Head gasket gone, now the battle of the exhaust bolt (one of them anyway)

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chomerly

chomerly

New Member
Posts
51
Location
Wolverhampton
Well, as the title states, yesterday my cars head gasket/s has gone.
The car began to overheat on the home from a short journey, but luckily, it did so fairly close to home so i was able to make it back, making a couple of stops on the way.

I found a lot of pressure had built up in the coolant system and the top radiator hose was rock hard and i could tell it was bulging a bit under the pressure.
Having loosened off the cap for the expansion tank to alleviate the pressure, i let the car cool down and drove it again until i felt it was a good idea to stop again.
Each time the same thing. A lot of pressure building up in the coolant and so i let it cool down and loosened off the expansion tank cap.

I pretty much know that this is a head gasket issue and so today, i've set about stripping the engine down to get the heads off.
I've managed to get the right side head off (as i face the engine) but the left side is a much bigger pain in the rear.
The last exhaust bolt nearest the bulkhead is proving to be the one thing stopping me from getting the rest of the head broken down to remove it.
The steering column doesn't allow me to use the only 12mm multi-spline socket, with a stubby extension bar, i have in order to get the damn thing off.
I could use quarter inch ratchet and socket but i honestly think it will break before it loosens the bolt.

Is any recommendations for getting this obscure, pain in the arse bolt out?
 
get a rachet you dont want and chop it in half, thus keeping its stregth but making it fit..if then not enough leverage get feck off big mate to undo..or if at my work da russian!!
 
chomerly said:
Well, as the title states, yesterday my cars head gasket/s has gone.
The car began to overheat on the home from a short journey, but luckily, it did so fairly close to home so i was able to make it back, making a couple of stops on the way.

I found a lot of pressure had built up in the coolant system and the top radiator hose was rock hard and i could tell it was bulging a bit under the pressure.
Having loosened off the cap for the expansion tank to alleviate the pressure, i let the car cool down and drove it again until i felt it was a good idea to stop again.
Each time the same thing. A lot of pressure building up in the coolant and so i let it cool down and loosened off the expansion tank cap.

I pretty much know that this is a head gasket issue and so today, i've set about stripping the engine down to get the heads off.
I've managed to get the right side head off (as i face the engine) but the left side is a much bigger pain in the rear.
The last exhaust bolt nearest the bulkhead is proving to be the one thing stopping me from getting the rest of the head broken down to remove it.
The steering column doesn't allow me to use the only 12mm multi-spline socket, with a stubby extension bar, i have in order to get the damn thing off.
I could use quarter inch ratchet and socket but i honestly think it will break before it loosens the bolt.

Is any recommendations for getting this obscure, pain in the arse bolt out?
Click to expand...

undo engine mounts and move engine a bit or move steering linkage
 
Well, the heads are off and they are now at my local specialists to be skimmed, de-carbed and pressure tested.
I've also asked them to lap the valves for me so hopefully, i'll have one sorted motor once i can get it all back together.

I really should have made this thread as a sort of guide with a ton of pictures but when you are rushing to get things done before the rain puts a stop to it, you never really give it a thought.
The weather has already set me back by a day.
 
I believe so.

There looked to be one particular area on the gasket from the right side (as you face the engine) that certainly looked like combustion gases were by-passing it.
I didn't spot it straight away.
My neighbours dad, who works for the AA saw it before me.

The other head gasket had discolouration around the outer most edges of the metal ring of the gasket for a couple of the cylinders.
I think that it would have been a question of time before that would have given up.

Thankfully, my new gasket kit arrived today and I should be picking the heads up tomorrow.
Weather permitting, I should have it all rebuilt by tomorrow afternoon.

One thing I wanted to ask.
Cleaning the engine block surfaces.
What would any of you recommend?

I've been using carb cleaner and some paper towels to get rid of the grease and left over gasket.
For thw more difficult stuff I have used a razor blade, BUT, made sure not to scratch the surfaces.
 
chomerly said:
I believe so.

There looked to be one particular area on the gasket from the right side (as you face the engine) that certainly looked like combustion gases were by-passing it.
I didn't spot it straight away.
My neighbours dad, who works for the AA saw it before me.

The other head gasket had discolouration around the outer most edges of the metal ring of the gasket for a couple of the cylinders.
I think that it would have been a question of time before that would have given up.

Thankfully, my new gasket kit arrived today and I should be picking the heads up tomorrow.
Weather permitting, I should have it all rebuilt by tomorrow afternoon.

One thing I wanted to ask.
Cleaning the engine block surfaces.
What would any of you recommend?

I've been using carb cleaner and some paper towels to get rid of the grease and left over gasket.
For thw more difficult stuff I have used a razor blade, BUT, made sure not to scratch the surfaces.
Click to expand...

most gasket failures are just staining especially head gaskets any staining across fire ring shows an issue
 
Well the onw gasket definitely has that.
As said, its on a couple of the rings and on one of them its on more than on spot.

