Id like to talk about head gasket failure
Discussion
Volvo V40 T4. Temperature gauge went from normal to red straight away by which time it was too late. The head was Ok and it was put down to a faulty thermostat. The car kept pressurising its coolant which resulted in no cabin heat which was attributed to the block having a crack as the garage put a second gasket on under parts warranty when the symptoms manifested themselves.
I lived with it for a while then the gearbox blew up and I got rid. It's the only one I've had thank goodness.
I lived with it for a while then the gearbox blew up and I got rid. It's the only one I've had thank goodness.
Surprising number of failures. I've never had one fail on any car. Can't help but wonder at the commonalities at play:
1. Same make of car, except one
2. Same owner - does this point to the way the cars are driven, your observations of a car overheating and how you react to that info? Just asking... Doesn't sound like it's you to be honest becaust I've never even had a car overheat.
3. Same garage for maintenance?
4. Is the age of the cars a factor?
1. Same make of car, except one
2. Same owner - does this point to the way the cars are driven, your observations of a car overheating and how you react to that info? Just asking... Doesn't sound like it's you to be honest becaust I've never even had a car overheat.
3. Same garage for maintenance?
4. Is the age of the cars a factor?
Its more than coincidence... Ive seen them go on my E36 318i, E34 535i and E46 330ci...only one to survive was an immaculately maintained E36 320i which had a new head through the Nikasil recall
It's one thing that stops me buying older/higher mileage BMWs now, haven't had the same issue with Mercs of that vintage on the other hand
It's one thing that stops me buying older/higher mileage BMWs now, haven't had the same issue with Mercs of that vintage on the other hand
Quite unlucky to have that many go - the BMW sixes aren't unknown for their HG problems. I have certainly sorted a handful in my time. In my experiences the 320i was the worse but most I have sorted have been as a result of water pump failure - with the impeller failing most times but obviously being a BMW and not a Rover they are perfect in everyway according to most petrol heads.
Do you warm your car up in the mornings? - I've had customers bring cars to me with either HG failure or heavy oil consumption at (fairly) low mileage - when quizzing many of them, turned out that their journey to work meant getting straight on a dual carriage way and getting the car up to 70ish before it was even slighlty warmed up.
Do you warm your car up in the mornings? - I've had customers bring cars to me with either HG failure or heavy oil consumption at (fairly) low mileage - when quizzing many of them, turned out that their journey to work meant getting straight on a dual carriage way and getting the car up to 70ish before it was even slighlty warmed up.
I used to blow head gaskets on an AlfaSud engined kit car I had on an almost weekly basis, but the fact I'd gobbed up the rev-limiter cut-out with araldite and revved it to a couple of thousand beyond its 'safe' limit all the time probably contributed.... and I had changing it down to a fine art, so it only took me about an hour.
On the other hand, I have never experienced a head gasket failure on any of the many Imp engines I've owned, or the three K-series engined cars I've had.
On the other hand, I have never experienced a head gasket failure on any of the many Imp engines I've owned, or the three K-series engined cars I've had.
Never had any issues on the M20 (2.5) of my E30 or the M50 (2.5) on my E36.
I know the M20 can potentially have head gasket issues if the cooling system isn't up to scratch. Need to be watching the temp needle like a fat girl watches cake.
The M50 ime is pretty much bullet proof. Never heard of the head gasket being a weak link. The only issue is the earlier models had a weaker water pump which was prone to failure.
I know the M20 can potentially have head gasket issues if the cooling system isn't up to scratch. Need to be watching the temp needle like a fat girl watches cake.
The M50 ime is pretty much bullet proof. Never heard of the head gasket being a weak link. The only issue is the earlier models had a weaker water pump which was prone to failure.
NHK244V said:
No head gasket should go at just over half on the gauge, stuck stat or not, either the gauge was wronge or the gasket was already gone but it just chose then to boil over ?
...unless the gauge temperature isn't the same as the water temperature because the sensor is on the cold side of the 'stat.Volvo 940 - temp gauge shot up one night and I had 100 miles to go to get home - I thought 'I'll chance it'. Fail.
