you might be lucky and get away with not skimming the head - if it's a right pain for you to get it done and your happy to take the risk of having to do it all again go for it

did it show any signs of overheating recently ?
 
as for getting it skimmed, as sean said its worth it, but, if you are desperate then check it is flat with a GOOD straight edge and some feeler gauges. Take care though, like this it is very easy to make a mistaken reading.

Still would like to take you up on an offer to go 2 denmark... Pay me fuel an ill drive it! :D
 
Head warping is much more common on Aluminium heads so you should be OK. Once you have removed the head and cleaned the gasket faces of the head and the block you can test it for flatness by putting it back on the block and seeing if you can detect any rock in the head when resting on the block , if it is steady then at least it is not twisted. Then take a 30cm steel ruler and hold the edge against the long length of the gasket face of the head with a bright light behind. You should not be able to see any light between the edge of the ruler and the head. If not it should be flat enough to refit without a problem. As in the pictorial guide in the thread above, mainly it's the gasket that fails not the head. The twisting or warping of the head is caused after the gasket failure through overheating caused by running the engine without enough water in it. You should know if this has happened to you as the oil light may have come on at the time.

Anyway I hope that helps.
 
From what he said it jus popped the rad - i would guess an old rad, and the extra pressure jus pushed ot past it.

That said, my NA only just about overheated when it had a 4 inch crack up one bore, and only had 30% of its coolant left.

Didn't really have much power though.
 
It did overheat, stopped immediately i saw the huge plume of steam appear from the bonnet :eek: I refilled with water and got it home, the oil light never came on..and the water guage must be faulty as that didnt indicate a problem...bugger. I put the new rad on today and it runs actually better than it has for ages...obviously people behind dont appreciate me doing my cloudmaker impression....
 
nah i would actually fairly trust the gauge.

A hot engine will produce a lot of steam if the rad pops, even if its at the right temperature. I rekon you have got away with it.

Are you sure the head gasket has failed? What kinda smoke was there when you ran it last? Did it run OK?
 
Well 1st thing i noticed as i drove it was the engine seemed to idle a bit erratic, thought it was a fuel problem, then in the mirror it appeared that the space shuttle was lifting off...loads of white smoke ( which actually was more like steam, as it would be re head gasket), the expansion tank was very pressurised, unusual for my engine for that.
 
The water temperature sensor in the engine doesn't work unless immersed in water...

That cost me a head skim a long while ago, but it was aluminium. Cast Iron is much more stable. My daughter called me once about the oil light being on, having not wished to trouble me about the patch of water under the engine when she parked up the last few days.... that one went to the scrap yard!

If it's running well enough and there's no oil in the radiator water and no water in the engine oil (the oil level creeps up if measured cold and water is leaking in) then I don't think you need a skim. The white smoke is the unburnt fuel / air mix leaking during compression stroke into the next cylinder while it's simultaneously pushing out the burnt mixture on the exhaust stroke. That is the gasket's blown between the cylinders, just like the pictures in the article.
Go on, rip it apart and have a look! :)
 
oh so water guage actually means temp guage - here's me thinking he'd fitted a water level sensor to his expansion tank 300 style

gowan have the head off tomorrow
 
I do admit my language skills are diminishing after 15 years abroad...temp guage/water guage...sorry Sean..
 
OK...heres whats happened this weekend. I removed the head only to find that not only has the head gasket gone but ive managed to crack the cylinder head itself.

I have a reserve 2.5N/A engine and i'm going to use the head off that. Ideally i could put a new head on but i have to get it done this weekend.

Question is, is the bottom end of a 2.5 N/A engine the same as a turbo engine, i'm thinking of rebuilding the spare and selling it on to try and get some money back, more likely to sell a turbo engine than a N/A i reckon.

Cheers
 

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