I'm hoping that when I take it apart it won't need it, otherwise I know someone that can do it. Might be a challenge getting the car there mind
You don't need to take the car, just the cylinder head.
Puzzle: where is all my water going?
- Thread starter SiD the Turtle
- Start date
You don't need to take the car, just the cylinder head.
Soldato
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Yup I've had a look at the trust Haynes. It doesn't look too hard, just time consuming.
Ahh, the good old book of lies...expect to be working on the car for quite some time if you try and follow that.
The Haynes manual where "release the bolt with gentle pressure" equates to "go nuts with the largest bar extension and hammer you have"; and guaranteed the photo in 14.3 bears no resemblance to your car.
Remember the new head bolts when changing the gasket, and the exhaust gasket (if you've got one)
Remember the new head bolts when changing the gasket, and the exhaust gasket (if you've got one)
Pressurise the cooling system and look for leaks. If nothing is coming out then likely to be HGF.
Not so strange that the AA man found exhaust contamination in the water and the block tester didn't, it could be that his test is more sensitive. One garage that I know now use their MOT emissions tester to check for head gasket failure as it is more sensitive then the chemical block test.
Not so strange that the AA man found exhaust contamination in the water and the block tester didn't, it could be that his test is more sensitive. One garage that I know now use their MOT emissions tester to check for head gasket failure as it is more sensitive then the chemical block test.
Soldato
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That, or HGF where temperature plays a big role.
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Thanks guys, Ste nope no valve on the cap, you won't find anything fancy on a standard Clio
I've picked up a new head gasket set and head bolts in time for the weekend, in the mean time I've borrowed an awful Citroen Xsara to get me to work. After driving that, I'll never say anything bad about my Clio again!
I've picked up a new head gasket set and head bolts in time for the weekend, in the mean time I've borrowed an awful Citroen Xsara to get me to work. After driving that, I'll never say anything bad about my Clio again!
Soldato
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I did a headgasket on one of these, wasn't too bad 
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Update! I attacked this last weekend, and the job was way out of my league! In the end I had to call on my dad and spent most of the weekend handing him spanners rather than doing it myself. 
The challenge was finding little unexpected problems along the way, mostly caused by shoddy repair jobs that one of the previous owners must have received, for example finding that several of the bolt heads throughout the engine were snapped off and had been stuck back in with putty! When we finally got to the gasket the problem was obvious. One of the ring edges on the gasket had come away from the main body of the gasket and there was about a 5mm long split on the circumference which was letting water in.
Replaced that along with some other bits that needed doing seeing as we had the engine in pieces (oil filter, timing belt etc) and came to a grand total of £100 + two days work. Much cheaper than the garage!
I've now been running it for a week without any problems, so I'm happy.
The challenge was finding little unexpected problems along the way, mostly caused by shoddy repair jobs that one of the previous owners must have received, for example finding that several of the bolt heads throughout the engine were snapped off and had been stuck back in with putty! When we finally got to the gasket the problem was obvious. One of the ring edges on the gasket had come away from the main body of the gasket and there was about a 5mm long split on the circumference which was letting water in.
Replaced that along with some other bits that needed doing seeing as we had the engine in pieces (oil filter, timing belt etc) and came to a grand total of £100 + two days work. Much cheaper than the garage!
I've now been running it for a week without any problems, so I'm happy.