LR Freelander with 1.8 K series engine - had v v low miles when I bought it and foolishly thought it couldn't happen to me. Fail #2, which cost me a new engine.
Gaskets. Grrr.
LR Freelander with 1.8 K series engine - had v v low miles when I bought it and foolishly thought it couldn't happen to me. Fail #2, which cost me a new engine.
Gaskets. Grrr.
Classic Grad 98 said:
NHK244V said:
No head gasket should go at just over half on the gauge, stuck stat or not, either the gauge was wronge or the gasket was already gone but it just chose then to boil over ?
...unless the gauge temperature isn't the same as the water temperature because the sensor is on the cold side of the 'stat.The BMW gagues are buffered, so although they may read in the middle, the temp can be wayyyy higher before it moves. Hence why its usually too late.
The problem is quite simply Aluminium alloy engines.
And very high heat build up very quickly if anything fails within this material.
The older cars I cut my teeth on rarely blew head gaskets.
Leaked oils everywhere but rarely blew head gaskets.
The principal reason is the damage that can occur very quickly with alloy components once overheating occurs. With modern engines by the time the temperature gauge is up the gaskets are long gone. I am surprised the manufacturers have not found a better warning system.
With cast iron there was little chance of blowing a gasket even if the entire engine was smoking by the time you stopped.
I remember A series engines and B series 3engines, and 105E engines and 107E engines, running for miles after hoses broke etc. I never ever blew an A/B/ 105/107E series head gasket. Despite my best efforts getting home!
This is made worse by the very high compression, double OHC modern set ups which probably could not be run on cast iron heads.
Just not efficient enough at transferring heat into the cooling system to sustain the heat generated with such power production.
One of the downsides of out finely tuned, super efficient, high output engines. Simply could not be done without alloy castings.
But they do let go quickly. Hence the gasket problem.
And very high heat build up very quickly if anything fails within this material.
The older cars I cut my teeth on rarely blew head gaskets.
Leaked oils everywhere but rarely blew head gaskets.
The principal reason is the damage that can occur very quickly with alloy components once overheating occurs. With modern engines by the time the temperature gauge is up the gaskets are long gone. I am surprised the manufacturers have not found a better warning system.
With cast iron there was little chance of blowing a gasket even if the entire engine was smoking by the time you stopped.
I remember A series engines and B series 3engines, and 105E engines and 107E engines, running for miles after hoses broke etc. I never ever blew an A/B/ 105/107E series head gasket. Despite my best efforts getting home!
This is made worse by the very high compression, double OHC modern set ups which probably could not be run on cast iron heads.
Just not efficient enough at transferring heat into the cooling system to sustain the heat generated with such power production.
One of the downsides of out finely tuned, super efficient, high output engines. Simply could not be done without alloy castings.
But they do let go quickly. Hence the gasket problem.
Older BMWs have a tendency to warp and/or crack their heads when they overheat. I suspect the root cause here might be knackered radiators and viscous fan clutches and the head problems are the result.
My elderly M30 engined BMW was starting to exhibit overheating problems when I laid it up due to other issues, which is why I've got a NOS radiator ready to go in when I recommission it.
My elderly M30 engined BMW was starting to exhibit overheating problems when I laid it up due to other issues, which is why I've got a NOS radiator ready to go in when I recommission it.
Steffan said:
I remember A series engines and B series 3engines, and 105E engines and 107E engines, running for miles after hoses broke etc. I never ever blew an A/B/ 105/107E series head gasket. Despite my best efforts getting home!
This is **so** right. I once ran my A-series mini without coolant. I didn't know it didn't have any coolant though because the temp gauge still gave me a reasonable temp display - it was low but not "off". That was a Wednesday and I set about looking into the low temp issue on Saturday and very quickly found the solution - fill it back up again (and find the leak). No apparent harm done. I'd done about 120 miles like that, and another 20K miles AFTERWARDS before its ludicrous compression blew most of the head off it (there were metal bits scattered around the place).Having said that, I've run a VERY highly tuned K-series for 25K miles (in a Caterham - 244bhp) without ever having HGF issues.
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