I have a feeling my head gasket's blown but before i start crying, what are the major symptoms like smell, discolouring etc...

 

i replaced some of the water pipes over the weekend and for a couple of days it ran l ike a dream!

 

then today when i started accelerating, the engine temp guage just went up and up so i stopped suddenly, turned it off and there was a lot of smoke coming from somewhere in the engine...couldn't quite work it out. whether it was coming from one of the pipes we'd fitted on the weekend or whether it's something a lot more serious!!

 

Any help appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Jim.

Also what sort of cost are these to replace? I saw a head gasket set on ebay for about £60.

Its an engine out job if its gone, over a grand to repair, get a pressure test done on the cooling system to tell if its gone, usual symptons are white smoke from exhaust, oil goes like mayonaisse.

To be honest tho if you have just done some work to the cooling system its more likely to be something you did that caused it to overheat, wether that in turn has blown your headgasket or not???? check what you did to the cooling system, top it up and run it and keep an eye out for leaks.

And ..........

 

it could have air trapped in the system that caused it to overheat.

Yep these cars take up to an hour to bleed all air out of the system properly.

oh really? cheers suffolkZX. after changing the pipes i topped up the water but not sure if i put in enough. what else should i put in the radiator? engine coolant etc...

 

how would i get rid of any air trapped in the coolant system?

would i have to pump it out?

there's no smoke from the exhaust and the oil is light brown and clean! so i'm gonna put it down to the coolant system. better run some tests to see where it's still leaking from.

You may find this guide of some help to you. It has good procedures for getting rid of the trapped air in the system.

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/markfield/overheating.html

Check for leaks then let it run with the rad cap off while you squeeze all the water pipes you can see, keep away from the fan obviously, like mark said its a long job, also having the front of the car jacked up can help.

oh and the heater on hot in the car.

ok, i'm reading that guide now, it's bloody helpful! thanks chaps.

Cost me £1500 for new head gasket fitted. and other bits inc. like timing belt etc...

oh dear...well i'm currently running the air out of it...

 

just a quick question...when i'm topping it up in the radiator, it seems to bubble a bit then go down. any thoughts?

oh that might be the air bubble!

 

also when i top up the radiator, it's dripping out of the bottom! do i have a leak maybe?

The bubbles would be air :slap: as for water coming out the bottom, if you are being careful and not dripping it down the side of the rad then check the drain plug at the bottom of the rad and the bottom hose if their ok then you need a new rad.

no we did some more investigating and as it turns out there's another leak from one of the hoses right behind the bloody engine! gonna take several hours to get to it, take it off, replace it and finally get it started again!

 

tears...