Head Gasket and Engine Bay pics
Discussion
Hi guys,
I had a little disaster this weekend, tootling down the road the other night and my temp gauge starts to climb into the red, pulled other to see steam coming from the exhaust. I know what this usually means so I checked my oil breather and sure enough emulsified oil.
Okay so limped it home, next day drained the fluids, oil was grey and thick, really thick and jacked it up. Long story short, i've stripped the engine down, removed plenum, exhausts and head.
Now I've checked the head gaskets and they seem perfectly fine, so how would I get the symptoms of head gasket failure without the actually failure? Block looks mint, no cracks or scoring, head is smooth and flush.
I saw only a few things wrong while stripping it down and they were that the inlet bolts that go down to the head were only finger tight and the gasket where the inlet joins the head was completely shot (possible leak through there and into the top of the head?) and the water way on the block next to cylinder 3 was caked in rad weld or something, so maybe a blockage occuring there? The inside of the rocker covers were coated in emulsified oil as was the head. So any ideas as to what could cause this?
Also while the engines out I'm tarting up the engine bay so if anyone could post some pics of theirs for inspiration that would be great.
Additional info - TVR S1 with the 2.9 engine, standard setup as far as I can tell.
Cheers
I had a little disaster this weekend, tootling down the road the other night and my temp gauge starts to climb into the red, pulled other to see steam coming from the exhaust. I know what this usually means so I checked my oil breather and sure enough emulsified oil.
Okay so limped it home, next day drained the fluids, oil was grey and thick, really thick and jacked it up. Long story short, i've stripped the engine down, removed plenum, exhausts and head.
Now I've checked the head gaskets and they seem perfectly fine, so how would I get the symptoms of head gasket failure without the actually failure? Block looks mint, no cracks or scoring, head is smooth and flush.
I saw only a few things wrong while stripping it down and they were that the inlet bolts that go down to the head were only finger tight and the gasket where the inlet joins the head was completely shot (possible leak through there and into the top of the head?) and the water way on the block next to cylinder 3 was caked in rad weld or something, so maybe a blockage occuring there? The inside of the rocker covers were coated in emulsified oil as was the head. So any ideas as to what could cause this?
Also while the engines out I'm tarting up the engine bay so if anyone could post some pics of theirs for inspiration that would be great.
Additional info - TVR S1 with the 2.9 engine, standard setup as far as I can tell.
Cheers
I don't think you need much water blowing past the head gasket to get the mayo / steam train effect.
Don't necessarily expect to see a spectacular bit of head gasket missing - the overheating could be a symptom not a cause - you could have had some other problem (I'm not going to speculate) that caused the overheating.
Don't necessarily expect to see a spectacular bit of head gasket missing - the overheating could be a symptom not a cause - you could have had some other problem (I'm not going to speculate) that caused the overheating.
Sounds as if you have had water getting into the oil, and HGF is an obvious cause but not the only one. Did you also have oil or scum in the water? That would be another hint towards HGF. Other possible explanations are a coolant leak into the sump (perhaps via the front cover, or the valley).
If you're happy the heads and block are OK and put it together again I suggest a cooling system pressure test. This will show whether you have a major leak and hopefully where the leak is.
If you're happy the heads and block are OK and put it together again I suggest a cooling system pressure test. This will show whether you have a major leak and hopefully where the leak is.
I had next to no coolant left (expected), no scum in there tho. I'm leaning towards water seeping in from the inlet manifold then running into the head. Think i'm gonna leave it off the road for a few weeks and attack the engine bay.
Cheers guys
clive f said:
these may help. taken from my old s2 a couple of years ago.
A mate of mine suggested gold rocker covers but I wasn't sure. Looking at yours i may change my mind, looks really smart.Cheers guys
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