Car engine cylinders heads are important components of the engine block. Gas and air are mixed within these cylinders and sparked into combustion. The combustion enables the vehicle’s drive chain to move with pistons. The pistons inside the engine cylinders move up and down and turn the crankshaft. Ultimately, the turn in crankshaft allows the wheels to move.
Evident from their name, the cylinder heads are located at the top of the engine block and covers its cylinders.
Function of Car Engine Cylinder Heads
Car engine cylinder heads are responsible to close the cylinder and hold the gas and air mixture along with the combustion effect. They open to vent the exhaust gases. This process happens thousands of times each minute. Each time car engine cylinder heads close they create a pressure seal and each time they open they get encircled with hot gases.
Engine cylinder heads are, therefore, made up of robust materials to perform this tough job, but sometimes they do crack. If it is damaged, not only will the vehicle engine suffer but ultimately your car will break down. Therefore, it is important to recognize cylinder head problems as soon as possible.
Let’s find out what are the common signs of a cracked cylinder head.
Five Common Signs of a Cracked Cylinder Head
Every engine needs repairs from time to time. The cylinder head is an essential component of the engine, and if it is damaged, not only will the vehicle engine suffer but ultimately your car will break down. Therefore, it is important to recognize the signs that lead to a cracked cylinder head problem.
Following are five common signs of a cracked car engine cylinder head to help you take prompt action and head to a service centre or a professional technician at the earliest.
Oil Leakage
Oil is used throughout the engine for the lubrication of various parts including the valves through the cylinder heads. However, a cracked cylinder head results in oil leakage within and outside the engine.
Internal oil leakage results in fouled spark plugs, oil burning and engine misfiring. External leakage leads oil to drop on the engine’s hot parts that result in smoke or fire.
Coolant Leak
Cylinder heads also facilitate the flow of coolant to different parts of the engine, similar to oil. Coolant prevents different parts of the engine including the cylinder heads from overheating. Here is a guide on keeping a check on coolant temperature sensors in cars.
A cracked cylinder head can result in a coolant leak. When this happens, your engine can get damaged severely. The basic function of the coolant is to keep the engine parts cool and when that doesn’t happen it will fail.
Misfiring Engine
Engine misfiring happens usually when there is some kind of leak. Cylinder heads not only contain but also direct the internal combustion of cylinders. A cracked engine cylinder head affects compression, it will result in oil or coolant leaks.
Any sort of leakage results in dumping oil in the cylinder making the spark plugs go bad. As a result, the air and fuel in the combustion chamber mixture fail to ignite and the engine misfires. The engine also misfires when the compression levels are really low.
Visible Smoke Coming out of the Engine
If you smell burned oil and visible blue smoke coming out of the tailpipe, your car definitely has a cracked engine cylinder head problem. This happens because of an oil leak into the combustion chamber.
Secondly, if visible smoke comes out of the cylinder head, it is also a sign of a cracked cylinder head. In such a situation when the head isn’t completely sealed, the exhaust gases escape directly from the cylinder head through the exhaust valve even before reaching the exhaust manifold. In other words, when exhaust gases vent directly into the engine space, it is a sign that your car’s engine cylinder head has failed.
Engine Failure
If you continue to ignore the signs of a cracked cylinder head, the worst-case scenario is total engine failure. The engine breaks down if a misfire develops and is ignored. To put it simply, if a cracked head problem is continuously ignored a small crack can grow into a larger one.
The Repair Cost of Cracked Cylinder Heads
The repair cost (if a repair is even possible) of cracked engine cylinder heads is on the higher side. Mostly, an auto workshop professional tells you to replace the engine if the cracks have damaged the cylinder walls severely.
The starting price of a new engine in the UAE is AED 8500, while the price of a cylinder head gasket starts from AED 1700. Nevertheless, you can buy used engines and parts in the UAE at economical rates online or from a physical store.
Those were some common signs of cracked engine cylinders. Cylinder heads are an important part of your car’s engine. They contain the valve train (a system that controls the intake and exhaust valves function in an internal combustion chamber) and are fixed on top of the engine block, making sure the combustion chamber is sealed completely.
When a cylinder head cracks, the engine’s performance suffers massively, it starts misfiring, there are oil and coolant leaks and ultimately the engine breaks down. Moreover, once the cylinder head is cracked the repair cost is going to be exuberant. Therefore, it is important to get your car serviced on a timely basis to avoid long-time cracked engine cylinder head problems.
However, if your engine malfunctions frequently and you have to spend a lot on repairs, it only makes sense to buy another car. Take a look at these used cars for sale in the UAE.
Stay tuned to UAE’s top auto blog for more on car DIY solutions, auto repair tips and much more.
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