Oh God - Please not another blown gasket!

Evening all,

A couple of weeks ago I began stripping my head after the gasket blew (It didn't overheat). This is the first time I had ever taken on an engine rebuild before so I did everything by the book with the help of some much more experienced friends (Who happen to be at the classic Le Mans).

I had the head skimmed - both sides, new valve seats, guides, cleaned and the valves lapped in. I presume it was pressure tested as these guys are highly recommended engine machinists in my area. The bill came to £120 - not cheap but it looked like new! Whilst I was at it I put new piston rings on.

As said, I carried everything out methodically and by the book as I was crapping myself that I'd cock up. All gaskets where replaced, everything torqued up to the specs from the workshop manual.

Since the rebuild I have done approx 270miles (very careful driving as to run the piston rings in a little but getting the engine warm). I opened the bonnet up again today, to find about 10mm of coolant at the bottom of the reservoir, no noticeable leaks and I can't see any gunk on the filler cap or smoke out of the exhaust nor any noticeable signs of water in the oil?

What is happening?! Im 21 in uni and want to drive to Ireland in less than 2 weeks time - but I also start an internship this week, and have 3 exam resits to prepare for. I just don't have the time to strip it again.

Any help / advice etc would be very great fully appreciated!

Cheers

How did you bleed the cooling system?

I filled the header tank up to the max mark. The let the car idle with the cap off, revved to 2000 rpm a couple of times and shut the engine off. I did this a couple of times until the coolant level needed topping up.

The workshop manual Doesn't mention bleeding it, however I found a thread, from this site i think, which gave me the above procedure?

Did you do anything with the heater? DId you let it warm up thoroughly with the fan coming on and off a couple of times?

Basically, (I'm hoping for you….) the apparent loss of coolant can be explained simply by an airlock which has cleared itself but used up some coolant from the header tank. If the head gasket's been replaced and you were methodical with assembling the engine after (and the gasket was a reasonable quality one) its unlikely its blown again in such a short time.

your coolant bleed technique is correct but you need to keep doing it till the pipes get too hot to touch, then you switch the engine off and refit the cap.

as paul says you may have missed an air lock which has now cleared itself. top the coolant back up and keep an eye, also look very closely everywhere for white crusty deposits, in particular check the rad very closely as leaks here are difficult to spot

also it may be the cap is broken and is venting too early so buy a new blue one as they're cheap if the levels keep going down with no visible signs of leakage.

another thing thats worth trying is get the engine good and hot, then rev it a few times while you look at all the coolant hoses closely, sometimes the hoses can get a pinhole in that is hard to spot unless the system is really hot and pressurised

Hey guys, thanks for all your advice. I ran the car up to my local mechanic mate this morning.

After a pressure test we found a leak on the coolant pump, there was no fluid on the floor of the garage but he said when it gets to a certain temp. and pressure it will start pissing out. He then wiped his finger down the back of the front grille and there was residual coolant there.

I also told him its not running to well up hills, it sounds rattly and he told me that its pinking. He said when you start it in the morning it'll be fairly noisy, then when you drive up your hill it'll be noisy and then by the time you level off it will have gone (Which it does).

He rang his parts guy who said £30 for thermostat and water pump (because they are in the same housing they both may as well be changed). I said I didn't have time so he is going to change the pump, thermostat, fill with anti-freeze, bleed the system and do the timing for £100 - seems fair to me?

He also had a look at the oil - which he said isn't contaminated at all and told me that there is absolutely nothing to worry about!

Much happier now! Do you guys think the price is fair? This guy lent me a lot of tools when I did the rebuild and never charged a penny for it, he also gave me a lot of advice too.

no fluid on the floor of my garage at home*

sounds fine to me, couple hours labour there plus parts price on top

 getting the pump off isnt too bad though you'll have to take the alternator off first, timign is simple enough but you'll have to buy a timing light (go for a basic one, but make sure its inductive pickup)

£100 is fair enough

I think £100 is fair when that includes parts too. Thanks again for your help. It's muchly appreciated!