Is this normal???

[mike 850]

have taken the head off the car and wanted to check the colour of the valves:



also do these bores look ok, 2 seem to be shinier than the others and should the marks on the bores be a criss-cross shape?



Cheers

[martin_r_smith]

They look like the original honing marks to me, nice! How many miles on it?

[mike 850]

120k, they are very smooth

[nobananas]

Honing marks are a good sign, also check for any decernable lip at the top of the bore, valve colour looks OK to me, you will get some cleaner parts if you had a head gasket go and let coolant into a cylinder as parts will get steam cleaned.

[merc85]

Bores look normal mark wise. although not sure why 2 look cleaner than the others, the Exhaust valves look a little white? has the head gasket failed??

[glock19]

The dirty cylinder walls (1,2,3) could be stuck oil rings on the pistons. Was the car smoking prior to this ? Did you get alot of blow-by ? What boost were you running ?

[Ettienne]

Honing marks are a good sign, also check for any decernable lip at the top of the bore, valve colour looks OK to me, you will get some cleaner parts if you had a head gasket go and let coolant into a cylinder as parts will get steam cleaned.

Seen that first hand with the split liner. Very clean I also had a particularly dirty cylinder but the pcv had was neatly the most blocked I've seen.

[960kg]

In my opinion it looks as though you have a burnt valve on cylinder 5 as they are both the same colour!

Also the head gasket may have gone between cylinders 4 & 5 as the bores and piston have been cleaned of carbon by the water or coolant entering. Also where the exhaust valves will be positioned when the head is on the block number 5 cylinder top rear edge the carbon has been washed away as the water exits the combustible space......More on one exhaust valve than the other.

From your photo angle one can`t see if the liner has split but if 81mm bore probably not.

Honing marks are normal on any modern engine of those miles and only need for concern if further down the bore they are more diminished.