Head Gasket Failure?

[chezzer85]

Right here's my story.
I bought a phase 2 pearl white 5 last summer, which had been sat for 5 years.
After sorting the brakes and one or two things i had it MOT'ed, but things weren't right as she was a bit of smoker. Desided that i'd let my local garage take the head off and have a look as i suspected valve stem seals. Turned out the bloke i bought it off, who said he'd rebuild the engine 400 miles ago, forgot to put scraper rings in (don't know what he was thinking). Anyway i had the garage do the rings, skim the head and refit. They said that the previous owner had also not used head bolts, but off the shelf bolts.
I was a bit apprehensive when they said they had struggled to find R5 gtt bolts and used some head bolts that looked right.

Got the car home and oil was pissing out the sump washer and sump gasket, so back to garage. After sorting that a few hundred miles later the anti perc fan wouldn't turn off, as i had just fitted a recon carb which the bloke at the garage said he would tune up FOC so had him look at the fan too.

Two weeks and £96 quid later i had my five back and the fan was sorted or so i thought, untill 5 days later when i woke up (after giving the five some beans the night before) to find that my engine bay had been on fire.:cry: Turned out the garage had preplaced some of the anti perc wirring and left wires on top of the turbo. mupets.

Well i have now replaced all the burn out items including a new loom myself (don't trust garages anymore) and replaced all the clips that the garage left off.

Whats this got to do with HGF you ask, well now i have large amount of water and white smoke from the exaust, bubbling expansion tank with exaust gasses in it. I know this is head trouble just need someone else to say it before i go lay seven bell of sh1t out off the f***ers at the garage. No mayo in oil and oil in water though.

I need to go back to see them anyway cos my rocker cover gasket has also leaked ever since the rebuild.

[chezzer85]

Forgot to say never had any over heating issues, flushed the rad when i got the car and have now fitted a low temp fan switch and got rid of the manual swith on the dash, she seem to come up to tempreture a lot quicker now though.

[chris]

What a game you have had i think i would be dumping the car at the garage and telling them to sort it it sounds like headgasket mate but are the headbolts holding head down propley are they the right ones and is the head cracked was it pressure tested?

[SCHWARTZ]

Get your money back off them. Then get someone on here to sort it out for ya.

[chezzer85]

I'm not gonna chuck any more money at it, i'll make sure they sort it. Just don't want the down time, know it will take forever. My 5 was surposed to be my daily for summer and just sold my reliable 306 hdi. and was gonna plough funds into a respay. Think head was pressure tested, they sent it way to be checked out and skimmed (think the bill was £150ish for that)

[chezzer85]

Would rather get a refund but don't think they'll be too keen, if i can anyone fancy the job?

Before i start throwing by weight around is there anything else i should be checking? ie turbo?

[chris]

I think its giveng clear signs of a head fault wheather its gasket because they may have used wrong head bolts or bad head best of luck anyway

[LiamR]

Sounds like a head fault to me to mate.

Bit concerning that they couldnt even get hold of the correct head bolts too. Did they even do them up to the correct tightness etc etc. Loads of questions you could be asking.

Get ya money back from them. Threaten them with trading standards if need be.

Then spend it on a reliable garage recommended by lads on here, or better still give a member a few quid on here to do it. Loads of them on here that are pretty damn handy with a spanner :agree:

[chezzer85]

yeh think i'm gonna have to drop a bomb on them tomorrow, was thinking the same if they don't know if their the correct head bolts how the feck are they gonna know the torque values.

I don't trust so called garages/mechanics had a lots of issues with a suzuki sj recently too when i took it to a different place. Was there 7 months and they couldn't fix it after rebuilding the head. And my 15 year old brother fixed it in two days.

If you want something done right gotta do it yourself! I work 60-70 hrs a week otherwise i would have had a crack at the rebuild myself.

Will report back after my little talk tomorrow (f###ing w###ers)

[Dave Reed]

By the sounds of things the 'off the shelf' bolts that the previous owner had used, would of been the up rated 12.9 tensile allen head bolt.. Standard head bolts are a stretch bolt and can only be used once.

Hard to say if its the head/ head gasket at fault, you would normally get water in oil (mayo).. You sure it doesn't just need a good run?? Could well be the turbo at fault. Best way to rule it out is connect the 2 water pipes together that go to the turbo.

[philr5t]

I had these symptoms no over heating no oil or water mixed and no Mayo but smoked like a trooper it was the gasket and a faulty gasket not how the car was set up at all The faulty gasket was a Payne gasket red round the edges

[Tony Walker]

Just before you take it back claiming stuff. make sure the headgasket has gone, steam from exhaust usually is just condensation. Bubbling in the expansion bottle could just be an airlock. With the cap on the header tank does it quickly pressurise the coolant pipes?? if you can get a CO tester on the expansion bottle that would be ideal(only takes 2mins for a definate answer) headgaskets a pretty easy job to do on the 5's. take your time and do it right :agree: any help needed ask on here.

[djinuk]

My advice would be if it is the head, cut your losses and more so stress, and tackle it yourself... These things really are so simple to work on, failing that hit up a good mmember to come help you, serve beer tokens and bacon and get somebody to help show you how to do it :)

[chezzer85]

Just blead the coolant system again and left running for about 10mins still smoking. I have only been doing short jorneys lately, and been laying off the boost. So think i'm gotta have to go for a drive tonight get everything warmed up and give the turbo some exercise. Kill or cure!

[Tony Walker]

If the hoses go hard quickly after starting then you definetly have a problem and not worth driving. if they stay soft then :agree: good luck

[chezzer85]

Just got back from a little drive around the cornish countryside.
Hoses stayed soft after 5 mins, but had to give the tempermental princess loads of choke tho, and took ages before she'd idel, and was spitting out water and white smoke.
Ater a couple of miles the smoke had cleared, and things seemed to be good, but when ever i pulled up to a juntion she'd stall.
I have got a 3" or sumthing great big drain pipe of a tail pipe, so maybe thats causing excessive condensation build up. And maybe the carb isn't set up correctly. Need to get rocker cover off soon, as there is oil everywhere too.
Don't think the head gaskets gone though with is a releif, thanks for all your help and coments on that front.

[Tony Walker]

No problem. Check for air leaks around the inlet manifold easiest with some brake cleaner sprayed and listening for engine note changes. Could be possible cause for stalling.

[chezzer85]

I know digressing away from the orginal theme of the thread. But just changed my fuel filter and noticed that my fuel pump is making a fair noise, like a whining sound which can be heard when crouching next to the car. Is it normal to hear the fuel pump?

Tony I've had a look at the manifold and it looks in fairly good shape, replaced or recondition at some point. Would i be looking for air leaks into the inlet manifold?

[Nottswoody]

My fuel pump is noisy as hell but I was told its an uprated one.. Can even hear it in the car.

[Romil Davda]

Idle jet perhaps?

When I took my R5 out on the track last week, I managed to "block" this up quite bad. Need to take out idle jet and clean, also clean where the idle jet goes into the body, as crud can get in to there.

[chezzer85]

Will check the idel jets then, lets hope its a quick fit. Recon carb was fitted only a few hundred miles ago though.

Was thinking i was gonna have to shell out for new fuel pump for a sec then, thats a releif. Just after past experences i keep thinking the worst.