Car trouble

[Stuart]

Well no sooner have I got my Ducati on the road than the car starts playing up. I had to take the head off last week as the head gasket was showing serious signs of being on the way out. The water system was being overly pressurised and shooting steam out from under the bonnet/hood. 9-10 hours and £55 later and it's all sorted.

engine

head off

cleaning the head

And then, after getting the new Duke Battery topped up with acid at a bike shop, the car exhaust downpipe decided to crack off on me Lost a securing bolt from underneath and it broke right up by the manifold weld. Put a new one on today which was easy enough but getting the bloody heat shield in there wasn't easy. I suspect the pipe was not exactly to original spec. All good fun though

All fixed. You can see one of the 3 nuts. And the shield!

Took it off at night in the rain and cold.

The cracked off bit

Manifold loud end

[oldbmw]

I am glad to see that the arrangement of valves in the head is more sensible than on the old BMC B series engines. Having two inlets together give much better central cooling than having two exhaust valves sharing the same port.

have to admit being a wuss when working on bike or car in the cold, still haven't touched My Enfield motor... Just don't want the bother.. is odd because I used to enjoy building engines.

[Dan J]

Larry - put a diesel in it.

[Anorak_ian]

I aint dooin nufin till da wefer gets warmer.

[Stuart]

I got a free can of fuel line cleaner at the Eco show and shoved half in the car. Car feels a bit better. Leontief are the only place that sell it in the UK. £20 a can from them tho!

[IgorVigor]

What is your car? (apart from one with an IDI diesel by the look of the head :p)

[Stuart]

It's a Pugeot 106 1360cc. I've just replaced the radiator last week as well. Going wel now.
The problem has always been that my journey to work ends just as the thermostat is about the open. Engine is left steaming hot presurising the (relatively new) expansion cap and simulating head gasket failure. Perfectly good on a long run though as we took it to London last week.
Guess I'll have to either change the car or my place of work

[Sphere]

How long is your commute? I've recently had to replace the clutch and belts on my 2.0HDi. If it weren't for a big piece of corrugated cardboard the radiator would be on that list as well; it only is minorly dented atm

[Stuart]

Apparently I have to drill a 2mm hole in my thermostat so the engine takes a little longer to warm up. Common problem it would seem. Bad design methinks.
Commute is 8.1 ml Btw.

[IgorVigor]

or just remove the thermostat completely

[Stuart]

Drilled it and yes, it's about 85% better I'd say. Very slight hiss from the expansion tank but no boiling water steaming out anymore. Perhaps I should have drilled it 3mm? Heater takes a touch longer to warm obviously but on a 20min journey the top of the front rad is now hot. Cool

From the Honest John website.....
"The TUD3 is prone to head gasket failure, due to small radiators, weak water pumps and a design of cooling system which restricts coolant circulation until the thermostat opens to the point at which localised overheating occurs, and eventually blown HG. I suggest you check the condition of the radiator, and fit a new one if it is at all deteriorated, and also modify the thermostat by drilling a 2mm hole in its flange, which will permit some circulation with closed thermostat, and considerably improve reliability. It will also make the system easier to bleed (which must be done with an extension, such as inverted 2 litre pop bottle with the bottom cut off wedged into the radiator filler, with engine run until thermostat opens)."

[Stuart]

I really should have changed the valve rubber when I had the head off one year back. It started smoking like mad but only on startup. Paid a mate to do it on my drive and sure enough, the rubbers were falling apart and the valves were covered in oil. Hopefully it might pass the next MoT now