Good day, Bad day...

[ketvrin]

Finally got to the end of the winter refurb having replaced all mounts, hoses, bushes and fluids, replacing droplinks and painting the chassis, wishbones etc etc... Everything connected I turned the key and... she fired first time of asking and ticked over smooth as you like, waited five minutes and could see the alternator was charging, switch off and top up fluids and away she went again - great what a great day I was having...

Then I noticed the steam from the exhaust was still coming out as the fan kicked in for the first time. blipping the throttle sounded great but produced great clouds of the stuff - local radio reported another eruption and flights over the barn were suspended for over an hour !

Tim came over and offered moral support and was kind enough not to pi$$ on my parade of denial while I hoped in vain the steam would stop of its own accord - it didnt of course and I am now faced with more work to replace head gaskets (or head, or engine...)

Bad day...

to be continued...

K

[Harry1972M]

Kev - I am gutted for you mate and I know the feeling well - this is exactly what happened to me last year - parked up for the winter with no problems - did all my winter work chassis strip paint - new brakes blah blah then exactly the same as you on start up - Head gasket gone !!!!

Best of Luck

G

[hvdweerden]

Bad luck Kevin. Hope you can get it fixed before early May so you can join our Scotland trip for some miles !

Good luck fixing !

Br, Han

[ketvrin]

Thanks chaps

I'm still undecided how far to go with this... I need to determine which head it is and whether to do one or both. I would rather do both but I really want to use the car more this year after last years poor weather... so if its any quicker I'll just do one. If I do one head gasket and that cures it for now then theres a slim chance I will be ready to join the Scottish Tour for the stretch between Jedburgh and Scotch Corner as planned... I have to say that seems unlikely now

did you do one or both Graham ? and did you do it yourself ?

K

[Harry1972M]

I did both mate however not myself, merely because I was so fed up at having worked so hard on the car only to have this happen so I gave it to my mechanic who luckily for me is also a really good mate so mates rates applied, if you want to have a go yourself mate just let me know if you want a hand as I am currently available full time
G

[ketvrin]

Harry1972M said:

I did both mate however not myself, merely because I was so fed up at having worked so hard on the car only to have this happen so I gave it to my mechanic who luckily for me is also a really good mate so mates rates applied, if you want to have a go yourself mate just let me know if you want a hand as I am currently available full time
G

Thanks for the offer Graham and I might take you up on it... shame you are still available full time if I'm reading that right... no irons in the fire ?

I'm not sure when I will be doing this job as I'm a bit fed up so will probably leave it a week or two and decide what else to do while its in pieces... injectors for instance.

two questions I already have are

1 - what sealant did anyone use for the inlet manifold gasket ?
2 - anyone recommend a gasket set and bolt supplier - I dont want cheap and nasty... well, not nasty anyway

K

[Elfit]

Can confirm it was a bad day.

Kev was more than " a bit fed up".
When I called by he was sitting on the floor in the barn looking very glum.

It's a tough one Kev. As you know, if there's anything I can do to help give me a shout.

Cheers

Tim

[phillpot]

[quote=ketvrin
- anyone recommend a gasket set and bolt supplier - I dont want cheap and nasty... well, not nasty anyway

K
[/quote]

www.gasketsforclassics.co.uk

[Andy Nelson]

Oh dear Kev sorry to hear that.. pop in for a cuppa and a trip out anytime if you are missing the noise. Hope it won't take too long to get back on the road.

PS would it be off to mention I am picking my up from a front end (and other bits) respray tomorrow?

[MnS]

Really sorry to hear that Kev and after all the work over the winter, if you need any help with owt giv us a shout. Sealant, lots of new ones on the market but i've always stuck with Hylomar blue - racing formula. Hope you get sorted quickly and back on the road soon.
Ian

[ketvrin]

Cheers all

Tim - I was looking for a hole to drop into when you arrived mate... I'm getting my head around it now...
Mike - I've got a price from them now thanks - now ordered...
Andy - I need something stronger than a cuppa... I hope your "mate" is paying for the paintwork
Ian - "Stuck with Blue Hylomar" that cheered me up... I use that for the rocker cover gaskets but noticed the ford scorpio sheets referred to a different seal for that gasket... I'll probably do as you suggest as I have used blue hylomar successfully in the past.

K

ETA - have ordered gasket set and bolts...

Edited by ketvrin on Monday 19th April 16:19

[Ceejay73]

That's gotta be damn annoying after just doing all the other stuff Kev, try to keep ya chin up m8.
As to doing 1 or both I would estimate that doing both will only add a couple of hours tops to the job since all the inlet stuff will already be off, the head should come out without removing the exhaust manifold if you separate at the downpipe joint, so it's gotta be worth doing both just for peace of mind.

