Getting really pi$$ed off now
Turbo Mini Forums

My car has been off the road nearly 6 weeks now,

its the damn head gasket problems still.

ITs not blowing gaskets, the gaskets are not sealing in the first place. The head is spot on, skimmed by 3 tho just to make sure. Same as the block (slight skim)

no matter what head gasket i use it will not seal. i can put the compression tester on the engine before i even fire it up for the first time and there's failure. If i run the engine it drinks water etc, complete head gasket failure, everywhere (except between the bores)

I have even bought a brand new torque wrench, i have had my bolts checked etc

ITS REALLY GETTING ON MY TITS!

i was(possibly stil am) haveing this exact trouble, did as you did, block decked, head skimmed new torque wrench etc. on cold staart it would puff white smoke.. and stil does :S but now to a much lesser extent. when i first started it it ran fine, but i had no water in the system!

my temporary solution is to run the engien at really low RPm on cold start(5-800RPM) as it wont smoke at this. and once up to temp its fine. pulls like a train with no smoke.

is your engine fresh? could well be that it wasnt honed properly or the bore is to wide or incorect rings fitted(as in my case) so the compression test could be down until it is al bedded in.

i take it when you lift the gasket off it looks as if its floating on oil, and tehre are obvious"waters been here" marks o nteh top of the gasket?

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

your head isnt hitting the ater pump and causing it not to seat in th 1st place is it?


alex

AlexF

Are you losing compression on all cylinders?

Team Racing

Normally just on 3 and sometimes 4.

This time its on all except 1.

the whole engine is going into my local machine shop. I will pick up a cheap old banger to keep me on the road untill this is sorted.

Modded Turbo minis are not reliable enough to be your only car.....

This is odd, let us know the outcome

Team Racing

If the block and head are flat and you are having problems with head gasket, check the head studs. Make sure that there is plenty of thread left so the nuts do in fact torque like they should. Also, there is possibility that the studs are stretching. Get a new set of studs and nuts, they are not that expensive.

Also, a simple trick that I have used on all my engines. Remove the studs from the block and cut a generous countersink at the top of the threads. If the stud tries to pull the threads in the block it is possible that the gasket does not seat properly. With the countersink this is prevented.

Also, when you torque the block, loosen all valve adjusters at the rockers so that they don not affect the torque setting. They should not and basically I have never bothered to do that but there is something weird with your engine.

Jukka

They are new head studs and bolts, im using a brand new torque wrench, i will try the counter sunk holes idea, I have just been down my local machine shop again, bought another head gasket, (they give me trade discount now i have bought so many!!!!)

When the sun comes out (or the rain goes away) i will have another shot.