Blown Headgasket
Turbo Mini Forums

Hey all,

I drove my turbo mini to work yesterday and managed to do some damage.
It was early morning with not much traffic about and i gave it abit of stick down the motorway....lead footed averaging 140km on constant 10psi boost for a good half hour drive!
Coming up to the off ramp it started to miss and when i got off motorway up shoots the temperature guage needle from Normal to beyond the " H" !

Basically it had lost all its water...i dont really know why... tho the cooling system is all in good order it does struggle to keep engine at Normal Temp on a warm day.
But until now it never used water.
Has a new water pump, new 4 row radiator,new 72deg themostate, and new 13/90 pressure cap,etc.

It does bubble slightly at the radiator when i give it some rev's when its at normal temp, what i find weird tho is if i turn the electric fan off and let the temp creep up alittle more... the water almost instantly starts to boil just above Normal.
This aint right surely?

Have many of you had headgasket problems? is putting in 11 studs the way to go? and also is using ARP performance head studs a must ?
Also when i do the Headgasket where is the best place to buy one from ?...ie ; one beter than a standard turbo headgasket or does it make no difference they all the same ?

Your thoughts on this would be great, Thanks

Jeremy

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

11 stud wont make a difference. i run up to 17psi and use 9 ARP studs

A bk450 headgasket is the best,which just so happens to be the standard one(I think)

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

i always use a Payen AF470 head gasket and not had a problem in ages ( the problems i had were due to poor setup not the gasket)

I met a guy the other day who runs the overflow pipe from the rad onto his windscreen. So if his car dumps all the water out it fires into his face and he can stop sharpish.

If the head gasket went would it do this or just burn the water off?

Edited by AL on 22nd Nov, 2006.

Sounds like your head gasket mate!

Have you checked your oil, if it looks creamy, not good!!!

If its gone between cylinders 2 and 3 it won't show in the oil but by removing one plug (2 or 3) start the engine and believe me it will be obvious if its gone. Lol

I jumped a mile....

I always use a BK450 head gasket, never had a problem soo far..touch wood.

Edited by matty on 22nd Nov, 2006.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fusion-Fabri..._homepage_panel

www.fusionfabs.co.uk



1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

I did the overflow pipe on the windscreen test and took it for a drive....yeah it spits out alot of water but only when i plant my foot on high boost.
Went to a 15lb pressure cap and still spits out.
I think the headgasket is definately gone. Boost Pressure must be forcing the water out.
I think i will get some ARP Bolts for when i change it.

Thanks

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

your engine wont take even 10psi for that long , the intact temp will creap up to high levels unless you have a inlet temp sensor to keep an eye onit.

thus given you possible headgasket failure and sometimes even worse piston melt down.

what will happen if the inlet temps go to high you will get det then this will either melt ones pistons or melt or blow the headgasket.

thats why i use a temp sensor so you can keep a good eye on the temps.

i normally lift off as soon as i get to about 60 deg c.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

Wouldn't the throttle have to be wide open for the full half hour to have 10 psi, constantly, in the intake?

Turbo Hogster since you mentioned that i may have melted pistons i promtly went out in the garage and took the head off.
I knew otherwise i would not sleep at nite...and now im definately not going to as it has revelled i have further damage than just a blown gasket !:(

For some reason the exhaust valves have been touching the tops of the pistons on 3 cylinders !...and these 3 cylinders have no light build up of carbon like no.1 cylinder...they have a slight oily residue...and upon wiping this back it revelled i have hairline cracks on the edges of these 3 pistons in places !!!
I am in shock really.

What do you think could have caused this? Could it be due to engine timing or maybe with the valves /engine rebuilders fault ?

The thing is i built the engine 2years ago about now, i would be lucky if its even run in tho as the car has never spent much time on the road. I put new pistons and valves in it and everything.:(
The marks on the pistons do look pretty fresh tho...and i had the car dyno tuned only a month ago.
Or is this all posible like you say due to the high tempatures the chambers may have reached because of running high boost for that long?... things may have expanded beyond tollerances due to heat?

Anyways i am glad in someways that i have discovered this now and possibly avoided a disasterous failure if it had been left undiscovered.

Any thoughts please would be much appreciated

Jeremy

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

Well, either the valves are opening too far, too early/late, or they are staying open when they shouldn't be.

Engine out, and postmortem required to establish WHY this has happened before stripping it down me thinks.

First area to check is cam timing, Then nipping guides, then springs themselves.

Just aswell you took hoggy's advice eh!

oh dear mate, take daves advice and go dor straight strip down.

could be that with high intake temps have caused the valves to stick in the guides causing them to hit the pistons.

williy did have that problem a whilst ago.

but could be cam timming though.

best check every thing as it is now before you go for at total strip down.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas