How long should a cylinder head gasket last?

[thatch]

just rang my garage about water leaking from the water pump.

Turns out the pump is leaking, but "there is a lot of pressure in the engine!"

they think its probably the head gasket gone, overheater, and forced itself through the water pump.

Question is, having had new gaskets 5 years and 10000 miles ago when converting engine to a 4.3BV, is that normal wear and tear?

Also when i had the previous work done, the garage in question had a problem with his suppliers supplying 'porous heads' - resulting with the job needing to be done 3 times at their expense. Could it take 5 years for the porosity to become a problem?

thanks for any suggestions in advanced!

Andrew

[shpub]

Errr there are gaskets and gaskets. Are they using the right ones?

[thatch]

shpub said:

Errr there are gaskets and gaskets. Are they using the right ones?

do you mean the quality of gasket?

[shpub]

Different types like composite, metal etc. get the wrong one and it can cause premature failure. Are they replacing the stretch bolts? If not that can cause problems. Does the car overheat/ That can kill a gasket as well.

[GreenV8S]

The gasket should normally last the life of the engine unless it is allowed to overheat.

If they had to replace the gaskets three times at their own expense, you have to wonder how carefully they cleaned everything and checked it all for flatness etc on the second or third time. You'd never prove it either way though.

Edited by GreenV8S on Tuesday 13th February 21:18

[thatch]

GreenV8S said:

The gasket should normally last the life of the engine unless it is allowed to overheat.

If they had to replace the gaskets three times at their own expense, you have to wonder how carefully they cleaned everything and checked it all for flatness etc on the second or third time. You'd never prove it either way though.

Edited by GreenV8S on Tuesday 13th February 21:18

The original 3 attempts were down to 'Porous heads' not the gasket (and a previous garage - not where it is now).

My chief concern is that the gaskets get replaced, and it turns our that the head has "gone porous" over 5 years.

is porousity a thing that develops over time?

Edited by thatch on Wednesday 14th February 09:26

[tgriff]

porous heads are quite common. usually leak around the exhaust valve casting I have had two repairs carried out at TVR power ( very nice people ) pressure tested both heads and Tig weld repaired excellent job , do you see a bit of steam in the exhaust pipes.
Steve