head gasket (MR2) repeat failure

okay, we fiddled all night and basically concluded the oil wasn't very polluted after all, the bad running was likely just bad ignition timing as we never ran it long enough to dial it in. We decided since it passed the compression and pressure tests there's nothing to loose by firing it up again. We did. Had to pull distributor and reset to get enough range to set timing. Ran well. Decided to test drive. Other than some smoke off the exhaust manifold all seems really good, little engine tick but smooth idle, good oil pressure, no leaks, good coolant level. I'm 90% convinced we're good to go and my half-assed compression test led to a needless head gasket swap and it was just residual crap in the oil the whole time. Being too cautious. I think we'll put it back and the road and see how it goes.
 
another test drive and all was well but weird noise=loose timing belt, not properly tensioned and tightened the first time around, just laid into it again to get it done, pretty sure we're all good now. Dang that little car is fun to drive! maybe soon I can start in on my X's HG again.
 
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