Bugger!

[Steve R]

I took the TR out today and the head gasket has popped at the front left corner, there is water bubbling out and water is also in the oil. so I have a few questions........

 

Any do's, dont's and watch out's?

I will have a chance to look at the valve seats as I don't know if it has been converted to unleaded. It came over from the states in the early 1990's, so it may already have them, Is it easy to see if they have been done?

If not what would be the cost of this?

Should I drain the oil as soon as possible as it has water in it?

Any thoughts welcomed

Thanks

Steve R

[marvmul]

I took the TR out today and the head gasket has popped at the front left corner, there is water bubbling out and water is also in the oil. so I have a few questions........

 

Any do's, dont's and watch out's?

I will have a chance to look at the valve seats as I don't know if it has been converted to unleaded. It came over from the states in the early 1990's, so it may already have them, Is it easy to see if they have been done?

If not what would be the cost of this?

Should I drain the oil as soon as possible as it has water in it?

Any thoughts welcomed

Thanks

Steve R

The figure of 8 gaskets at the bottom of the liners should be renewed as well, Well Seal is a good sealing product.

Headgasket : the liners should protrude above the block by 0.10 to 015mm, everywere and after torquing down the cylinderhead without the headgasket (to about 70Nm or

50 pounds feet). When plain copper gaskets are used, Well Seal should be applied, with perchloorethyleen, on the 4 surfaces and left overnight without torquing the head nuts down. Only the exhaust valve seats have to be installed to run unleaded.

Drain the oil : the water will collect at some points : on bearing surfaces when you are unlucky.

[Nigel Lay]

Why should you replace the fig8's for a head gasket failure as that is basically an engine out job?

Nigel (with TS952)

[marvmul]

IMHO it is almost impossible to remove the head and clean everything without disturbing the liners and that is enough to get a leak at these figure of 8 gaskets.

(Chances are that the liners have to be rised or lowered to prevent new headgasket leaks : this is done by fitting other fig of 8 seals)

[Dave Herrod]

I would be interested to haer anyone else's views on this. I have taken my head off to replace the (very worn) valve guides and to generally clean things up a bit, and certainly hadn't bargained for replacing the Fo8 seals.

 

I took great care to fix down the liners as soon as the head was off.

 

Dave

[Steve R]

Well the head is now off, I've laid a block of wood along the top of the liners and put some large sockets over the studs and tightened them down onto the wood to secure the liners (I know wood doesn't sound too good but it fitted nicely along the centre of the studs and is a good thickness).

The faces of the block and head are clean It's gunge free. and a minor decoke should be all it needs, I don't have room to take the engine out so fingers crossed.

There was a bolt fitted at the front left corner with a couple of washers under, and this is where it failed. Looking at the parts book It should be a stud like the others. I've had the car 9 years and knew of it for a couple before that and the bolt has been there all that time.

On the plus side I now know that I have a 2.2ltr engine!!

Thanks for the feedback

Steve

[TR 2100]

The faces of the block and head are clean It's gunge free. and a minor decoke should be all it needs,

I don't have room to take the engine out so fingers crossed.

There was a bolt fitted at the front left corner with a couple of washers under, and this is where it failed.

Looking at the parts book It should be a stud like the others.

 

Head gaskets blow for a reason and you need to track down the reason or

you'll just blow the next gasket. (Voice of experience. of course!).

 

I checked my head with a steel straight edge and couldn't find any warping

but after 3 head gaskets, I had the head skimmed and sure enough, it was

a few thou out of true. I may have got away with that if I had been using a

normal gasket, but I was using a steel gasket and they are very unforgiving.

 

The bolt you have found could well be the cause, and it certainly needs replacing

with a stud, to protect the threads in the block as much as anything. The thread

inside the block is UNC and the thread on the other end for the nut is UNC.

I'm no engineer but I would have thought that could well affect the torque.

 

Regards finding the cause, as the head is off, it would be a wise precaution to

have the head skimmed a minimal amount just to make sure it's true.

