Head Gasket Questions - Arrgfh

Z

zebedee37

New Member
Losing coolant into the engine (didnt really notice - just kept topping up - till a pal mentioned that the white smoke on starting was probably water vapour!)

Engine runs pretty well and I need to drive her tommorrow for about 800 miles over the weekend

Im hoping that those in the know will advise that I wont kill the engine as long as I top up the coolant - please tell me that! (family will slaughter me if we dont go to the Holland rally in the estate)

Secondly - Ive never changhed a V8 head gasket - is it a job for the professionals? - I have currently no garage facilities
 
V8 engines have a bit of a reputation for blown head gaskets,but I feel unjustly so.Then it's easy to jump to the wrong conclusion.Check everything else first.As for using the car, that can quickly push things over the edge.
they can be done by a competent DIYer but \t's a matter of confidence. personally I would always change both.
 
Get a pressure test done on the cooling system before ripping things apart

Take the spark plugs out and if one comes out cleaner than the rest , that's the cylinder water is leaking into

Good luck

Dave
 
Only cylinders 1 & 7 and 2 & 8 have water jackets next to the cylinder,so only these 4 can blow water across the gasket.When they do start to go coolant goes into the cylinder as you suspect,at this stage a previously run engine with a normally pressurised cooling system, when switched off,then forces coolant across into the cylinder.Then when started from cold there can be an initial misfire due to this.As things deteriorate,compression forces across into the coolant really pressurising the cooling system.I've just done a head gasket on my truck (diesel) and this was pressurising the hoses until they were rock hard and absolutly blasting the coolant out.when this happens you WILL know it.
 
I think you already know the answer to your own question,Dave.The water passageways can leak and then particularly at the front, as the engine slopes backwards slightly, coolant creeps back along the inlet gasket and then gets sucked down the next inlet port.When you come to fix the problem the manifold retaining bolt between the water jacket and inlet port snaps beause it's had water soaking down the threads.
 
That's really cheered me up !
I need to remove my inlet manifold to have a look at the camshaft which I think has worn out
I've been putting it off for months
 
Sorry about that Dave, but as they say forewarned is forearmed(whatever that means) As far as camshafts go there are ways to know when they are really worn with out stripping out if your lucky.I've always found that when you do inspect them you can always find something to justify changing them.They can sound OK running but when in bits all the followers look dished and the cam lobes rounded.You only see how bad they are when you compare the old to new.
What really annoys me is finding 15 servicable lobes and only one that's Fu. sorry defective!
 
Very good, is this called "ostrich syndrome"? On a serious note keep a very close eye on coolant level and temperature!
Also remember that regarding white emissions from the exhaust,for every gallon of fuel used a gallon of water comes out the tailpipe(that's why the exhausts rot out) so particularly on cold mornings and full choke there normally is a cloud of white vapour.It doesn't follow that this and your coolant loss are connected.
 
I replaced the valley gasket on my old Land Rover, which has a P6 V8 fitted, a few weeks ago (with help from a friend). The job only took about two hours. Easy peasy.
 
It's not the difficulty that puts me off , it's the thought of those bolts shearing which would really p*ss me off
That's when a 2 hour job becomes a 2 month job
 
JumboBeef said:
I replaced the valley gasket on my old Land Rover, which has a P6 V8 fitted, a few weeks ago (with help from a friend). The job only took about two hours. Easy peasy.
Click to expand...
yeah, me too; that was easy, the hard part is getting one of the carb/mainfold nuts on - must have taken me about half an hour due to access - I had to wrap some masking tap tound the nut to form a little hand and then spin it on - a right bugger I can tell you.
 
Dave, just because I said about the inlet manifold bolts snapping, dont be put off doing the job because of it.It's by no means a certainty that they will. Of all the cars I've done I've probably only come across half a dozen or so that either have snapped bolts in them, or bolts that snap on the way out. If you're worried gently try to back the bolts off and then retighten before you start the job proper. You should be able to feel if any are likely to snap.
With regard to the awkward carb to manifold nuts, the carbs don't need to be removed from the manifold to do the inlet gasket.
 
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