21 replies to this topic

[mrducati]

After changing termostat, water-pump, water-temerature-sensor in vain trying to cure my overheating problem, I changed the head gasket after a campression test revealed low compression on one cylinder. Now i just finished changing it, and started it up onely to find steam imideately coming from the engine. HUGE disappointment, and even worse my wife now hates the car, and hates me for not fixing it. She says we must sell it.
What has happened? It is worse (much worse) than ever!
Oh- the car was even supposed to be a wedding-car on saturday. Would give the couple a getaway with special-effects...
Please help!

[sonikk4]

Its possible the head is warped, did you check it for trueness before refitting it??

[mrducati]

I really regret not checking the head for warping.
Still howcome it's become so much worse after changing the gasket? If it was warped, wouldn't it be the same before and after changing the gasket? It now starts to steam seconds after starting. Before it could take about half an hour.

[Blatherskite]

What do you mean by "steam"? White vapour ain't necessarily steam. With cold motor, does all the coolant blow out of the radiator? (compression gets to a water channel) What does it look like under the rocker cover - dark oil or white emulsion? (water gets to the oil); where does the steam show? Exhaust, off the motor, from radiator, where?? Dontg believe that a blown gasket or warped head can cause steam from a cold motor, so either the motor is hot first or there is something else... please give full description of the problem.

Do you have the old gasket to look at - was there a grey/brown area from the poorly performing cylinder, was the cylinder hole in the gasket round, was the gasket crinkled in any way? Had gasket failure here recently due to poor quality gasket, and as far as I can recall, it takes something to warp an A-series head, so hopefully that ain't the problem. What engine, in what state of tune?

[Stevee]

did you have the head skimmed?

some times water can leak though a crack in the head into the cylinders and corse of the steam

[mrducati]

It is a standard MPi engine (appart from K&N filter).
The steam is coming from the engine, not radiator or exhaust. I've tryed to locate the excact point, but it's difficult. Appears to come from below the manifoil, so that is the head gasket area. I think it must be watervapour as there is no smell to it.
Rocker cover is nice and black inside.
I haven't noticed any bubbles or overflowing in the expansion tank, but I can have overseen it.
The engine was definetly cold when I started it as I've been working on it for many days. It took less than 10 seconds before the steam appeared.
The head is not skimmed. I only changed the oilseals on the valve guides, removed some carbon from the pistons and combustion chamber and changed the head gasket.
The old gasket is no longer intact as I left it lying on the garage floor. However it did look more intact than I expected. The metal-part of it seemed undamaged. It was just the rubbery part of the gasket that was a little bit worn. Some little bits of rubber (or whatever it is) started to peel of. No discolourisation as I can recall.

[minimad01]

if it was your head gasket surly the oil on the rockers would be milky ? did you spray an de-greaser,wd40 or anything like that could be that burning of or petrol does the tempriture gauge go up past normal ? if not id let it run for a liltle while keeping an eye on the temp an if it goes up turn the car off

[me madjoe 90]

Are you sure its not smoke from the manifold, mine still smokes abit sometimes mainly the silicone burning where the clamp is. And the bit or oil thats driping on My exhaust mount just a though.

To tell if its water vaper hold a dry cool glass in it if the vaper condenses on it you know its steem.

Make sure nothings leaking around there that could evaperate off the engine or manifold, I have seen this a few times with slightly split pipes on other vehicals.

If you dident cheak the head and block over closely then it may well be warped or uneven from bad machineing ect. In theory a head should be skimmed when fitting a gasket, However many people dont bother and dont have problems such as me.

But the head and block should still always be cheaked to see if they are true with a flat edge/square.

[mrducati]

I really appreciate all tips and help I get here everyone! Thank you so much!

Are you sure its not smoke from the manifold, mine still smokes abit sometimes mainly the silicone burning where the clamp is. And the bit or oil thats driping on My exhaust mount just a though.

To tell if its water vaper hold a dry cool glass in it if the vaper condenses on it you know its steem.

God tip on how to verify that it is in fact water. I did put some coppergrease on the manifoil-retaining nuts, but since the vapour is odour-less and white. I don't think that is the reason.

If you dident cheak the head and block over closely then it may well be warped or uneven from bad machineing ect. In theory a head should be skimmed when fitting a gasket, However many people dont bother and dont have problems such as me.

But the head and block should still always be cheaked to see if they are true with a flat edge/square.

Unfortunately I don't have that fancy machinery. I only have basic tools

if it was your head gasket surly the oil on the rockers would be milky ? did you spray an de-greaser,wd40 or anything like that could be that burning of or petrol does the tempriture gauge go up past normal ? if not id let it run for a liltle while keeping an eye on the temp an if it goes up turn the car off

Will it not harm my engine to run it warm if it has a gasket/cracked cyllinderhead/or whatever the problem really is?

My first thoght was maybe some particles/dirt had come between the cylinderhead or block and the gasket, causing it to be untight. Likely? I tried to keep everyting tidy, but you can never be 100% sure.

[adam_93rio]

if youve been stripping parts off the engine ts likeley you may of touched the exhaust with a mucky hand. how long did you leave it running, because its probably just burning that crap off.

obviously dont let it get too hot

[Ethel]

How long did you run it for? 10 seconds doesn't seem long enough to boil the coolant, but anything clagged on the exhaust manifold from removing the head might evaporate or burn off. If it runs ok take it round the block and get it up to temperature.

[minimad01]

aslong as the tempriture does'nt go above normal then you should be okay from personal experience i had this problem when i first started mine an i worried to but i just kept an eye on the temp gauge an it stopped smoking an now run like a little gem

[Dan6061]

I'd also think that it's just WD40, or muck, etc burning off the exhaust manifold. Mine did this for a while after I changed mine, and my hands were filthy so it got everywhere! And even then I just had white odourless smoke coming off it, but the engine ran fine, got to the right temperature and was fine.

Don't start hating just yet!

[mrducati]

This turned out better than I feared! After I ran it warm it gradually started so smoke less! So I guess those of you who suggested it must have been dirt burning off the manifold have been right. Big thank you to everybody who has contributed.!

Still, Im not sure I've cured my overheating problem. It seemd fine while driving. However when I turned the engine of, it started boiling. The expansion-tank filled with boiling water (was normal level before I shut her down). Howcome it starts to boil after I shut the engine down?

[Ethel]

Poor water circulation, the combustion chambers reach several hundred degrees plenty hot enough to boil water rapidly if it isn't continually pumped over to the radiator & replaced with cooler.

A leaky head gasket blowing combustion gasses into the water jacket would be one way of messing with the circulation though, so keep an eye how quickly the cooling system pressurises (squeeze the top hose) and look for other signs like bubbles and mist in the header tank long before it warms up.