I'll take a photograph of them tomorrow and upload as soon as I'm done.
 
Before I upload some of the photos of the offending gaskets, and also what two lovely machined heads look like, I need some help.

There are a few electrical connectors that I need to reconnect but for the life of me I can't remember disconnecting them and have no idea what connector goes to which.

I will take a better photo in a little while as this one was taken when it got dark.



The one cable starts from the battery side whereas the other starts from by the a/c.
More or less off the injector cabling.
These connectors look like they all fit each other but I'm not sure if there is a particular order.
And then I need to route them somewhere so they aren't just dangling around to get chewed up.
Problem is I don't know where.

Can anyone enlighten me please.
 
No idea mate but if you lay the loom out on the engine it may all become clear :D
 
I have connected them together now but haven't a clue if they are supposed to be in a certain order.
None of the wires or connectors indicate otherwise.
 
Right.
The car is now fixed and is running well.
I think i need to change my battery however, as when I try to start the car it behaves as though there isn't enough battery power to get the starter motor moving.

I have tested it with a multimeter and it shows that it has about 12.42 volts.
Even when the car is running and I have on everything electrical turned on, the alternator is showing about 12.40 - 13.15 volts.

I'm just wondering if I have those electrical connections wired up wrong.

Also, does anyone know what fuse relay makes the trip computer come on as soon as you put the key in the ignition?
It used to display a message when putting the key in without having to turn it.
Now it only comes on when I turn the key onto no.2,
prior to ignition.
 
Right.
Along with those connectors, which i think i have figured out, the car is up and running again.
Albeit with a new issue.

Two of the seals for the injectors were allowing for a very slight fuel leak to bypass them.
I removed the injector rail and used one of the older ones in order to stop this.
So far it seems to have worked.

I now have an issue where the car has developed a misfire.
I know it has nothing to do with the head gaskets as the car was running fine for a couple of days after sorting them.
The only issue i did have with the car was starting it as i had missed on of the earthing wires that attaches to the bracket for the belt tensioner.
I refitted that and now it starts exactly like it did before.
I also cleaned up a few other earthing cables while i was at it.

Having refitted the air intake, which i think is the culprit but will find out tomorrow, and all the other bits and pieces, i can't find any sign of a leak.
However, this misfire is new as of today so i can only assume that there is something i've missed or something hasn't seated properly.
I will also check the coil pack to see if there is anything amiss there too.

Any ideas as to what else could be an issue?

I've also added some pictures of the old head gaskets as i promised.



















 
After a bit of a faff, I found that one of the HT leads hadn't seated into the coil pack properly so I sorted that.
The thing is, the car is still misfiring a little.

I'm thinking that the next thing would be to revisit all of the earths to see if there are any loose or rusted connection.
If I can eliminate those I will then move onto spending money on spark plugs, HT leads and then a replacement coil pack.
 
Try and pin point witch cylinder has the misfire
The usual way of loosening the spark leads ,start it up then pull each one off in turn to listen for engine note change should do it
Or/and after a run pull the plugs out and look for color difference

once you think you have found which one or so a not working start swopping stuff around to find the prob (im sure you know what i mean)

Its a bit time consuming but you may be able to sort it with one old plug or lead for now :D
 
I think I've cracked it.

I had to take the fuel rail back off today as the injector for cylinder no. 3 had a very slight leak and I could see it was damp.
After fitting the old seals back on (I had new ones on them which came with the gasket kit) I set about checking all the earths.
I cleaned them all up before bolting them back down it seems to be running better.

I'll be monitoring how it runs over the next couple days and I'll report back with its progress.
 
Oh, I forgot to ask.
I noticed that the top hose was quite firm the other day but the car showed no signs of overheating like it did when the head gasket had gone.

Is this normal?
 
Right.
The car went for quite a run yesterday and all is well engine wise.
The only problem I have now is with my LPG system.
My motor just isn't running when the LPG system is switched on.

Now that the the outstanding issues seemed to have been resolved, I am planning on taking it to a local'ish service centre to get it looked at.
In the meantime, could I ask some of you LPG experts what could be a cause of the car not running on the system?
 
And around, and around, and around it goes.

The mrs has just walked in and told me that the temp gauge in the car has shot straight up.
I got her to open the bonnet and you could hear the hissing sound of water boiling.
The top hose was rock hard again and i am now at a loss to understand what the hell could be wrong now.

As you know, from previous posts, the car has had its head gaskets changed.
The heads were taken to a cylinder head specialists and they pressure tested them, skimmed them, de-carbed them and lapped the valves and replaced the stem seals in both.
I followed the manual/guide on the tightening of the head bolts, which i actually went over the recommended torque and degree angles, and everything seemed to be fine.
The other half took a lengthy journey in the car a couple of days ago and there were no issues at all.

HELP!
 
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