Aaaarrgghhhh Head Gaskets gone....

[Sp!ke]

Damn Damn Damn, I knew the engine didn't sound quite right the last few days.

Washed the car today and checked the fluid levels and sure enough, the header tank full to the brim with a creamy caramelised gunk. I guess the only good thing is that the oil in the engine isn't contaminated.

Now I'm stuck. The nearest independent to me was the one that I suspect caused this by not putting any antifreeze in with the coolent - so I dont trust him to touch it. Andy Gayle is 100 miles away and I cant drive it that far, nor will my recovery company take it that distance away from my home.

Combine this with the fact that my wallet is rather light at the moment. How much should I be looking at to get the job done anyway?

I am begining to think that I should attempt doing the work myself. Anyone done one before? How hard is it?

Better still, are there any suitably skilled volunteers around willing to lend a hand?

 

[Ian B Walker]

Sp!ke a Head gasket set will put you behind at about £70. Time to do the job yourself about 8 hours (depending if you have warm cover etc) Pity you live at the other end of the country, I fancy getting my nails dirty, again

The hardest part is the lower timing chain guide pin, but there is a way of removing it. Job itself isnt that hard but you will need a friend help you lift and replace the head. Might be alloy but Bloody heavy when you strech over the bonnet to lift.

 

[Sp!ke]

Sp!ke a Head gasket set will put you behind at about £70. Time to do the job yourself about 8 hours (depending if you have warm cover etc) Pity you live at the other end of the country, I fancy getting my nails dirty, again

Could I tempt you to come down with some finantial inducement? I have a garage, lots of beer, coffee and a spare sofa

The pin removal looks not too bad withthe use of a suitable slide hammer and attachment (according to Haynes)

 

[Ian B Walker]

The pin removal looks not too bad withthe use of a suitable slide hammer and attachment (according to Haynes)

Talk to Motard about THAT pin and the Haynes, took him two weeks to remove it. Its a B@***D. As for comming down to do it, I would sincerley love to but work gets in the way and my holiday dates are already catered for. If I can assist by either email, messenger or PM I will do so with pleasure.

 

[Kinky]

Sp!ke,

I'll come give you a hand.

I won't have any technical idea of what to do - but a bit of moral support and chocolate hob-nobs always goes down a treat.

K

P.S. - would have to be a weekend and not the last weekend of the month as I'm away.

 

[pammy]

Spike - much as I would love to help - I am not offering to get my nails dirty but you do have my sympathy. The head gasket went on my MGF, that was what made me get rid of it, and it took three weeks to get the thing fixed and £900


I wish you luck - and if you survive Kinky helping you, then you can live through anything

 

[zip]

For me head gaskets are a nightmare. I needed a new head gasket, exhaust manifold to head gasket (s), inlet gaskets for the plenum to head, new rocker cover gasket, oil, oil filter, oil sump plug washer, new head bolts, torx bit to undo headbolts, one 'power bar' to get leverage to undo headbolts and a new timing belt. Removal took about 2 hours, reffiting another three hours. Setting the timing ARGH!! I had to remove the radiator to get in there.

Nasty job

good luck!

Zip

 

[Motard]

Sp!ke,

If I could go back to the point where I discovered my head gasket had gone I would have driven the car to the auction immediately. That was over six months ago, I have spent most of my life since then messing with this car and it still isn't on the road.
It has been a nightmare, never had a car that has given so much trouble, nothing went right. Three days after replacing the head gasket the hydraulic tappets disintegrated and destroyed the head so I had to find another engine......now I have that in and running I can't get the clutch to work. Bleeding a hydraulic system isn't usually a problem, two of us have now worked three days on it and it still doesn't work!
Over the years I have worked on bikes and cars but never ever anything like this. Every two days I was out hunting for one special tool or another.
Ian Walker has been a great help to me to a point where I have more confidence in his advice than the Haynes or a pucka MB mechanic, but, it still isn't running!
I only bought this car to run my son around with his music gear, now I may sell my son and all his gear!
My advice to you Sp!ke is don't do it. Mine has been a terrible can of worms and I have spent weeks working on the thing. Had I had a normal 9 to 5 five days a week then it was already in the scrap yard.

Bob

 

[Brian WH]

In Sp!kes case however he has an Excellent body on the car, recently resprayed and new interior. So worth keeping.

Options are to:-

1. Bite the bullet and get it fixed by an expert.
2. Fix it yourself with expert help.
3. Get a reconditioned engine from a reliable source.

