Head Gasket Go Bye Bye

Post by **Welly** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:08 am

I suppose the compression was way down on No.3 ? but water is not mixing with oil it's just breeching across into the cylinder chamber, that would also pressurise your cooling system and hydrocarbons would be noted at the expansion bottle.

Why do you say crappy french engineering? I know the engine 'leans back' towards the bulkhead and so anything to do with the head is a right PITA especially on your drive at home.

If it was me I would sort it and maybe get an uprated head gasket? you might be able to lower the compression ratio a bit and run higher boost?

Has the head got to be skimmed now?

Let's face it, unless you have a few grand tucked away for a different car then you will only end up buying something else with different 'Issues' to fix, at least you know that overall your car is decent, and if replacing a head gasket sorts it, then go for it.

You are right though, it is an age old problem when the value of your car gets to less than £1000.00 then some repairs effectively right it off, I've seen loads of decent loking cars down the scrappy and when you enquire they usually say 'the head gasket went' - I suppose the owner just prefered to put his money towards something else. Personally I think it costs more in the long run to change the car because you start on a new 'programme' with a different car.

GeordieBoy · Post by **GeordieBoy** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 11:34 am

Unless you got about £3k+ to spend on a new car then you know it has to be fixed cos you know how long it should last you. Get it fixed man, it'll only take 1 sat for you to do it.

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:59 pm

Welton wrote:I suppose the compression was way down on No.3 ? but water is not mixing with oil it's just breeching across into the cylinder chamber, that would also pressurise your cooling system and hydrocarbons would be noted at the expansion bottle.

Yep... water down into the cylinder and stopping it from firing up yesterday, I took it to a dodgy garage up the road and asked them how much, so I didn't have to do it, and they said... errrrmmm not a chance lol

The system was pressurised like a mofo ! I couldn't believe that the pipes didn't burst ! Now I know where all my coolants been going !

Welton wrote:Why do you say crappy french engineering? I know the engine 'leans back' towards the bulkhead and so anything to do with the head is a right PITA especially on your drive at home.

Crappy, because only the frogs put the turbo at the back of the engine and the a 4 cylinder engine @ 45 degrees ! Arrgghhhhhh lol

Welton wrote:Has the head got to be skimmed now?

Wont know until I get if off.... going to start it now... so expect me to be on it the rest of today and tonight outide with my lead light ! ! !

Malachy · Post by **Malachy** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:21 pm

get stuck in if you find you need i head i have a spare (16v head is going on this weekend)
if you do it yourself it will cost you maybe £200
get a cometic head gasket and you wont have to worry about it going again even if you decide to go silly boost.
remember to change the water pump as well while you can

as for getting it tensioned, well tbh you can go on the 1/4 of a turn on the longest lenth of belt its fine. itds what everyone on 205gtidrivers uses.

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:34 pm

You got a link for the head gasket ?

Water Pump... no worries will go get me one from the stealers.... or maybe some where else lol

Malachy · Post by **Malachy** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:43 pm

Niz406 wrote:You got a link for the head gasket ?

Water Pump... no worries will go get me one from the stealers.... or maybe some where else lol

give hiflowheads a call there expensive at £80 a pop but its a multilayer steel hg so basically very very very unlikely it will ever go pop again

neildavies · Post by **neildavies** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:41 am

Definitely get it fixed, or do it yourself. Too nice a car to write off.

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:17 pm

anyone know what the conversion is from degrees to NM? I'm on stage 3 of torque settings for the cylinder head and dont have an angle guage... so does anyone know what the NM is for an extra 160 degrees uis on top of 70nm ?

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:57 pm

BUMP...

Post by **Welly** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:19 pm

OUCH !

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:22 pm

Ha Ha Ha Ha..... NOT lol

So where's the help...

Bump... Bump !

jameslxdt · Post by **jameslxdt** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:47 pm

theres no conversion for degrees to nm
just do a bit less than an extra half a turn and that will be fine

Foghorn Leghorn · Post by **Foghorn Leghorn** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:50 pm

What James said

There isnt a conversion, otherwise there would be no point in having angle torque guages. You can pick them up for less than a £10 on th interweb thingy.

Fog

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:51 pm

Cheers james!

I looked at a few other manuals and the heads were on, 95 to 115nm max.. so its on 90 at the moment

jameslxdt · Post by **jameslxdt** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:54 pm

glad to be of help,
ive never understood why you do angle tightening and to a torque setting
it makes no sense
if you do it to an angle its set to how far you turn it
but when done to a torque setting its set by how much force is used to turn it

so in theory you will never get it perfect
another genius french idea

406oc.co.uk

Head Gasket Go Bye Bye

What do I do with the car