head gone 16v

[marcdublin37]

Well having managed to fix most leaks it appears disaster has fallen upon me. The head is gone. Is this something worth repairing or am I doomed.

Gutted

[Kitch]

Head or head gasket?

[marcdublin37]

Gasket sorry

[rutter123]

source the prob which caused the h/g to go, remedy it, purchase a new gasket and wotever else you may need, fit new gasket, job done. Or maybe not quite so simple? not a major job.

[BX Bandit]

Definitely not doomed! Worth every penny to get it back on the road!

[Kitch]

Yeah head gasket really not too bad to do on those. Take the time the get the head sorted too though, and find out why it went as it might just go again otherwise. That said, if it's original then age may have just got the better of it. As long as it hasn't overheated you'll be fine.

[Mothman]

How much dosh are you prepared to spend though?
How much of the work can you do yourself ?
Bought a TZD turbo Estate last year very cheaply and it cost me a grand to sort it. Ok, a lot of incidentals were done, new clutch, cables, timing belt, water pump, engine mounts etc but it all depends on what you want to spend.
I was very happy to spend that amount to save a motor ive always wanted and she is a cracking drive at the moment. Its really up to you.

Andy

[marcdublin37]

Well where to start I would be off the opinion the head gasket is gone due to overheating. It had several major water leaks before i started driving her. I have not really driven her since I bought her. Can only presume this is an existing problem.

Anyway going to get some prices today, will need skimming new belts bolts etc, hope it not to pricey otherwise she may have to wait another while.

[Tinkley]

The reason Kitch says about overheating is mostly down to the liner 'O' rings. These do not like being treated to about 8-10° C above the point the red 'lamp of death' appears. Pretty hard to check the condition without removing. My old 14 had a core plug rust out with loss of coolant and it cooked the 'O' rings. They were replaced and head skimmed and all rebuilt fine. No other damage. Not sure whether you can remove one liner at a time, change 'O' ring and reseat, but Haynes sort of indicates this is possible for all liner engine types including 16v. Maybe someone else who has done this can advise. You definitely need to sort the overheating. Cooling circuit, does the fan work?, does the thermostat (on radiator side) cut in correctly? is the fuse blown? Warning light may indicate one or all have failed - yes I had all of them on my 1.6!, but no damage as I let it cool down. Loss of coolant could be the head gasket or a leak but I will assume former, you should get steam in the exhaust too.
Reason for core plug rusting was tap water instead of distilled in cooling system. It was not old, about 5 years from new when it happened, at 91k. Went on to do 175k total, when kids trying to steal it cooked head gasket. It did not like the LRP either.
Minimum must be to clean out cooling system, radiator in particular, but also pipes to wash out any crud.
Personally I'd probably do the water pump, timing belt and reseat the valves renewing stem seals. If the body shell is good I would probably bite the bullet and spend the money. I'm with Kitch - if the shell is good most likely the other bits can be sorted. At a guess a full recon engine would be around 2k, or just a little over including VAT.

Put 50/50 distilled water and antifreeze in the beast as it is best for resisting internal aluminium corrosion inside the block/head and stops core plugs going!. Tap water has 'free' oxygen which is what causes the corrosion. Good luck.

[Kitch]

Well where to start I would be off the opinion the head gasket is gone due to overheating. It had several major water leaks before i started driving her. I have not really driven her since I bought her. Can only presume this is an existing problem.

Anyway going to get some prices today, will need skimming new belts bolts etc, hope it not to pricey otherwise she may have to wait another while.

It had several major coolant leaks before you started driving it, then you drove it anyway and it overheated......or am I reading that wrong!?

[Kitch]

The reason Kitch says about overheating is mostly down to the liner 'O' rings. These do not like being treated to about 8-10° C above the point the red 'lamp of death' appears. Pretty hard to check the condition without removing. My old 14 had a core plug rust out with loss of coolant and it cooked the 'O' rings. They were replaced and head skimmed and all rebuilt fine. No other damage. Not sure whether you can remove one liner at a time, change 'O' ring and reseat, but Haynes sort of indicates this is possible for all liner engine types including 16v. Maybe someone else who has done this can advise. You definitely need to sort the overheating. Cooling circuit, does the fan work?, does the thermostat (on radiator side) cut in correctly? is the fuse blown? Warning light may indicate one or all have failed - yes I had all of them on my 1.6!, but no damage as I let it cool down. Loss of coolant could be the head gasket or a leak but I will assume former, you should get steam in the exhaust too.
Reason for core plug rusting was tap water instead of distilled in cooling system. It was not old, about 5 years from new when it happened, at 91k. Went on to do 175k total, when kids trying to steal it cooked head gasket. It did not like the LRP either.
Minimum must be to clean out cooling system, radiator in particular, but also pipes to wash out any crud.
Personally I'd probably do the water pump, timing belt and reseat the valves renewing stem seals. If the body shell is good I would probably bite the bullet and spend the money. I'm with Kitch - if the shell is good most likely the other bits can be sorted. At a guess a full recon engine would be around 2k, or just a little over including VAT.

Put 50/50 distilled water and antifreeze in the beast as it is best for resisting internal aluminium corrosion inside the block/head and stops core plugs going!. Tap water has 'free' oxygen which is what causes the corrosion. Good luck.

Nah it wasn't the liner rings I was on about - they're not too hard to sort out either. They're made of similar rubber to the thermostat O-rings, and they usually sit near enough 100 degrees anyway. Just don't dislodge the liners when you take the head off, or you'll have all manner of problems involving frothing mayo!

But a warped/cracked head is trouble if it's beyond the limit of saving. If it didn't overheat it will likely jsut be age/crap anti-freeze mixes over the years. But if it did overheat, that needs sorting.

[Tinkley]

Fair enough Kitch, I'd assumed the head itself was OK. Out of interest, other than warping do they crack between valve seats, valve seat to spark plug hole etc and is this an issue with them?. I've seen the cracking even in 2 valve alloy and iron heads, and in some 4 valve heads there's not a lot of metal in that area.

[Kitch]

Fair enough Kitch, I'd assumed the head itself was OK. Out of interest, other than warping do they crack between valve seats, valve seat to spark plug hole etc and is this an issue with them?. I've seen the cracking even in 2 valve alloy and iron heads, and in some 4 valve heads there's not a lot of metal in that area.

It's not common to crack there, though I do have one on my bench that has. Gonna turn it into something house-related!

[marcdublin37]

The leaks were fixed before I drove it, apparently 2 of them were from the heater matrix. Inlet and return pipes through bulk head had gone. When I took her out she was still overheating, which leads me to believe the gasket was gone already. It wasn't driven while overheated not by me anyway.

Well have decided to send her in for new gasket, belt etc. Gonna strip her and have her skimmed.

I know when the last leak was fixed the heater matrix was bypassed gonna need to fix that also. Does anyone know where I can get plastic pipe inserts that go into bulkhead.

[Defender110]

Not quite sure what it is you are looking for but will these do it?

http://www.beal.org.uk/hoses-tubing-fit ... at_37.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;