Hey!
As per usual I am having issues, at this point I work on this car for mechanical experience and not for the economic value
Though recently the engine has been drinking coolant so I think it's going to need a HG so I ran a compression test... 175psi on all cylinders, It could be that my cheap tester is mis-calibrated but they all read the same...
So I thought fine! Let's stick the bore-scope down in the cylinder and while I couldn't get perfect pictures, I did see something strange:
Now please bare with but I am sure you can see the gaps where the valves would go but also a light ring. This goes around the WHOLE piston on all four cylinders I thought it was oil from around the rings, but it is not the edge? It's overlapping the valve dips
My thinking is if the head gasket has failed spectacularly then the head would sink down and the piston would impact the bottom of the head causing this ring? Or could be from a previous HG replacement where it was skimmed too much? None-the-less the pistons did NOT look clean so I don't know where all this coolant is going, I cannot find any leaks, it must be in the combustion chamber right? We will find out eventually, but thought I would put here to gauge opinions and experience first! Most confusing bit is the compression readings...
Thank you!
As per usual I am having issues, at this point I work on this car for mechanical experience and not for the economic value

So I thought fine! Let's stick the bore-scope down in the cylinder and while I couldn't get perfect pictures, I did see something strange:
Now please bare with but I am sure you can see the gaps where the valves would go but also a light ring. This goes around the WHOLE piston on all four cylinders I thought it was oil from around the rings, but it is not the edge? It's overlapping the valve dips
My thinking is if the head gasket has failed spectacularly then the head would sink down and the piston would impact the bottom of the head causing this ring? Or could be from a previous HG replacement where it was skimmed too much? None-the-less the pistons did NOT look clean so I don't know where all this coolant is going, I cannot find any leaks, it must be in the combustion chamber right? We will find out eventually, but thought I would put here to gauge opinions and experience first! Most confusing bit is the compression readings...
Thank you!