Keep us posted on how long it takes to do as I have been putting off removing my heads for over a year now lol.

[clarenceboddiger]

Sorry to hear that Kev, I'm sure its very demoralising. I do struggle to understand why the Head gasket would just blow though, the block didn't freeze over winter did it?? Not having stripped a 2.9 I am talking wildly here but could there be another source of water, into the inlet tract/Plenum maybe?? just thinking out loud mate.

[tvrgit]

Sorry to hear of the problems with your head Kevin. Sorry that the engine's broken too...;)

I would try taking out the plugs and see if any smell of coolant. Maybe get a little torch and see if you can see the tops of the pistons through the plug holes, again looking for coolant.

Do you have a compression tester? Worth a try.

I think the inlet manifold is heated by the water, IIRC, so Ken might be right - it might be drawing water in from there. You'd have to take the inlet off to get to the heads anyway, so worth a careful inspection to see if there are any obvious traces of water leaks, wet inlet valves etc, before removing the heads themselves.

Hope it's not too bad - it's a pain in the wossname when your car goes wrong at the start of the season!

(currently awaiting diagnosis of a fd Cerbera engine - the ole overheating problem...)

[PompeyTim]

Before you pull it all apart, are you absolutely sure that you have an issue? The reason I ask is that I had exactly the same symptoms a couple of weeks ago after the winter lay up. Once the engine was up to the temp where the fan cuts in I had still had great clouds of steam when blipping the throttle. I even sat there and waited for the fan to go off/on/off again in the faint hope that things would improve... no such luck. To say I was gutted would be an understatement.

Resigned to a rebuild, I spent a couple of days scratching my head, checked water & oil for level / mixing etc and all was OK. Still clutching at straws, it then dawned on me that it was pi$$ing with rain on the day I'd had all of the steam (and therefore presumably quite high humidity), coupled with lowering temperatures as it was early evening. Started the engine again and still not a totally clear exhaust but much improved.

Having done nothing further, I managed to clock up 75 trouble free miles at the weekend in the bright sunshine with absolutely nothing untoward coming from the exhaust. I don't know where all of the dampness came from as I've not experienced it to this degree before, but it could be worth your while driving a few miles to see if yours clears itself before you pull it all apart....

I'll keep my fingerers crossed for you as I know exactly how you're feeling!

[ketvrin]

tvrgit said:

Sorry to hear of the problems with your head Kevin. Sorry that the engine's broken too...;)

Yer a wag so you are

I think I'm drifting into hopeful mode after so many stories of the steam clearing by itself.
So maybe when I get home I'll fire her up again and see how it goes...

I'll take a look through the plug holes and have a sniff too... There was no mayo in the oil but maybe it had not run for long enough?

It did get cold up here over winter (-11 for a few nights) but the engine had 50/50 mix of Bluecol and was always inside the barn and under covers where it would not have got too cold and was always dry...

I'll keep you posted

Thanks all

K

Edited by ketvrin on Thursday 22 April 08:15

[Dave_M]

Really sorry to read this Kev.

Naturally I have no useful technical comments to post as my limit is throwing a stapler at any nearby expendable person if it runs out of staples. It never cures the problem but it does amuse me and help with staffing issues

(I;m not too bad with bkue tacj tbh )

[ketvrin]

Dave_M said:

Really sorry to read this Kev.

Naturally I have no useful technical comments to post as my limit is throwing a stapler at any nearby expendable person if it runs out of staples. It never cures the problem but it does amuse me and help with staffing issues

(I;m not too bad with bkue tacj tbh )

Thanks Dave

so if I find the problem you could Tippex it out right ?

K

[ketvrin]

After all the encouraging noises heard on here and elsewhere I decided to run the engine again this morning and this is what I saw:

dry barn, cool morning, engine started no problem and ticked over nicely.
No mayo evident anywhere from last time it was run (for about 20 mins all together)
No steam evident from exhaust on startup but began to show increasingly after a couple of minutes.
steady but lighter amount of steam after five minutes
fan cuts in and out when engine warmed up and steam still evident - but dare I say it nowhere near what I saw last time.
after 20 minutes on tickover I videoed it and revved the engine a couple of times...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwgsHuWSfyk

higher revving in middle was around 3000 RPM
as you can see there is still steam coming out.
shut down and inspected oil and no mayo to be seen in sump nor breather...

opinions/advice ?

K + :fingers crossed smiley:

Edited by ketvrin on Friday 23 April 10:00

[hvdweerden]

Looks familiar , no exceptional clouds of smoke. Just drive it and keep an eye on your coolant level.
Must have been water in your exhaust after wintertime.