Possible Head Gasket

Post by **maddog334** » 27 Apr 2008, 21:25

Hi All
I am hoping someone can prove me wrong here.
We have just been to The Big Bang, and i think the head gasket has blown, the symptons are that the top up tank is being overfilled with hot coolant and blowing all up the back of the van as it overflows, we stopped about every 50 miles and the radiator was full of air and the top up tank overflowing.
I refilled the system at santa pod and bleed it all through and the blue cap is holding pressure and everything seems perfect whilst stationery and up to temperature. Then on the way home today within 50 miles the top up tank had blown out about 2 litres or more .
So my negative thoughts are that whilst the engine is put under load the headgasket or head is leaking and pressurising the system and blowing the coolant out. There are no signs of any external leakage.
I really hope someone can come up with another reason as i gather its prob cheaper to go down the elite engine route than try the job myself.
On a plus point the weekend was amaing with some gr8 weather and top drag racing.

Martin

Post by **grenjs** » 27 Apr 2008, 22:42

maddog334 wrote:Hi All
I am hoping someone can prove me wrong here.
We have just been to The Big Bang, and i think the head gasket has blown, the symptons are that the top up tank is being overfilled with hot coolant and blowing all up the back of the van as it overflows, we stopped about every 50 miles and the radiator was full of air and the top up tank overflowing.
I refilled the system at santa pod and bleed it all through and the blue cap is holding pressure and everything seems perfect whilst stationery and up to temperature. Then on the way home today within 50 miles the top up tank had blown out about 2 litres or more .
So my negative thoughts are that whilst the engine is put under load the headgasket or head is leaking and pressurising the system and blowing the coolant out. There are no signs of any external leakage.
I really hope someone can come up with another reason as i gather its prob cheaper to go down the elite engine route than try the job myself.
On a plus point the weekend was amaing with some gr8 weather and top drag racing.

Martin

I hate to say it, but it does seem like your worse suspicions may be true. Ours did exactly the same as this.

We had a new short block fitted and since then the cooling problem has been resolved, but we have been fighting with oil leaks ever since.

Elite engine route? What's that ?

Post by **maddog334** » 27 Apr 2008, 23:03

Hi thank you for your advice
the elite route is :
http://www.elitevw.com/
there are alot of mixed reviews on here about them, but I beleive they appear excellent value for money .
Martin

Post by **Hacksawbob** » 28 Apr 2008, 00:02

Point us at the bad reviews? I have only heard good stuff about the engines at least over a two year period. the only neg I have picked up were one due to a faulty batch of head seals and personally they dicked me about for weeks over a flywheel they were supposed to send me.

Post by **ermie571** » 28 Apr 2008, 10:02

Second what he say^^^^^

we have 2 of theirs now....in different vans!!

One has just come out of its 2 year (yes 2 year) warrenty; I am just running in the second one!

Em
x

Post by **toomanytoys** » 28 Apr 2008, 12:56

What engine is it?? age?

Elite only do waterboxers dont they?

could be the pressure cap still as there are some crappy ones out there... but it doesnt sound good..

Post by **ermie571** » 28 Apr 2008, 13:28

nah - elite will do Aircooled, beetle and t25.

Just so as you know.

Emma

Post by **maddog334** » 28 Apr 2008, 15:47

I personally think the elite engines look great value, I was just hoping that I could repair it allot cheaper as I am about £680 short, the engine is a 1984 1915 dg (the bad reviews I mentioned were from people who don't believe they can do it for the money, I think they look great value, I just wasn't planning on a new engine so soon, also as apart from the water system getting over pressurised everything appears ok it runs perfect and pulls really strong).
Guess I need to start saving.

Post by **R0B** » 28 Apr 2008, 16:37

if your top up tank is overflowing then the cap on your expansion tank is faulty.the cap is one way.allowing fluid into the expansion tank.not out of...mine used to blow its water out after a long run.but once i had changed the cap all was well...get a new cap from http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/..as i know these are the good ones.there are some carp new ones out there...

Post by **maddog334** » 28 Apr 2008, 16:45

Hi Rob
If your right then you are a star, I will order one and try it, are the ones from JK any good , I will try vw first but not sure if they still have them.

Martin

Post by **R0B** » 28 Apr 2008, 16:49

like i said.i know the ones from brickwerks are good.not sure about the jk ones....your problem is exactly the same as the one i had.so my money is on a faulty cap...good luck...

Post by **Aidan** » 28 Apr 2008, 17:41

cap is two way, pressurised one way obviously, but able to hold pressure and pass excess to the top up tank, and obviously under vacuum when cooled down suck it back to self top up, that's why the level is checked cold. If it's filling your top up tank and blowing out the top I believe it will be combustion gases in coolant problem, sniff test will confirm.

Post by **maddog334** » 28 Apr 2008, 18:36

I must admit , that does make sense , so has anyone redone the head gasket recently, I see that JK do a gasket kit for around £40 per head , is it possible to reuse existing studs or is that just asking for trouble, it just doesnt start to make much sense financially to replace every stud and gasket etc , then a week later the water pump or some other fails. I don't mean to sound tight here I just am just wondering what others have done, I can get access to a workshop and have previous experience rebuilding Aircooled.
Any ideas on the average price to repair ????
compared to and elite exchange at £680.
Many thanks to all who have replied.
Martin
p.s engine has apparently done around 97k

Post by **grenjs** » 28 Apr 2008, 20:18

maddog334 wrote:I must admit , that does make sense , so has anyone redone the head gasket recently, I see that JK do a gasket kit for around £40 per head , is it possible to reuse existing studs or is that just asking for trouble, it just doesnt start to make much sense financially to replace every stud and gasket etc , then a week later the water pump or some other fails. I don't mean to sound tight here I just am just wondering what others have done, I can get access to a workshop and have previous experience rebuilding Aircooled.
Any ideas on the average price to repair ????
compared to and elite exchange at £680.
Many thanks to all who have replied.
Martin
p.s engine has apparently done around 97k

Is that £680 just for an exchange engine - or supply and fit?

I'd rather get a short block myself which will have new pistons, reground crank, new heads etc (i.e. basic engine is already built) and then do all the rest myself.

Not only can you be sure it's done correctly, you could also clean and paint all the parts yourself - thereby making sure you are happy with the outcome.

That's exactly what I'm doing right now (95% complete - it's ready to drop back in the van) with our Elite supplied and fitted engine.

[img:800:600]http://s136500617.websitehome.co.uk/her ... ct0176.jpg[/img]
You won't see an engine as clean as that from a garage...

Post by **toomanytoys** » 28 Apr 2008, 20:53

'84... if its the original engine, then trying to do the head gaskets is a non starter... and I wouldnt attempt it.. you will spend a lot of effort and money trying to fix it and still have a few problems to overcome..

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