The choice is yours Sp!ke.

 

[Motard]

In my case also Brian, I come from a rust free zone remember. The body and interior are immaculate. I am the second owner with 100k on the clock.

Bob

 

[Sp!ke]

Well it looks like Motard has put me off the idea of doing it myself - I've been pawing over the Haynes manual for the last couple of hours counting all the difficult bits that I would need to buy extra tools for and I've now got cold feet.

This leaves me with nursing it to a local Mercedes independant of which I have two near me, neither of which I know much about or have any faith in. I'll have to mooch over to their workshops and take a look see.

Another slightly wicked thought has sprung to mind which may or may not be feasable. Snce I have always fancied a larger engine anyway, maybe now is the time to think seriously about finding a 320 24 valve engine to shoehorn in. I have no idea how much it would cost to do at this stage but I am going to ring around tomorrow and ask some peole what they think ofthe idea and whether they know of source for the bits. I guess Rickys place is the first call of the morning.

Am I barking up the wrong tree here or is anyone going to offer me any words of encouragement.

 

[lotusmark2]

If you are going to spend a pot loads of cash you may as well get something really special at the end.... if you can do it go for it, sounds like a kick ass idea!!

 

[mbzslk230k]

Check out ebay as there is a BRABUS 3.6litre engine for sale - but needs to come from Germany ...

 

[Philirv]

Sp!ke,

How far away is Reading from Richmond ? Certainly not more than 40 minutes ??

There is a good independant there who might be able to help

http://www.jgriffiths.co.uk/index.htm

hopefully, this isn't the one who fceked it up in the first place.

Phil

 

[Sp!ke]

Sp!ke,

How far away is Reading from Richmond ? Certainly not more than 40 minutes ??

There is a good independant there who might be able to help

http://www.jgriffiths.co.uk/index.htm

hopefully, this isn't the one who fceked it up in the first place.

Phil

Thanks Phil, I'll give 'em a call... in terms of the one that I suspect caused the problem, just check what I wrote n my post back in September HERE As you can imagine, I am really really peeved about it.

Hmm a 3.6L Brabus engine ... that would cost big bucks to sort no doubt but I'm drooling at the thought.

 

[pluggers]

Sp!ke ,Dont know if it's any help for you, but last time I was at my local scrappy they had an "untouched by prying fingers" engine there but im not sure of the engine size?

 

[jimmy]

Spike,

If you are stuck, and want the job done properly and at a sensible price and can get the car to Kettering then let me know.

 

[Dieselman]

Spike

Sorry to hear of your gasket going south. Lack of antifeeeze is almost certainly the culiprit.

Why not approach the ranch hand who "forgot" to add antifreeze and ask him to do the gasket job either for free or at a reduced rate as it was their fault.
I have heard of the lower chain guide pin being eased out with nothing more than a short piece of threaded studding, washers and a suitable nut to act as a puller. Remove the rad if space is tight.

If you do this yourself and need to skim the head flat a piece of glass and some grinding paste works very well.

 

[Sp!ke]

Spike

Sorry to hear of your gasket going south. Lack of antifeeeze is almost certainly the culiprit.

Why not approach the ranch hand who "forgot" to add antifreeze and ask him to do the gasket job either for free or at a reduced rate as it was their fault.

Unfortunately its been five months and 8k miles since it was done. Prolly a bit difficult to prove - besides which, I am not confident in their abilities to get the job done right.

I have heard of the lower chain guide pin being eased out with nothing more than a short piece of threaded studding, washers and a suitable nut to act as a puller. Remove the rad if space is tight.

Yes - that makes a lot more sense than a slide hammer, nice and progressve - just hope the threads hold

If you are stuck, and want the job done properly and at a sensible price and can get the car to Kettering then let me know.

I may just take you up on that if I can figure a cheapish way of transporting the car. Does anyone know of a recovery company with decent rates to the mile?

 

[Dieselman]

Unfortunately its been five months and 8k miles since it was done. Prolly a bit difficult to prove - besides which, I am not confident in their abilities to get the job done right.

But still it's their fault. Give it a go!

Yes - that makes a lot more sense than a slide hammer, nice and progressve - just hope the threads hold

They will.



I may just take you up on that if I can figure a cheapish way of transporting the car. Does anyone know of a recovery company with decent rates to the mile?

Try the classic car transport brigade. There's one advertising on Ebay. maybe you can get a good rate if you're not fussy when the move happens.
Also you could rent a car trailor and get someone to tow it.