bubbles in oil...

[cot]

well after fixing a broken timing belt (removed head, valve job, resurface, reassembled with new gaskets) it seems i have some bubbles in my oil when i look at the dipstick. I dont see any discoloration but this has me worried that my head gasket is leaking. I can't imagine that there should be bubbles in your oil in any case.


One thing is that we did put a very thin layer of gasket sealant around the water jacket (not on the cylinder part though) I'm wondering if that kept the thing from seating properly.

Also we reused the old head bolts, which has me worrying that they are the problem.

I am really hoping that retorquing the head bolts will make it go away. Any other suggestions? Damn I dont want to pull my head again and scrape that shit off.

bleh

[FourthGenHatch]

Bubbles can be caused by putting in too much oil because the crank churns it into foam.

[cot]

no shit? I really hope that's what it is! I think i might have slightly overfilled the oil because when I put the head on, i poured a little over the valves/cam/etc and i didnt realize how little i lost when i pulled the head in the first place.

Hopefully that's it! I'm getting the oil changed and they're supposed to look at the oil for coolant, hopefully I'll be ok.

[Setanta]

Could be the head gasket - take it to a mechanic and get them to do a compression test on each cylinder and then test the radiator for gas emissions. They do this with a replacement cap and chemicals in it which react to any contaminants in your coolant.

Cheers