When the gasket was done in january the garage did warn me that one of the liners had dropped slightly, so it could be that the elastomer was needed over the MLS.
Found some ANEROBIC SEALING COMPOUND FROM VAUXHALL PART NUMBER 90542114 at the local vauxhall garage for £9.50. Someone else on another forum said they used that for the k series engine without issues so i'll go grab a tube.
Do i need the genuine cam locking tool as well?
Did they put an MLS on? If so that's your problem right there.
Don't go with an MLS again on that engine unless you're going to shim the liner.
The dipstick is useless in these cars and it is really easy to think the oil is low and put too much in. It only needs 4 - 5 litres so if you have put in more than that there is too much in it. It may explain why it is coming out the exhaust if the smoke is oil rather than steam. Might be worth draining it and put in the right amount of some cheap oil to see if it makes a difference but it may have burst a seal too.Thank you, those are some good pointers and i'll have to make sure to check all the little oil passageways.
So my friend dropped round earlier and we had a chance to sit and look at the exhaust smoke in the daylight for once. He seems to think it has more of a blueish tinge to it and reckons it could be burning oil, not water. Since putting in the k-seal the water level has been steady, despite constantly getting pressure from somewhere. We tried checking the dipstick but that was over reading by a long shot. I drained the oil before the mot so knew there was 4L of horrible, dirty oil in there. We took another litre out and let the car sit for a bit and re-checked the dipstick. Still over reading. There appears to be a small amount of oil thats pushed up through the ventilation tube and into the throttle body so i gave the air valve a little clean off and checked the hoses. Theres a small split in the elbow of the left breather hose but the hoses themselves appear unblocked.
Said friend seems to think one of the combustion chambers is leaking past the gasket and putting pressure into both the coolant and the oil circuits and that the pressure is forcing the oil up the dipstick tube and out the breather at the top of the cam cover. Is that possible? It does appear to be losing oil and the smoke is too much to be coolant now the coolant is staying at the same level.
Don't be a pillock (like a certain other person who will remain nameless) and remember to replace the cam seals while the head is off the car. Much easier than fighting with them at an awkward angle in the engine bay.
And re the torquing procedure, I have fitted two HG now in different cars, one MLS and one Payne elastomer and I found they were a completely different experience. The MLS seemed to compress very easily so after the initial 20nm it was very easy to do the two 180 degs. It was so easy I actually turned them another 90 deg before then checking all the bolts were at the same torque. This might be contrary to the instructions but as the gasket was not oem it may have needed more compressing, or I may have cocked it up somewhere but either way a year later it is still OK.
The Payne gasket was very tight on the first 180 deg so when I turned it the second 180 deg both me and my mate were bricking it. We both thought a bolt was going to shear so I was very glad I had bought good quality bolts.
Others may argue they should have been the same but those were my experiences.
That's such a good image of what happens if the wrong sealant is used, I thought I'd highlight the problem areas (circled in red) for future reference.One thing it took me a long time to realise - when you do the head bolts go around three times at any torque stage.
(I can't remember what the exact torque figure is, but...)
If the first stage is 30NM go around and torque everything to 30NM, then go around and do it again, then do it a third time.
You'll find that after the first stage bolts 1 and 2 have loosened off as the head has pulled down, keep going around until all of the bolts are at the correct torque figure and only then do the angle tightening.
If there's silicone everywhere make sure you get rid of it first, otherwise you'll end up with this:
The oil feeds to the main cam bearings were blocked when I stripped down to do the head gasket >.<
I did my first one in 90° stages but found it hard to gauge exactly 90° so wasn't 100% sure I had turned them all the same hence why I used a torque wrench to confirm they were all the at same torque. As I said before I felt at the time I had cocked it up but a year later no probs so maybe it wasn't so bad after all.There are a couple of ways to torque the bolts dependant on the bolt type fitted. The standard spec bolts are torqued to 20 Nm then 180° plus another 180°. Some of the higher strength bolts are torqued to 20Nm then 180° plus 135°.
I like to use standard bolts but I torque in 5 stages.
These are: 20Nm then 90° a 2nd 90° a 3rd 90° and a final 90° . This still gives the same total 360° but spreads the clamping loads more evenly. I always use the elasopolyler gasket as it's by far the most forgiving of uneven liner hights.