Heading for Head gasket No. 3

Sundeep · 16-03-2005, 07:46 PM

Yeah that's right! Fully sick, 3rd in a year of having my license :togo:

It pretty much all started on the Monday night cruise when I tried racing some V8 ****er on Swansear Road. I tripped the gearstick in to neutral by accident with my foot to the floor, causing the motor to over rev. Next thing I know alternator light is on so I pull over in a bus stop and find the fan belt's gone.

Anyway since then it's gone twice more. I don't know why but it keeps spitting 'em out. The second time was like a street from my house so i drove it home, and by the time I got the EL out of the driveway and my car in to the garage the temp was off the gauge, and the light was on!

: It was no more than 3 minutes after the belt had gone...couldn't believe it.

I tried to put the same belt back on tonight but it kept coming off then eventually broke. I thought, hmm better check under the oil cap see if there's any water in there and waddayano it's going all misty white....great.

If it's gone I'm going to take the opportunity strip and paint the engine bay while the head is off and start the turbo stuff immediately afterwards.

Realllyyyy ****ed off and reaaallllyyy can't be stuffed. If I knew any better I'd sell and get a different car.

Sundeep

INJECTED_250 · 16-03-2005, 08:00 PM

hmm.. if u dont cook it man ya wont keep blowing head gaskets.. just think of how many ure going to kill with boost :>
(did u use an au gasket)

Brent-EA Ghia · 16-03-2005, 08:09 PM

Yeah, what injected said!
I snapped a fan belt while going up the freeway, as soon as the temp started to move i pulled straight off and shut her down, she boiled and lost the coolant but survived without any other damage!
The bad thing was it only happened cause i kept driving with the clutch fan locked up,

Brent.

EDXR8 · 16-03-2005, 11:07 PM

The only real reason to keep flicking the belts off is if the pullies aren't aligned properly. Even if they are off by a small amount, the first time you overrev or put added load on the belt it will come straight off.

EFFalcon · 17-03-2005, 08:20 AM

could be worse.
atleast u can fix it yaself

dansedgli · 17-03-2005, 08:33 AM

Thats shithouse Sundeep!

I reckon if you put a new belt on it wont chuck em anymore.

If ya need a hand with the head stuff, ill come over and watch..

spope · 17-03-2005, 08:47 AM

My car threw 2 water pump belts because the water pump pulley was misalligned - new water pump fixed it.
At least now you have an excuse to put a decompression plate in - run 15 pounds of boost.

You must be getting pretty quick with the gasket change now, though.

dansedgli · 17-03-2005, 08:48 AM

There is a good idea, time for a decomp plate! Can run more boost with less risk of detonation.

Psycho Chicken · 17-03-2005, 10:37 AM

Wait, you DROVE a car with no fan belt? Are you crazy?

neb · 17-03-2005, 10:44 AM

also if you just get a new belt that could fix it... once they've come off they seem to be a bit stretched or twisted and keep coming off (thats what happened to me after i had the pulleys replaced it still kept coming off and found out the belt was stuffed).

Sundeep · 17-03-2005, 02:20 PM

I think the water pump pulley is loose or bent. The belt was brand new Tueday night and it came off again. Ahh well....it's my luck.

What's a decompression plate and what does it cost? I was thinking just pull the head off, scrape the bottom clean and throw a $24 EB gasket in. That's what we did with Doug's and it's running perfectly. Anyone know how much it costs to get the head cleaned professionally and machined?

Just to clarify, first head gasket went last year in this car, we just changed the motor. Next one went in my old EA, which now belongs to EASPRINT. So this is 3rd but it's the first time it's going on THIS motor since I've owned it.

Sundeep

dansedgli · 17-03-2005, 02:22 PM

A decomp is like a thick headgasket to drop the compression. Just so you can run more boost. They are generally not the best option to lowering compression.

If I was you I wouldnt bother personally.

Sundeep · 17-03-2005, 02:23 PM

Oh and did I say that Lube Mobile charged me $120 to change the belt and untangle it and do something else on Tuesday night? It's the first time I've been raped...

RACV didn't want to come out because they didn't believe me when I said the colour and rego has changed.

