Headgaskets...what Went Wrong?

[skd30]

So to begin....the gasket blew on tuesday, so on tuesday night i put a new one in.....and all went well everythying was running smooth. THEN

 

Was heading for the Sydney yesterday morning to have a look at a car and got near wyong and this happened.

 

The hose running to the heater core split (it by passes the heater core and just runs around, was like that when i got it so I'm guessing it was disconnected because the core was leaking or something)

 

It was clamped on the end of the hose in front of where it split, then i push it along a little further and clamped behind it so i could try drive the car back home....It didnt want to drive lol. The hose seemed fine when i stuck it back on, was still soft, not hard and perished.

 

 

so i pulled it apart this morning and found the gasket like this.

 

 

close up it looks like this

 

I didnt take the gasket off where its missing there, it got blown off somehow. Does anyone know what the hell went on there???

 

 

so here is why it didnt want to hold onto its coolant anymore, when i tried to start it without the radiator cap on it short coolant out the top of the radiator about 20cm high lol

 

and really close up

 

 

Should i have put holes through the gasket there??? The water jacket runs through there, raid somewhere your not spost to put extra holes in the gasket because certain ports are blocked to make the coolant flow around the whole engine and not take short cuts. Its the same as the old one so i figured it was fine to go in as is.

Edited July 29, 2010 by skd30

[Taz_Rx]

Should i have put holes through the gasket there??? The water jacket runs through there, raid somewhere your not spost to put extra holes in the gasket because certain ports are blocked to make the coolant flow around the whole engine and not take short cuts. Its the same as the old one so i figured it was fine to go in as is.

 

No don't put holes in where it doesn't have them. You're right with the water circulation around the motor. That always causes those blocked holes to do that a bit.

 

Did you get the head skimmed before putting the new gasket in? If not then that would explain why you've just done another gasket so quickly. I made this mistake once.... " Yeah its a K motor, I don't need to plain the head"...... slapped it back together and blew another head gasket 25km later. :)

[skd30]

No i didnt, i used a very sharp chisel and scraped all the crap off myself. Ive done it lasted. So the gasket wouldnt have gone because it overheated cause of no coolant? i only notice pretty late, there was steam coming out the back of the car and then i looked at the temp gauge and its way up there. I just assumed it blew through cause it was roasting??

[ke70dave]

did the gasket blow in the same place as last time?

 

also get yourself a straight edge (decent metal ruler) and put it across the top of your head and shine a torch from one side, that will tell if its warped or not. light will come under the ruler if there is a gap.

 

in my oppinion your best off getting the head checked everytime you take a head off (with the intention of putting it back on...), unless you know for sure that its not stuffed. it only takes a very small warp to lose a bit of pressure on the gasket, and pop goes another headgasket!

 

also how great is it that you can pull a k motor head off in like 25mins....

[Taz_Rx]

No i didnt, i used a very sharp chisel and scraped all the crap off myself. Ive done it lasted. So the gasket wouldnt have gone because it overheated cause of no coolant? i only notice pretty late, there was steam coming out the back of the car and then i looked at the temp gauge and its way up there. I just assumed it blew through cause it was roasting??

 

Thought so.

 

Make sure you get it skimmed then (like $40) before re-assembling this time. :)

 

It blowing this time was probably still caused by it over heating, but the head not being skimmed made it easy to happen.

 

If the steam was the first thing you noticed then the HG had already blown at that stage. The steam was you coolant water burning in the exhaust after getting into the cylinder.

[TRD ke70]

The other thing, did you re-torqued the head after you had warmed it up or driven it??

This is a real common problem, people replace the head gasket,torque the head down and then just drive it.

 

You need to heat the engine up and let it sit overnight, then re-torque the head when the engine is stone cold, you'll usually get another 10-20 lb out of the bolts.

This is caused by the gasket crashing down, if you hadn't done this your bolts would be 10-20lb looser than what they should be, there for not applying the correct amount of force on to the gasket.

[skd30]

did the gasket blow in the same place as last time?

 

also get yourself a straight edge (decent metal ruler) and put it across the top of your head and shine a torch from one side, that will tell if its warped or not. light will come under the ruler if there is a gap.

 

in my oppinion your best off getting the head checked everytime you take a head off (with the intention of putting it back on...), unless you know for sure that its not stuffed. it only takes a very small warp to lose a bit of pressure on the gasket, and pop goes another headgasket!

 

also how great is it that you can pull a k motor head off in like 25mins....

 

 

Yep so good, so easy. yeah same spot.So clearly warped then, stuck a rule on it, and i see light lol. dang.

 

Ive got another head here and it seems fine, I think its had some sort of work done

 

the the 4 holes where the gasket would normaly block the water have been blocked with some sort of stuff.

 

Its got a badge which say "GEM ENG VOID IF REMOVED" so I'm guessing they did the work on it, the looking in the end the water ports look pretty clean, not much corrosion at all. Think ill stick that one on and see.

[skd30]

Thought so.

 

Make sure you get it skimmed then (like $40) before re-assembling this time. :)

 

It blowing this time was probably still caused by it over heating, but the head not being skimmed made it easy to happen.

 

If the steam was the first thing you noticed then the HG had already blown at that stage. The steam was you coolant water burning in the exhaust after getting into the cylinder.

 

 

Yeh it was more coming from the coolant pissing out of the split hose and going all over the hot engine. But chances are it was burning it to.

 

The other thing, did you re-torqued the head after you had warmed it up or driven it??

This is a real common problem, people replace the head gasket,torque the head down and then just drive it.

 

You need to heat the engine up and let it sit overnight, then re-torque the head when the engine is stone cold, you'll usually get another 10-20 lb out of the bolts.

This is caused by the gasket crashing down, if you hadn't done this your bolts would be 10-20lb looser than what they should be, there for not applying the correct amount of force on to the gasket.

 

Thanks for that tip, never even thought of that, Ill be doing that this time round.

 

 

The second head i have looks to be in better condition all round so i will get that one skimmed and use it.

[skd30]

theres the little badge

 

and there the head

 

[Scoobzd]

used a sharp chisel

:)

 

Hope that was just to pry the old gasket of and not clean the face up !

 

A gentle "touch" with an angle grinder (wire brush) is the softest way to clean the block n head faces

 

Then sum 320 wet n dry on a FLAT piece of glass/steel/etc pushed flat in one direction will give you a level surface to go by :)

[ke70dave]

the last time i cleaned up a block ready for a head, i spent about an hour with a razor blade and some metho peeling all the crap off the top of the block (mainly remnants of the old gasket).

 

not sure id be too keen on bringing an angle grinder anywhere near an alloy head though, wanna be a soft wire brush thats for sure:P

[Taz_Rx]

Agreed. Angle grinder with a wire brush sounds like good way to do more damage, not fix things. :)

[Scoobzd]

Practice makes perfect and not screwed one up yet ! :)

 

(YET) :) LOL

 

Theres lways the next time !

[skd30]

well sharp WIDE chisel is esentially the same as a razor. work fairly well.

 

ANYWAY

 

Its down at Better Sparess in new, there gonna skim it tomoro morning for me :-D ...$44 to get it done, bang on the money if you add gst taz_rx

 

I'm going with the head i had here, I'm hoping the stem seals are still good in it, otherwise i might be blowing a little smoke, anyway its gonna get sold soon when my 2 door is finished.

 

The old one had pretty bad corrosion on the one of the water ports, there pretty almost under the firing ring :-/....surprisingly the gasket held there, but the head was probs warped so i just went in the old spot.

 

[Trev]

Wizzer wheel with a scotch brite pad is the best way to clean up head and block surfaces.