Head Gasket Replacement - Any Tips? Best Source For Parts?
Discussion
I've just found out that I need to replace one of the head gaskets on my 94 4.0 done due to some white smoke and water coming out of exhaust. Smoke isn't hiddeously bad but was pointed out by my indy after car going in for a minor running issue. Car overheated due to burst hose and then again the other day due to what I belive was otter switch issue. Potential head issue Confirmed by one of the cylinders (8) being slightly down on compression (160 as opposed to 180/185 for rest). Has anyone else done this themselves? How did you get on? I'm also keen to know the cheapest place to order gasket and head bolts etc. Would appreciate any assistance as don't really want to pay 750+ to get it done when it looks "reasonably" straight forward (bar getting manifolds off I know).......
There's a few guys on here involved in rebuilding engines: some of them supply parts too and will no doubt be along soon to help. Another company I've found helpful, useful and reasonably priced is RPI Engineering www.rpiv8.com
I see your point,as long as you know what gasket the other head has on it?If someone had already done this before,then you might be assuming wrongly.I'm no expert,but it would seem logical to me.
I'm not trying to be awkward here,but would just like it to go right for you,if you see what i mean
.Maybe rob(V8racing)will come on here later and advise with any luck.
I'm not trying to be awkward here,but would just like it to go right for you,if you see what i mean
.Maybe rob(V8racing)will come on here later and advise with any luck.there are only 2 head gaskets available for these engines tin or composite, so if you do skim a head you should really be doing the other one, also even if you could somehow match the compresion back again you are altering the squish band so the side with the lower squish will make more power on one bank!
if you want my honest opinion it sounds more like a liner problem than a head gasket, it is very head gaskets go on these engines and when they do the compresion will be sinificantly lower than the ones you quoted? 180 to 160 is not a big enough difference for a head gasket failure, a slightly worn cam would have this sort of drop
if you want my honest opinion it sounds more like a liner problem than a head gasket, it is very head gaskets go on these engines and when they do the compresion will be sinificantly lower than the ones you quoted? 180 to 160 is not a big enough difference for a head gasket failure, a slightly worn cam would have this sort of drop
This is perfectly normal for a cold exhaust. The exhaust gasses contain a lot of water vapour, and if the exhaust is cold this will condense in the bottom of the exhaust and then get blown out by the exhaust gasses when you blip the throttle. But once the engine and exhaust has warmed up you should get relatively little condensed water coming out, if you have a lot of steam or cupfulls of water coming out as you say then you need to start worrying about the dreaded head gasket failure.
Unless I am going completely crazy (highly possible), I may have over-worried about this. This issue seems to have resolved itself after an otterswitch and thermostat swap. The car is now running as normal again, no white smoke/water from exhaust. I have also done two 45min plus trips and sat in traffic for over an hour and the car behaved faultlessly - didnt overhead and no coolant loss. Has anyone got any ideas what is going on? or was going on? I'm glad I didn't pull the car to pieces the weekend now! I'm going to go any buy a compression tester this weekend to have a look at the cylinder compressions myself. Thanks for all the suggestions.
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