oops, head gasket popped again!

GeX · 23 Nov 2008 at 21:31

Driving back from Bolton on saturday, im watching the temperature gauges. Oil is much cooler than usual, around 50c, and water temperature wasnt registering. Odd. So i turned the heaters off and let the engine have some heat back, oil temp begins to climb, water temp starts to register, hits around 70 and then drops off again. How very odd. Hit a slight hill on the motorway and then it starts loosing power, as my speed and revs are dropping, water temp is climbing. GREAT. i know what that means.. engine off and abrupt stop on the hard shoulder, heaters on, rad fan override on, pop the bonnet, but before i get out i see the temp still rising, it peaked arond 120c and then sat there.

Looked under the bonnet and there is waterhose off. Had the car not lost power i'd happily convince myself that it was just a pipe coming off leading to a slight overheat, but it didnt play out that way. I walked to the services i'd just past, bought 4.5l of Buxton Spring water and walked back to the car. It had cooled down by now. Filled her. Reattached the hose. Left the expansion cap off and fired her up! ROUGH AS... with bubbles and exhaust fumes coming out the expansion tank.

RAC came and picked me and the car up, and after a brief look at the water feature that was now present in the expansion tank he didn't even try and fix it.

hmm this doesnt look right..

nope.. def a small leak going on there!!

fire ring isn't damaged though, its as if the head wasn't torqued down enough and its just squeezed out over the top of the gasket.

Dogbreath · 23 Nov 2008 at 22:04

Probably a good idea to check the top of the block for any low spots in those areas. IIRC you had the head skimmed last time didn't you?

GeX · 23 Nov 2008 at 22:10

this head was skimmed before fitting yeah, its the first time i've had a gasket go when using this head though, as it was newly prepped when i converted to MPI.

I'm in two minds as to what to do with it atm, i wanted this gasket to last long enough until i got the pistons from the 16v (lowers the CR enough when put in the 8v block) and fit the turbo thats been on the shelf for months.. but it hasnt. Am tempted to just bung an el cheapo gasket on there, drop the rev limiter down, back off the ignition timing a bit and sort it properly in the new year. OR sell the head, and if my mates brava is dead (has a nice low mileage 16v punto engine i just fitted!) - then i will claim the engine from that and drop it in.

If i deciede to stick with this engine though, i'll check the block carefully.

Dogbreath · 23 Nov 2008 at 23:41

16v engine is a bit of a squeeze in the cento isn't it?

GeX · 24 Nov 2008 at 05:51

its harder to fit in the Seicento (needs the headlight trimming) but in the Cinquecento it goes in quite easily. If i can source one, i want a 1368cc 16v from a stilo/punto mk3 sporting/panda100hp ideally

Deleted member 66701 · 24 Nov 2008 at 08:29

fire ring isn't damaged though, its as if the head wasn't torqued down enough and its just squeezed out over the top of the gasket.

I agree - when was your torque wrench last calibrated? Did you oil the bolts?

ShakenNstirred · 24 Nov 2008 at 12:19

amigafan2003 said:
I agree - when was your torque wrench last calibrated? Did you oil the bolts?

also, i know i maybe telling you how to suck eggs, but do you put the torque wrench back to 0 after use? (lots of people forget to do that and if you dont it will not work at the right setting next time)

Deleted member 66701 · 24 Nov 2008 at 15:09

but do you put the torque wrench back to 0 after use? (lots of people forget to do that and if you dont it will not work at the right setting next time)

The man speaks the truth. Setting it to 100nm then leaving it for a week could weaken it up to 25%.

GeX · 24 Nov 2008 at 15:21

aye, i know how to look after a torque wrench.

just been making a few phone calls and think i've found a 1.4 16v engine, so it shoudnt matter soon

edit; to answer the questions though, the wrench was new before it used on this job which was done around 14months ago, and yes i did oil the bolts

GeX · 13 Dec 2008 at 20:59

ok, finally got round to working on the car.

until the HG popped, this was the plan;

it was near enough ready, and just need someone spare money to sort the bespoke downpipe and induction plumbing.

anyways...

hmmmmm curious looking thing...

ooof that's close;

bit of jiggery pokery with the pulleys

but it all seems to fit

it isn't plumbed in yet, but is happily sat on the mounts

the engine is from 2004 FIAT Stilo, 1368cc 16v. The inlet manifold, tb and coil packs are off a punto 1242cc 16v. The alternator is the origonal from the 1108cc 8v.. but i might use the 1242cc 16v one as the 1108cc one doesnt seem to line up right.

SB118 · 13 Dec 2008 at 21:16

Nice looking build, but holy snot that block sits a bit forward in the bay!

ste_bla · 13 Dec 2008 at 21:24

Stupid question however I'll ask anyway where will the radiator go?

GeX · 13 Dec 2008 at 21:36

SB118 said:
Nice looking build, but holy snot that block sits a bit forward in the bay!

it does a bit doesn't it, it's kinda scuppered my turbo plans for this engine.. unless i put it in the backbox..

ste_bla said:
Stupid question however I'll ask anyway where will the radiator go?

there is *just* enough space i think once the exhaust manifold has gone in to fit the rad back where it is meant to go;

or if needs be i can move it back to this side;

thepharcyde · 13 Dec 2008 at 21:40

LOL, love the build on this. Good going

GeX · 16 Dec 2008 at 17:24

small update.. i couldnt face fitting a completely standard engine in there, so took the flywheel off and sent it to fat camp

4.7kg total weight;

GeX · 4 Jan 2009 at 17:17

Flywheel and clutch are now on. Gearbox is all connected up, clutch cable, driveshafts, gear linkages etc

got a large chunk of the rewiring done today;

its all correctly connected, just needs tidying up and putting in nice plastic tubes to protect.

then all i have left to do is connect up fuel, check the cooling system fits back in nicely..and erm.. ah yeah, make the alternator fit!

GeX · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:09

Dogbreath said:
Probably a good idea to check the top of the block for any low spots in those areas. IIRC you had the head skimmed last time didn't you?

because it was a fairly low mileage, well looked after, tuned engine, i sold the 8v engine that can be seen in the earlier photos and the new owner has skimmed the block as it wasn't completely flat.

MrKnifey · 4 Jan 2009 at 22:33

Looking good dude, my friend from college had one of the Cinq Sportings, think he managed 110bhp out of it! It was insane and went like hell. Very fun car, although very small. And he was well over 6ft too! Looking forward to more updates

BigglesPiP · 5 Jan 2009 at 00:07

Sweet! Powerful go-cart there.

Not as tight a fit as the Panda (Mk1) turbo tho.

GeX · 12 Jan 2009 at 15:09

nah, the panda bay is huge in comparison..

anyhooo, update time;

ok, one of the problems with this engine is that the TDC sensor is in a different location. On the cento, from the crank it goes;
"cam belt | aux belt | TDC trigger ring" This is because its a bit tight with the engine mount. On the 16v's it goes "cam belt| TDR Trigger ring | aux belt". This means if you use the cento alternator and pulley, the TDC sensor is looking at the aux belt, not the teeth. But if you use the 16v alterantor and pulley then the belt fouls the engine mount.

Options are, grind away some of the mount or move the TDC sensor.

Now i know how finicking TDC sensors are and the nightmere it can cause if they're not bob on.. so i chose to leave it alone and attack the mount. Shame the mount was stuck in the car...

sorted!

oops, head gasket popped again!

Deleted member 66701

Deleted member 66701

Deleted member 66701

Deleted member 66701