General It was my head gasket.....

[Wurley]

Well as you can see from the attached piccies it was me gasket that went, thanks for all the advice you fellas gave when I asked.

Piccies of me beastie, the old & the new gasket along with some of the engine bay during the fitting.

Didn't get the head skimmed as the temp gauge never went into the red, I just switched off & coasted to the side of the road :devil:

While we had the engine apart on went a new timing belt, sparkies, oil filter & oil, air filter cleaned as some sort of performance jobbie??

Must say thanks to my pal Grey who helped with the fitting, well really done the job by telling me what to do & when to get the tea:worship:

Only problems now are a small oil leak, no main beam flasher or washer jets (new stalk switches ordered) & no hazards (anyone got a hazard switch spare, for a few pennies ...... which will sort out in due course.

All the best

Wurley

 

[Mcp138]

Good job!

I cant help you with any of the spares your after, but i would like to say ''nice wheels''! I think the gold is a nice touch. Did you spray them yourself ?

Cheers

 

[Wurley]

That's exactly how I got it from the garage, even got the rear drums painted red, side skirts, front & rear spoilers......... £550

Like i've said before the looks I get from Mr & Mrs BMW when they see's a 36 year old fella with the chemical brothers blood rave booming out of the stereo (straight out of the full length sunroof I like to give them the outdoor concert effect) pulls up at the lights is priceless :devil:

 

[arc]

expect it to blow again if you didn't skim the head.. i did that on mine, and in 5000 miles i'd blown a lovely expensive spesso gasket.

 

[dave]

you always skim the head :bang: top of the block should also be shinny clean before you refit, and you should always use new head bolts

 

[Bushboy]

you dont HAVE to skim the head.. depends how it cleans up.. needs to be super shiny like dave said.

Skimming is the easy way though and saves the hastle of cleaning it.

 

[Wurley]

I took the advice of the chap who helped me do the job, fully qualified merc mechanic. No overheating = No warping = No skimming.

As to the head that was mirror shiny clean, gasket was replaced back on the 2nd of October last year, & have had no probs since.............. but i guess now that I've said that something will go pop

 

[arc]

I took the advice of the chap who helped me do the job, fully qualified merc mechanic. No overheating = No warping = No skimming.

As to the head that was mirror shiny clean, gasket was replaced back on the 2nd of October last year, & have had no probs since.............. but i guess now that I've said that something will go pop

just offering my advice.. mine was done by a mechanic, i said id rather not have the head skimmed, so he didn't and 5000 miles later i'd blown a £70 head gasket. just fitting the head will warp it slightly

 

[nogin]

your mechanic obviously didnt check your head then, i never skimmed my head or changed the head bolts(naughty) but it still going 20000 miles later

 

[arc]

you don't run an engine as close to the edge as mine though, it failed quicker on mine because its a higher compression engine - my point was, it'll just fail again. and tbh, for the sake of £25.. just bloody skim it!

 

[dave]

your mechanic obviously didnt check your head then, i never skimmed my head or changed the head bolts(naughty) but it still going 20000 miles later

thats just luck, 99% of people who dont skim the head on a fire engine have trouble later.

 

[Wurley]

hey hey calm down calm down to skim or not too skim that is the question........ bit late now but never had the time. Gasket went on the sunday & was replaced on the monday less than 24 hours later:worship: !!

 

[balidey]

You don't just skim the head, first you check it using an accurate DTI, then decide if it needs skimming. But most people don't know how to or don't have the equipment, so just skim it anyway. Infact the way to determine how much needs skimming comes from measuring the head, so whoever is doing the skimming will know whether it needs it or not (as long as they are doing it right).

And as for head bolts, there are two trains of thought, some people say always fit new, some people say you can use twice, and you mark them when you use them the second time so you know.

There is no right or wrong with these things, same with tyre choice, spark plug choice or football team, so no point arguing about facts and statistics.

 

[dave]

And as for head bolts, there are two trains of thought, some people say always fit new, some people say you can use twice, and you mark them when you use them the second time so you know.

how do you know that past owners havent already used them twice? even if the head is perfectly flat skiming off 2thou still gets it nice and clean.

if people take your advice and the gasket goes again in a few k miles are you going to pay for it to be done again?

 

[balidey]

how do you know that past owners havent already used them twice?

You can't, so that is why i suggested if anyone wants to re-use them then you mark them, or use new ones. Simple.

even if the head is perfectly flat skiming off 2thou still gets it nice and clean.

How do YOU not know if the previous owner has not already skimmed 20 thou off? Although it looks clean so thats ok

if people take your advice and the gasket goes again in a few k miles are you going to pay for it to be done again?

Yes, i will offer an unlimited waranty based on my advice to anyone that follows it on a free acces public forum

Seriously though Dave, i saw a post from someone that hadn't necesarily done anything wrong and there were several people telling him that he HAD done something wrong. All i did was state that some people can and do use head bolts twice, and its not always necessary to skim a head, simply measureing it first will tell you if its needed or not. And you should always measure the head before you skim it anyway. (and check for cracks, but not everyone does that either)

Anyway, must get out to my garage as I am about to measure my head with my DTI to decide if i NEED to skim my head, but may not actually do it, and then i need to mark my head bolts so i know next time i need to buy new ones. *
Steve.
* -please note that the last paragraph may have sounded sarcastic, but it is all 100% true, ask Fluffy the Impaler, he sold me a HG set, but NO head bolts. And yes i have measure several heads in my time, and not always had to machine them.

 

[dave]

we wasnt realy having a go at him for doing it wrong, just making sure that hte correct advice for fire engines is in the thread for people using search,

 

[balidey]

And the 'correct' advice would be.... measure the head first to see if it needs skimming No point in un-necessary machining work is there?

But i can see your point Dave. Even though i 'will' be re-using my head bolts this weekend. And depending on what i find, i may even re-fit my head without skimming it. (and so people know i'm not talking out my arse - for once - i do actually machine my own heads on my own bridgeport mill, i am not just saying these things for the sake of it). Infact the last HG swap i did on a Pug 106 didn't need a skim, just cleaned it, and its still going strong 6 months later. But i did use new head bolts.

And if anyone does actually use the 'search' facility then can they please let Custard know.

 

[dave]

How do YOU not know if the previous owner has not already skimmed 20 thou off? Although it looks clean so thats ok

missed that bit, there are maximum skim marks on the head if you dont know where they are then may be you shouldnt be skiming your own head

 

[dave]

Infact the last HG swap i did on a Pug 106 didn't need a skim, just cleaned it, and its still going strong 6 months later. But i did use new head bolts.

but its a pug with a pug engine, NOT a fire engine, same as the op had a merc mech do his head not some one who has done hundreads of fire engines

 

[balidey]

We've gone a bit off topic here (oops)
Yes i know about skim marks, i know the last one i did was not a FIAT FIRE engine and i know the person that advised the OP was a Merc technician.

BUT, i believe all my original points were still valid. And would be very useful for anyone doing a search about HG failure.

Where's the icon for 'lets hug and be friends'? Its getting late and i neeeed my beauty sleep.