Head gasket?? Cracked block?? HELP!!!

[Mr5050]

Hi peeps..

I just bought a 1.4 Furio and its a fun little car.. the only thing is that for the last 2 days the temp gauge soared up to the red.. a light came on, the fan kicked in and brought the needle down to the halfway mark.. I stopped and checked the water reservoir and it had filled itself up.. the water was oily and that horrible brown cream colour.. Balls...

Now when I drive it, the car heats up so fast I can barely make it to the end of my road before the fan kicks in.. I'm guessing its the head gasket but for £500 I'd rather not send it in to the garage just to have the same problem when it comes out..

Any suggestions gratefully received..

[Gandi699]

Pull the head off and check the gasket and condition of the block. The furios use an ali block with liners so you could have a cracked or dislodged liner in the worst case scenario, but usually that'll show up as steam from the exhaust

[Mr5050]

Also, someone recommended engine blocker as a short term fix.. as the oil is mixing with the water and not the other way around, I'd have thought it wouldn't work due to the blocker not passing through the crack (wherever it is)..

[Mr5050]

Originally Posted by Gandi699

Pull the head off and check the gasket and condition of the block. The furios use an ali block with liners so you could have a cracked or dislodged liner in the worst case scenario, but usually that'll show up as steam from the exhaust

No steam from the exhaust at all.. apart from the fact its overheating fast and it has a small amount of oil in the water res, the car runs as it should..

[Gandi699]

Could need a coolant bleed then but if theres oil in the header tank, 99% the gasket has failed across an oil and coolant path

[sam_16v]

cuhucking cold water in it when its hot can make it even worse

[Mr5050]

Originally Posted by Gandi699

Could need a coolant bleed then but if theres oil in the header tank, 99% the gasket has failed across an oil and coolant path

You're a handy fella to have around.. lol.. thanks for the tips so far..

Any ideas if its a hard job to do?.. Any links for a guide or the like?..

Originally Posted by sam_16v

cuhucking cold water in it when its hot can make it even worse

Just like pouring boiling water from a kettle onto a frozen windscreen.. I think so. lol..

[Gandi699]

Originally Posted by Mr5050

You're a handy fella to have around.. lol.. thanks for the tips so far..

Any ideas if its a hard job to do?.. Any links for a guide or the like?..



Just like pouring boiling water from a kettle onto a frozen windscreen.. I think so. lol..

Should be a guide on here - its not too hard but i wouldnt recommend it for a novice, how competent are you mechanically?

[Mr5050]

Originally Posted by Gandi699

Should be a guide on here - its not too hard but i wouldnt recommend it for a novice, how competent are you mechanically?

I have a garage full of tools and the will to learn.. LOL.. No engine hoist or anything tho..

I used to have a T5 that I modded myself to 330bhp so fairly competent but I've never done a head gasket before and I've never worked on a Saxo before..

I dare say that with a decent guide it should be possible.. so long as the engine doesn't need to come out..

[sam_16v]

you can do a engine change with 2 trolley jacks some nice thick lengths of wood and some breeze blocks i did 3 engine changes in mine like this il have a hunt for the hg guide now

[Mr5050]

Originally Posted by sam_16v

you can do a engine change with 2 trolley jacks some nice thick lengths of wood and some breeze blocks i did 3 engine changes in mine like this il have a hunt for the hg guide now

Thanks mate.. I owe you a pint already..

[sam_16v]

http://www.saxperience.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65315

[baker556]

I recently posted this in another thread..

A garage will charge £300-£450 to do the head gasket.

I recommend doing it yourself its not too hard shouldn't take longer than a weekend.

Costing DIY:

Proper Job £130 (maybe less)
Skim £25
Cambelt £35
Head bolts £14
Gasket £22
Antifreeze £10
Oil £24

Cheaper job: £40
Gasket £22
Oil £18 (cheap asda)
Antifreeze £10

Although it its no recommend using the old bolts as they stretch, but if they don't look stretched or bent slightly, its your call. If your not keeping the car to long just do the cheap job its bound to last a fair while anyway.

I am no mechanic, but i didn't find it at all hard to do. Cambelt timing was maybe the hardest bit as i kept on checking it was perfect with the tension as its something i have never done before.

Mandys lover is awesome at the time i didn't know whether to torque or angle the bolts up asked mandyslover he got straight back to me at the time as i was in the middle of doing up the head bolts.

You can do it yourself you might need extra tools, such as a low torque, torque wrench and maybe an angle protractor tool.

DIY is quite easy, just make sure you have the tension set on the cambelt correct and timming and your all set.

At the end of the day, i saw it as my car not being worth enough to go to a garage to fix and i could learn by doing it myself at the same time. I also cleaned the head and top of the pistons, they were so dirty had to work hard to get them clean. Once everything was cleaned up including the valves after this the engine has never been so smooth!

You have enough information on this forum alone to do the head gasket and if you get stuck just come on here and ask some questions.

[Mr5050]

Cheers lads.. I'll get cracking and post the results in here.. hopefully it will come in handy for any first timers like myself..

Thanks to all!..

[Mr5050]

Ok.. Today I flushed the coolant system and got most of the crap out of it.. I took it for a run and it was still heating up like crazy.. then I noticed that there was no hot air coming out of the vents inside the car so I removed the thermostat and tried again.. it was still heating up like crazy.. :/

I felt the top and bottom pipes coming out of the radiator and they were stone cold so obviously there's no water circulating around the engine.. sounds to me like the water pump has died..

I think the oil in the water res was probably already there tbh and the blow back of pressure just made me notice it.. it could indicate a small leak in the head gasket but nothing major yet.. I'll take it for another couple of runs once it's cooled down to see if there's any more oil in the fresh coolant.. fingers crossed there won't be..

Any other opinions?..

[sam_16v]

have you bleed the rad? if theres air in there it will heat up like crazy and the heaters wont blow hot

[Mr5050]

I had a go at it but even when the engine was red hot only a little steam came out followed by a tiny blob of water every minute or two.. there should have been a constant amount of water coming out but nothing... The whole system seems dead and the water just sits in the pipes..

[Mr5050]

Sorted.. Thanks lads.. (Still not sure how to thank peoples posts)

There was an air lock and I had tried bleeding the coolant system from the nipple on the thermostat housing.. as soon as I turned the bleed nipple on top of the radiator the temp dropped and the heating was back on..

One happy chap, I am.. Thanks to everyone for their input.. the beers are on me..

[KrisB]

There's 3 bleed points y'know

[stevo67]

Originally Posted by Mr5050

Sorted.. Thanks lads.. (Still not sure how to thank peoples posts)

There was an air lock and I had tried bleeding the coolant system from the nipple on the thermostat housing.. as soon as I turned the bleed nipple on top of the radiator the temp dropped and the heating was back on..

One happy chap, I am.. Thanks to everyone for their input.. the beers are on me..

At the bottom of the post you`ll see the word Quote & 2/3 other symbols the word thanks is on the end just click it mate.