Sundeep

dansedgli · 17-03-2005, 02:24 PM

You should have rang first and said you need to change your details then called back 20 minutes later. I did the same when I first go the EB and RACV was still with the XF.

nikkoli · 17-03-2005, 07:03 PM

I paid $700 to get my head machined and one weld done to fix a hole in the water jacket....I rang a few places and everyone else was quoting between $800-$1200....found they tried to be non-specific with their quotes too...theyd say stuff like IF it has to be machined it will be extra,IF the head bolts need to be replaced it'll be extra..etc...I found out that you always need to get it machined and should always replace the head bolts

Psycho Chicken · 17-03-2005, 07:21 PM

I hope you mean you paid $700 for the head gasket to be changed, head decked and crack welded!

A deck and a pressure test shouldn't cost more than $90.

galapogos01 · 17-03-2005, 07:39 PM

my brother has had his car do this 2x in the last week.. lets hope the gasket holds out.

call head torque in rowville for a quote on getting the head machined. theyre pretty cheap.

Jase

Damo · 17-03-2005, 07:43 PM

You tried to race a V8 ?

:

That's tough luck Sunny.

SileNceR · 17-03-2005, 10:33 PM

lol can't say you werent asking for it, driving it without the belt lol...

Sundeep · 17-03-2005, 11:39 PM

Dude, for you and anyone else overly concerned about driving without a belt, it was 500m without a belt to my house, and for half of that the car was switched off. I'm not stupid, I knew what I was doing but I didn't expect the temp to shoot up from just moving it from the top of the driveway in to the garage.

I don't know about you guys but I'm not absolutely dedicated to my POS 3.9L shitter aight. I won't stop and tow my car for like 500M at 11PM **** that. That's just stupid.

People have been through this about 500 times over and over again but I'm going to use the head bolts I have now again. I've done it before, so has Doug (twice?) and we've had no problems at all. EA bolts don't deform or stretch with heat, whereas EF and later bolts do.

I might get the head decked if I can be screwed, if not I'll get a EB head gasket for all of $24 and clean the head and block, slap it on. If it fails again I'll be sure to get it machined.

Sundeep

JADED6 · 18-03-2005, 02:04 AM

You made a thread last time about how cheaply you can do it (the V8 W@nkers thread) so all aint that bad. ;)

ea ba turbo · 18-03-2005, 02:12 AM

normally about 100 to 150 for a service on a head......
machine face...crack test, check valves and replace valve stem seals

Bass Crazy · 18-03-2005, 08:19 AM

Sunny do it the cheap way mate. These engines are not worth the big $$$
Only concern is that the head might be cracked. I guess you will be able to have a better idea of what to do when you have the head off. If there is obvious damage to the gasket, thats a good thing.

I could not find any damage on my gasket last week. Checked out the head, a nice crack on cyl 4.

Anyhow, you know what ur doing!

As for the decomp plate. The go for about $60 from autobarn, but keep in mind you need to run a head gasket on both sides of it... extra $$$

Oh and prices for heads. $150 for crack check, clean and slight shave. $400-600 for a reco, additional repairs not included.

mcflux · 18-03-2005, 08:50 AM

Damn that sucks man, three head gaskets, three different motors

:

I agree with ya regarding driving a short distance with the fanbelt off, it's not like it's gonna kill the engine (although your temp shot up rather quickly for just 500m!)... I did that in hilux a coal mine and it took 5-10 minutes to drive to the surface, :tool: st00pid aircon pulley seized! Temperature never budged, but then again it was a cold day (hence aircon needed to demist windscreen)

whoops! going off topic a bit...

Anyhoo best of luck with the gasket change (bad luck comes in threes?), and I'd avoid the compression plate because 1) your car ain't turbo yet and 2) you're simply doubling the chances of having gasket number 4 go to p00pY

-Dave-

Kenaz · 18-03-2005, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundeep

It pretty much all started on the Monday night cruise when I tried racing some V8 ****er on Swansear Road.

That'll learn ya! Don't mess with teh V8

: Hmm... I really am a ****er

:

Anyway, good luck with fixing it mate. I once drove my old EA without the fan belt for about a kilometre and she was fine. Still is actually

NZ · 18-03-2005, 12:00 PM

I did a drag run without belts before lol. one was hangin there and the other was tangled round the fan. i did the burnout at the start then realised damn no power steering. i didnt wanna back out and look like a retard so i just went.

anyway dan's coming over to watch so you have all the help you need