Replacing the headgasket

[20ESGUY]

Well looks like I finally found the problem of the oil consumption. Head gasket is blown pretty good. Started tearing it down last night and after sitting over night it was leaking into the timing cover and down the side of the block with the timing cover off of it. Also looks like I may have burnt an exhaust valve from what I can see through the ports, which are really nasty with carbon build up. For those that are curious I'll be posting pics of the disassembly and damage which you can get to here:

http://www.msprotege.com/members/20ESGUY/Head%20Gasket/
http://www.msprotege.com/members/20ESGUY/Head Gasket/DSCN0421.JPG

 

[20ESGUY]

Well, heads off and like I figured, head gasket was leaking like a sive. Number three cylinder had a puddle of oil on top of the piston and there were some other misc leaks. It looks like its been sucking oil into the intake for a while too. Since the link I put in the first post doesn't seem to work well im gonna attach some pics in this one:

 

[aMaff]

That's disgusting...subbing...

 

[flat_black]

Ewww... I don't see why that would be burning oil! Yeeeah, right. Your car must have been belching smoke!

 

[20ESGUY]

Your car must have been belching smoke!

Actually it wouldn't. Believe it or not the thing would not smoke at all execpt for a slight little puff under heavy load at full throttle. I even had someone follow to check for that. The one thing I can say at this point, Mazda is abusurd on there parts prices. I decided to replace to the two vaccuum check valves while I'm there, 44.00 each. Plus the upper o-rings for the injectors are 11.00 each, just as much as each head bolt. All said just in parts it's cost over 410.00 and most of the parts I got a discount on through my job.

 

[flat_black]

God damn! Should have bought a Cometic head gasket for that much. The most expensive one is about $120!

 

[20ESGUY]

I'm using a Felpro perma-torque, just as good as the cometic in my opinion. Plus I get a discount on the Felpro which made it a shade under 60 bucks.

 

[20ESGUY]

To finish up the thread, the car is finished! Got everything back from the machine shop friday evening and finished putting it together sunday morning. Head was warped .009", which is strange since I've had the car from new and have never overheated it; it's been run hard just never overheated. After filling fluids and doing a final check she fired right off. I've put about 100 miles or so on it now and it runs better than it has since it was new. Runs just as good if not better than my sis's 03 nissan altima with 30K on it. Couple words of advice for anyone that wants to do to this to their FS:

1. Replace the head bolts without a doubt!
2. Clean as much of the carbon out of everything as you can.
3. Be sure to have the head deck and pressure checked. (ULTRA IMPORTANT)
4. If the gasket is blown and there's carbon build up replace all the vacuum solenoids
and the two check valves! (mine were all sticking from oil contamination)
5. double and triple check the timing setup. (mine was off one tooth on both cams
from the timing belt service)

If anyone wants any how to's or any additional info just let me know.