General Head Gasket

[EssexUno]

Hello

One day i thought my car was lacking power and getting hot, i did not think much of it as it was a hot day... anyway the next morning i checked my rad water and it was really low, i topped this up and started the car for a few seconds, i turned the car off and opened the rad cap again and steam/smoke came out, this puzzled me as it had not had long enough to turn to steam.

I turned it on again and there was white smoke indicating water being burnt, at this stage i knew it was a head gasket, when starting the car it sounded like a tractor and was running really rough until i revved it for a few seconds, but ran rough at idle again.

Today after i got home from college (been going by train for last few days ) I took the cylinder head off and wasn't surprised by what i saw.

Only one piston face had a mirror finish along with a de-coked cylinder head on the same port save me from doing them lol.

I have a new gasket set and bolts (£40) from the garage i work at

I took some pictures once i'd calmed down from messing about with the exhaust enough for it to release it's vice like grip from the manifold bolts haha.

I'll be getting the head skimmed tomorrow hopefully so will be back on the road by monday fingers crossed :worship:

 

[rawill]

The joys of motoring.

2 things, aren't you pleased it is not a V8!

and isn't it a pity it didn't leak into all cylinders, it made a nice job of decoking!

Good move getting the head surfaced, crack tested and checked over.
New valve stem seals I guess too.

 

[alexGS]

Yep, good work on the quick diagnosis

Water sure makes an excellent job of decarbonising - I plan to take the heads off my second Alfa's V6 (twice the work)... I'm wondering if I should try squirting some water in the intake with the engine hot and running! Might save a lot of time, though I'd lose the ability to inspect the carbon and decide on engine condition. I don't think I'd want too much water (incompressible; risk of bending a rod) but I imagine a fine mist will be safe enough.

The heads are coming off to replace valve seals (dysfunctional on 20-year-old engines), replace cam pulley seals (rear pulley cannot be removed with engine in the car), grind and adjust valves (what other engine has both an overhead camshaft and pushrods...) and as a bonus, removing the rear head will make it easier to get the starter motor out (an almost-impossible job otherwise) - starter needs to come out to get the gearbox off.

And people wonder why I'm not working on my Uno...!

-Alex