11 replies to this topic

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

hi guys,

 

was driving home today and on the way back i realised that the engine oil was low as i was  starting to lose pressure at corners, thats all well and good, just needed to top it up but accompanied with that the engine was getting much warmer, any time i turned the engine back on it became hard to start.

nursed it back home and started work on it, when the engine is running with the cap off, every so often it bubbles and swells over and when i put the cap on after re-filling it, the engine just starts to die very shortly after and as soon as the radiator cap is removed it will start picking up again.

 

ive had headgasket failure before but its not had all these symptoms, can anyone shed some light on my issue?

 

thanks, Adam

[CityEPete]

Could be the water pump not circulating, people here are quick to diagnose had gasket failure for most things and even if it is why did it go, again could be the water pump, if it is you will be swapping the head gasket soon again!

[sonikk4]

Head gaskets can fail at anytime, all it needs is a small defect and then bang. If you are losing power then try a compression test to see if that shows anything.

 

Now if the water pump was defective i would expect to see a rise in temperature. Did you see anything increase at all?

[CityEPete]

The op states that the engine got much warmer....

[sonikk4]

The op states that the engine got much warmer....

 

Yes but how much, more than normal?? Pumps do fail but i would expect the temp to shoot up if it had.

[CityEPete]

It was enough for the op to notice plus the water is overflowing on tickover by the sounds of it even with the cap off, would a blown head gasket do that just from the compression leak to the cooling system alone on tickover without the cap on? With the cap on and driving I would say so but thats a lot of pressure escaping, sounds like its just boiling it and bubbling up. Also where is the temp sensor, could it be reading a cooler area of water if its not circulating? Possible the thermostat has stuck shut giving a similar sympton to a failed pump. Of course it could be a good old fashioned head gasket cylinder to water passage failure but the pump,thermostat, radiator and all pipework/passage ways need to be checked first or during the gasket swap.

[sonikk4]

It was enough for the op to notice plus the water is overflowing on tickover by the sounds of it even with the cap off, would a blown head gasket do that just from the compression leak to the cooling system alone on tickover without the cap on? With the cap on and driving I would say so but thats a lot of pressure escaping, sounds like its just boiling it and bubbling up. Also where is the temp sensor, could it be reading a cooler area of water if its not circulating? Possible the thermostat has stuck shut giving a similar sympton to a failed pump. Of course it could be a good old fashioned head gasket cylinder to water passage failure but the pump,thermostat, radiator and all pipework/passage ways need to be checked first or during the gasket swap.

 

Not disagreeing with you, some more info from the OP would help. Has the pump and stat been changed recently. Has water been used, he says the oil is low but is that from a big leak or is it burning it??

 

Its worth doing all of the things you have mentioned and i went through all of this recently including the HG. Pump was fine especially as it was nearly 40 years old. Stat was good, new heater matrix, new pipes etc etc but the rad turned out to be the culprit. Blocked core which no amount of flushing would cure.

 

My compression was spot on but still a test anyway just to check things were ok.

[CityEPete]

Ive just flushed my rad, temp now too low and the heater hoses are full of rusty slugs, I suspect it has no stat! New stat, gaskets, kevlar heater hoses, body grommits, clips, antifreeze all on its way with new breather hoses and fuel overflow, that every single rubber component swapped for kevlar,polybush or just new rubber if needed then!

More info needed on this one then,
any mayo in the rocker cover,
any petrol smell/fumes in the water,
Why are you losing oil,
Have you been losing water before,
?

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

Ok i should have clarified everything a bit further,
the engine had to be rebuilt about a month and a half ago, consisted of bearings, rings and a re-hone. I know there is a small leak coming from the timing cover but i am fairly confident in saying its burning a bit of oil through cylinder 1, this is because it had the most wear and i couldn't afford new pistons and machining work to be done.
ran like a dream for about a week and the overheated and blew the headgasket, found the problem to be thermostat and water pump had gone, both were replaced and ever since i had had trouble free motoring until today.

when it last blew the headgasket the head was not skimmed because i had very carefully gone over the whole face and found no signs of warping or scratches etc

thanks, Adam

[sonikk4]

Did you retorque the cylinder head after you ran the car up to temp??

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

aye i did re-torque the head after running it up to temp, i was very ocd about it as i didnt want to have to do it again...

[Captain Mainwaring]

Ok i should have clarified everything a bit further,
the engine had to be rebuilt about a month and a half ago, consisted of bearings, rings and a re-hone. I know there is a small leak coming from the timing cover but i am fairly confident in saying its burning a bit of oil through cylinder 1, this is because it had the most wear and i couldn't afford new pistons and machining work to be done.
ran like a dream for about a week and the overheated and blew the headgasket, found the problem to be thermostat and water pump had gone, both were replaced and ever since i had had trouble free motoring until today.

when it last blew the headgasket the head was not skimmed because i had very carefully gone over the whole face and found no signs of warping or scratches etc

thanks, Adam

 

 

Forgive me, but you completely wasted your money. No point at all rehoning a worn bore.

 

Again, forgive me if I sound negative but this time pull the engine out and do a rebuild on it - what you did last time is now scrap, either that or by a good second hand lump.

 

WRT checking a head face, you really need a heavy engineers straight edge at the very least.

 

I've had old wrecks that burned oil, but was always conscious to keep them well topped up.