 'steam cleaned'

Answer 2

A head gasket is a thin piece of metal, or rubber/metal bonded seal that goes between the cylinder block and the head itself. It seals the head to the block. Without a gasket the compression would be non existent. It also holds or seals water from getting into the cylinders.

Most certainly there is. The relation between a bad gasket and an engine blowing could most definitely be related.

For instance, You could have had water and anti-freeze leaking into the cylinders for quite some time. Eventually the cooling system of the engine would fail and the engine would seize up.

Another issue could have been that the gasket finally failed all together. Meaning total loss of compression, and or liquid lock in one or more of the cylinders. Liquid lock is when the cylinders fill up with coolant. When the piston compresses, it will only go so far. Water will act like a solid when it's compressed enough. The pressure needs to go somewhere, so it could have bent valves, piston wrist pins, or cracked the piston itself. Which ever was the weakest part.

Mazda's are aluminum engines. Heat alone can warp or crack these blocks and heads. Over heating over time weakens the material. Heat expands, cold contracts.

Answer 3

Yes, if you did not replace the head gasket when you bought the car you probable leaked all or some of the radiator water into the crank case and contaminated the engine oil, or just leaked all of the water out through the bad head gasket and overheated the engine

Answer 4

The gasket seals the space between the cylinder block and the valve head. It keeps fluids (oil and coolant) as well as gasses (compression and exhaust) from escaping and mixing. You say you "blew" the engine but not what happened. Can a bad head gasket damage an Eugine? yes it can.

Answer 5

If you have a head gasket problem to start with and where running around in that car. There is a possibility you have blown the engine. My guess would be that you just blown the rest of that gasket out. But with your vague question it would be hard to determine

Answer 6

if you didn't fix the head gasket and kept driving the car you probably ran it out of water and blew it up. the head gasket seals the combustion chamber. it keeps the compression in and the water and oil out. the head gasket can also fail and leak water and oil out of the engine instead of into the combustion chamber