Technical Different thickness headgasket

[deafmazter]

Hi,
Does someone know why there are two types of headgaskets between 183a1000 and 188a6000? Variating between 0,6 and 1.8 mm and material (steel and composite)

 

[GrandePunto PL]

Because there was a shift towards the MLS ones between Punto_2_FL and Grande (early 2000's).
Because metal ones are considered better, more durable (but require better surface preparation) as engines gain more power within family (just like FIRE units evolved in general).
So it was an upgrade (opened the door for future changes, engine variations, adding more power, Flex_Fuel, VVT, turbo, Uni or MultiAir etc.).

 

[ZaphodB]

That increase will reduce the compression ratio too, more than likely on purpose/by design

 

[bugsymike]

I suppose if the newer metal ones are thinner then slight increase in engine compression overall.
As mentioned surfaces need to be more accurate and clean, they were a problem on Rovers some years ago when I first saw them.
I wonder if it is durability or cost of production that has caused the design change as much higher compression diesels ran the older design for many hundreds of thousands of miles with no issues.
In my experience head gaskets only fail due to external influence causing overheating.

 

[deafmazter]

That increase will reduce the compression ratio too, more than likely on purpose/by design

That was my thought as well, but the 183A1000 and 188A6000 are the same engine—the only difference is the emission classification: Euro 2 vs. Euro 3. I didn’t get the chance to measure my old gasket, but my car isn’t running properly now after replacing the head gasket. However, it could be caused by anything, so I’m trying to figure out where it went wrong.


The alfa engines (ts) had the same mix of headgaskets thickness.. weird ****

 

[deafmazter]

Because there was a shift towards the MLS ones between Punto_2_FL and Grande (early 2000's).
Because metal ones are considered better, more durable (but require better surface preparation) as engines gain more power within family (just like FIRE units evolved in general).
So it was an upgrade (opened the door for future changes, engine variations, adding more power, Flex_Fuel, VVT, turbo, Uni or MultiAir etc.).

But can a thicker gasket be the problem of a engine running on 3 cilinders?