 

AlanR

[Rob Salisbury]

IMHO it is almost impossible to remove the head and clean everything without disturbing the liners and that is enough to get a leak at these figure of 8 gaskets.

(Chances are that the liners have to be rised or lowered to prevent new headgasket leaks : this is done by fitting other fig of 8 seals)

 

 

Well, in my experience of just one engine over nearly 40 years, I've lost count of the number of times I've removed the head without replacing the fig.o'8 gaskets.... never had a head gasket fail, only changed the bottom gaskets when I've removed the liners for one reason or another(eg. Powermax set, then overbore to take Omega 87.2mm pistons).... you don't need to take the engine out of the car to replace the liners, but you do have to very carefully check the liner height projection when they have been refitted. Oh, this will make some people cough, but whenever I have to make a joint that needs to be water/antifreeze tight I always use Hermatite Red, I find it far superior to Wellseal for most applications, and any residue is easily cleaned up with some meths.

Cheers, Rob

[Steve R]

Thanks Rob

The gasket had been OK for at least 11 years to my knowledge so i don't think that there is anything drastically wrong.

While the head is off I will have hardened valve seats fitted, I've just dropped it off at the engineering works to be done.

£120 for new seats fitted and valves reseated.

 

The head has been declared flat by the engineer, so I won't bother with a skim, and the guides are fine.

 

Good to know the old red hermatite is still around, I think I used that last time I did a head gasket 32 years ago. I've been recommended Hylomar, so I've bought that.

 

With a bit of luck I can slam it all back together again at the weekend, after all, it's not rocket science.........................Is It??

 

Steve

[Guest colinTR2]

Steve

Brilliant, no it's not rocket science and it started life in a TRactor!

Colin

[Davepowderblue]

Steve

Brilliant, no it's not rocket science and it started life in a TRactor!

Colin

 

 

 

Naughty Colin , first cousin was a Tractor .

 

Mum was a Vanguard .

 

 

Think I maybe doing the same soon . Dipped my oil yesterday and there was a slight milky colour to it !

 

 

yours David

Edited May 13, 2008 by Davepowderblue

[Steve R]

Thanks for your replies,

It's all back together now and I took it for a little blast on Monday.

Replacing the head gasket wasn't quite as simple as I thought (are they ever?) A bolt had been used instead of a stud at the front corner of the head.

When I removed it I didn't realise that it was a larger diameter than the studs. So on trying to fit a new stud I had a problem, the new hole was too big, also too big to helicoil for a standard stud, I ended up having a new stud made and cut with the same size thread as the bolt at the bottom and a standard stud thread at the top.

The head had also been drilled oversize to take the bolt, but it will just have to stay like that.

After much consultation I didn't use Wellseal or Hylomar on the head gasket, just put it on "dry", could it be that this is why liners lift if you remove the head? too much sticky stuff?

Thanks Again

Steve

[stuart]

Thanks for your replies,

It's all back together now and I took it for a little blast on Monday.

Replacing the head gasket wasn't quite as simple as I thought (are they ever?) A bolt had been used instead of a stud at the front corner of the head.

When I removed it I didn't realise that it was a larger diameter than the studs. So on trying to fit a new stud I had a problem, the new hole was too big, also too big to helicoil for a standard stud, I ended up having a new stud made and cut with the same size thread as the bolt at the bottom and a standard stud thread at the top.

The head had also been drilled oversize to take the bolt, but it will just have to stay like that.

After much consultation I didn't use Wellseal or Hylomar on the head gasket, just put it on "dry", could it be that this is why liners lift if you remove the head? too much sticky stuff?

Thanks Again

Steve

Steve the liners will move usually only when you turn the crank with the head off because of interference fit of piston rings to liners. Its only when you want them to move for rebuild that they are always stuck fast

Stuart.

[Steve R]

Stuart

Yup...I suppose whatever you do, sod's law is always lurking in the shadows somewhere, just waiting to leap in, a TR just seems to provide more opportunity.

Steve