Repeated Head Gasket failure

[Rich75]

Hi

So, about 3 years ago I had a recon engine fitted to my 1986 1.9DG T25. It was fine and then started leaking - back to the garage that fitted the engine, head gasket was gone. It was out of warranty by about a year but they fitted a new engine ( or at least partially new engine ) and charged me about 750 for it. A day later a coolant hose exploded, head gasket gone again. Took it back and they fitted a new engine FOC this time. 4 weeks later the expansion tank has gone pop, swollen up like crazy and the coolant system is again over pressurising.. which would suggest head gasket again. Any ideas on why this would keep happening with multiple engines ?

[Mocki]

The first question is was the rest of the cooling system replaced / overhauled ?
The second question is , did they use the original heads ? It’s not unknown for heads to have holes in them, tiny pin holes that allow compression gases to get into the coolant

This was one of mine many years ago

[Rich75]

so.. they changed the water pump and the thermostat, all the hose are relatively new, radiator was new 3 years ago. first time they changed it I think they used the heads, second time was a completely new engine off the shelf

[Rich75]

water pipes, front to back, were replaced about 3 years ago as well

[Rich75]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but.. engine running hot, intermittent red led coming on and off, what looked suspiciously like some kind of bubble in notes coolant tank.. bought a 12 quid sniff test off amazon and, its marginal but .. looks like its gone again. 

Engine has not overheated, sticker on it is proof of that but yet again, 4th time, it's gone. All I can go on is what I was told by the garage that fitted it that it was a new recon and not just them re using knackered heads but wither they're talking rubbish and just fobbing me off with the same heads over and over again to they're truly terrible at fitting head gaskets to 1.9DG engines

I would name names but until its confirmed by my local garage on Wednesday and I've spoken to the engine fitting garage I'll hold off.. safe to say I really really don't recommend this company..

[davidoft1]

Did the garage supply and fit the engine or did they purchase an engine from a separate supplier and fit that?

[Rich75]

Did the garage supply and fit the engine or did they purchase an engine from a separate supplier and fit that?

Supplied and fitted it, they did the rebuild themselves

[mioba]

A partially new engine for 750 itself is questionable

[Rich75]

A partially new engine for 750 itself is questionable

That was the second engine - was labour only. The initial engine was about 5k plus.. was the engine plus water pipes and bits of exhaust and whatever else fell off when the switched it out.

[DoubleOSeven]

They didn’t bleed it properly. Good guide on the old forum from Simon Baxter.

[silverbullet]

I bet the "engine builders" are one of the usual recycling outfits.