Cylinder Head Gasket

[Phil_the_Chill]

I noticed the other day that my K10 temperature was spiking a little in town traffic. I put the heater on to suck the heat out and it came down OK. For some reason both my K10s have needed new thermostats on a number of occasions and they always end up sticking.
Anyway.. I had to motor up to Cumbria as my bro was over and the spiking started again on the motorway. I never went above 3/4 of max and I just kept the heating on full blast. When i got here I then noticed what looks like steam issuing from the exhaust.. (it was too dark to be sure but the cloud evaporated quite quickly.. so prob H2O). The oil is OK.. no sign of emulsion.
So it looks like the pressure has blow my gasket somewhere. What to do now.. far from home? I took the thermostat out so I can run at low temp/pressure. The car runs ok. Can I get home on impulse power Scotty or should I find a good parts place and try get a gasket?? We are talking 150 mile trip. I can check and top up the water if the leak stays manageable and I don't get oil-in-water or some other development. I reckon. What is the expert opinion?

Thanks
Phil

 

[Andrew]

Taking the thermostat out will effect the engine in other ways - it was designed, even when open, to have a fairly tight restriction at that point.

It does sound like you've managed to lose the gasket between the combustion chamber and a waterway. It is possible to run a MA engine for a long, long time with the head gasket ruined, just topping up with water now and then. But sometimes the head gasket will go properly without much warning, leaving you with no power.

If you can drive back without going on motorways, then try that. I'd be more comfortable if I either had recovery or someone to pick me up when it all goes pear shaped.

 

[Charlotte001]

You can remove the thermostat the engine will be cool all the while. Check the temp sender to see if it's working or gunky. Check to see if you've got plenty of water in the bottle and not just the radiator.

You can check to see if it's the headgasket or water pump or electrical. Remove the rad cap then run the engine if the water level lowers the head gasket is ok. If the water bubbles with any kind of gunge including oil/fuel staining the gasket is on the way out. Make sure the fan switch is working too, a common sign of fan switch failure is rising engine temp but when you switch interior heating on it lowers which is the same as the rad fan turning on as the heat is being exhanged.

Try removing the thermostat take the car for a drive to see if the temp stays constant if not then test the fan switch if that's ok I wouldn't take the car on the 150mile drive till you've had the head gasket checked by a compression tester.

Charlotte

 

[Phil_the_Chill]

The steaming just got worse and I was losing all my water in a few miles.
I managed to get a new gasket and fitted it today...
Cylinder 2 was full of water/oil/gunk... and number 1 was pretty ropey too.

It is a lot better now.

The only freaky thing was that the electrode on plug #1 was bent straight!!
It was parallel to the core??!?! Never mind the correct gapping...
I have never seen anything like it. It wasn't snapped off... the overall length was normal but it was straight!

I can't imagine how anything like that could happen.

I certainly didn't fit it like that. But then maybe it was in the car when I got it.

Thanks for your comments.

I will see how it runs tomorrow.

Phil

 

[SammoHung]

thats pretty funny...can you post up a picture of the plug....lol

It must have been fitted like that before you got it

My guess it that a NOVICE previous owner ventured into the realms of removing a spark plug...only to discover that the 'thingy on the end' was bent over...and thought 'oooh...something's bent the bit on the end....soon have that straightened out (enter the pliers)'...LOL a funny thought

 

[Burfy]

Yea my plugs were pretty disgusting. The white insulator in the middle was half gone on the one *sigh* Would the fact that my rad seems to drain itself be a bad thing? It's not going into my reservoir and there's no signs of it on the ground? That MUST be bad.. :glance:

 

[scoot]

The steaming just got worse and I was losing all my water in a few miles.
I managed to get a new gasket and fitted it today...
Cylinder 2 was full of water/oil/gunk... and number 1 was pretty ropey too.

It is a lot better now.

The only freaky thing was that the electrode on plug #1 was bent straight!!
It was parallel to the core??!?! Never mind the correct gapping...
I have never seen anything like it. It wasn't snapped off... the overall length was normal but it was straight!

I can't imagine how anything like that could happen.

I certainly didn't fit it like that. But then maybe it was in the car when I got it.

Thanks for your comments.

I will see how it runs tomorrow.

Phil

HI how did the car run after you replaced the head gasket ?did it cure the problem and did you replace the head bolts with new ones ,just wanting to know as I had the same sort of problems :doh: cheers S.

 

[superls]

15 inch rims on a k10

i have the opportunity to get 4 mint condition BBS RA allor rims for the right money, they are 15x6, i have been led to believe that the rims have an offset of 35, does anyone no if these will fit a standard K10???

sorry about that i havent got a clue wot im doin ignore it i ment to start a new thread

 

[Phil_the_Chill]

Hi all,

The new gasket did the job nicely! The car runs great.
I think there is still a slight water leak somewhere as the level slowly falls below the temp sensor for the fan and I can get overheating again if I don't pay attention.

I kept the same head bolts.


As a follow-up question: There was one slight ambiguity with the re-assembly. The Haynes manual shows a dish-shaped special spring washer part that sits atop the oil pump drive shaft. There is a bracket that holds down the drive shaft with two retaining bolts. In the Haynes manual it shows the spring above the bracket. This doesn't seem right and instinct would suggest that it sits below and exerts some downward pressure on the oil pump drive shaft - keeping it engaged or whatever. That said... the bracket has a very small clearance in any case and end float would be limited anyway.
I followed the photo and fitted it above.. it just seems to jut uselessy in the air ... but that is how it looked in the manual.
Which is correct?

Thanks

 

[Ed]

This was revised the very early versions didnt have this. Only the later ones did. The direction of rotation also changed.

Ed