Wassup with it now?!

[bindi]

I'm having a bit of a guess here, wanted opinions

AFAIK, symptoms of head gaskets dying/dead are:
1) losing alot of water in a short timeframe
2) eventual overheating
3) loss of power
4) oil in water and vice versa
Is that right? Oh, and is there a rougher idle too?

Ok I have 1) and 3) happening in the EA as I type. I have yet to find 4), and 2) may not happen at this stage because of that radiator light telling me the overflow is empty. The idle, normally smooth and quiet, is now blurbly and unco.

Could these be symptoms of anything else?

I'm going to get a pressure test done tomorrow morning, but just wanted to check what you all thought. Remember she's dual fuel and has just had a tune up/service.

Is there any white smoke when revving it?

[bindi]

Nope, no smoke that I can see.

[neb]

Yeah that does sound like you've done the head gasket to me

[Gunns]

could be leaking into the chambers, so you will never get water in the oil, but then you may notice white smoke out the exhaust, depending on how quickly you are loosing the water.
Check you spark plugs for crosion (or very white in colour), and any little bits of green coolant stuck to them is also a good indicator.

Good Luck

[Walkinshaw]

Look at the passanger side of the block. Is it all rusty??

[niko]

mines leaking out the side onto the block, no loss of power, just bit of water, ambiant temperature affects it alot also.

[big_waity]

Take the radiator cap off(gently - don't burn yourself, remember it's presurised). Have a look at the water in the radiator - if it's bubling, fair chance you've done the head gasket. Oh, and another surefire symptom will be the Falcon badge at the back. lol

[big_waity]

Oh, symptom number 4 is standard of the EA too.

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by big_waity

Oh, symptom number 4 is standard of the EA too.

With my EA, I'm only getting Symptom 1. Seemed to get a little worse as of today. I've actually got coolant dripping off my right front mudflap as we speak! I'll give it a proper inspection later and see how much is dripping down the side of the block.

Actually, checked it and it doesn't seem that bad. Still plenty of coolant in the resevoir, oil looks fine, the car hasn't lost power, and there are no overheating dramas. I know I do have a small crack in the gasket but it's just minor at this stage.

[bindi]

Originally Posted by big_waity

Oh, and another surefire symptom will be the Falcon badge at the back.

Such a brilliant laugh deserves to be in my sig! :P

No rust down the passenger side, and didn't know if the "bubbles" test would apply to the system the ford has (this is the first car I've had where you can't access the radiator directly lol). I will check it soon.

AND! The biggest decider to me has been the sound. There is a ticking... not all the time, but it's there. Last week I thought it might be the oil pump, but now with the other symptoms I reckon HG for sure.

Now it's time for me to go sleep with Chris (Spider_GT) so he'll help me out asap... :evil_laug

EDIT: I've spoken to an engine guy, he's got a reco'd gas head for $525 exchange... does that sound expensive?!

DOUBLE EDIT: Found another guy who does performance heads, he reckons $400 exchange for a gas head, but also says the AU gasket won't fit on the ED 4L engine that's in her. He reckons they are slightly different. In the immortal words of Pauline Hanson "Please explain?".

[FPVWEPN]

hes off his rocker the au gasket will fit no worries

[XRated]

400 exchange is good for a reco head. AU gasket will fit.

[5speedeb]

au gasket will fit
just done the head on my ea last week and used a au gasket

[bindi]

Originally Posted by XRated

400 exchange is good for a reco head. AU gasket will fit.

Yeah that's what I thought. Thanks for the info guys, been good to talk it out! I can now dance around the hubby saying "I was right, you were wrong..." :1syellow1

[naughtyfalcon]

the au gasket fits but is designed a bit different,,i think one or two of the water jacket holes have been moved or something like that...

[bindi]

Originally Posted by naughtyfalcon

the au gasket fits but is designed a bit different,,i think one or two of the water jacket holes have been moved or something like that...

Yeah the guy said they were very similar, and they'd fit, but not quite so they can't be used.

I just said "uh-huh" sounding like the chick I am, hung up and thought well if most of the guys on here have done it, there are no issues, it fixed the problem, and their cars are still running, then what that guy says doesn't count. :

[Au2falcons]

He's probably avoiding it for the reason that most mechanics won't modify or use non standard parts, purely because of when things go wrong. If he puts on the EA-ED head gasket everything will work as it should, if it blows the gasker another 100k down the track is no drama for him, just means for him that chances are you may go back to him.

[bindi]

Morning Adrian :

I'm getting Chris to do it for me this weekend. Ach ya gotta love mates! My "expert" help will involve me assisting wherever possible while he looks down my shirt when I bend over.

So I'll see the AU gasket theory for myself. I'm willing to give it a go, anything to stop the problem for a while. If it lasts 100,000ks I'll be happy!

PS: have a good day at work.

[Au2falcons]

Good Morning to you to Bindi

That's the way, you'll save a fair bit, with an AU gasket I think it should last a lot longer then that.

By the way the 6 is on order!!!!

Have a good one!

[bindi]

Woohoo Adrian!

Wanted to let you all know this morning's saga Jumped in the car and forgot to check the water... dropped littlest daughter at school and drove up to the radiator place. Along the way, she starts playing up, getting a bit warm. I know I should've checked the water cos I realise it's the gas system having difficulty (does that when there's not enough water to convert the LPG).

Anyway, got it to him... it's closed! ARGH! So I wait... then this very nice EL monty pulls up, out gets this tired frazzled looking "kid" (yeah, you're all kids to me now if you're below 20 years old). I laughed at him when he jumps out of the car with no shoes on, opens the boot and puts on his boots. He'd slept in.

So we start chatting Fords, get this test done, no leaks anywhere else so it's leaking inside... and I notice oil on the radiator cap. Just a bit. Great, suspicions confirmed all round. I tell him about this wonderful forum too :

He tells me about a product he can put in, it's little bits of what seems to be ground up glass (said it on the bottle), just to make sure the gasket lasts the drive down to Chris's house (40 mins drive away) on Sunday hopefully. Also discuss the cleaning of the radiator next week to ensure the system is all good.

Excellent :( So, it's on - going for the nice reco'd gas head.

TG I still have the rolla that we can all use, she's my knight in shining armour!

May take my camera so I can get some good shots and really have a good look at the state of the gasket.

[FordFan86]

I was helping out on a big chevvy truck awhile ago. Every mechanic thought it was just a headgasket except for the head gahoona diagnoser etc. He pulled it apart and played a bit, in the end he found out it was the diaphragm in the gas convertor which was leaking quite a bit of water into the cylinders.

[vegabass]

When my brother owned my XR it was leaking water for approx 100,000 !!! When I got it and pulled the head off...Whoa leaking out of the gaskit in 8 different spots! luck it was leaking out and not in!!

So shaved the head and got it reco with a JMM cam and also used a JMM steel head gaskit (thin)

when i pulled the head off the car had 225,000 on the clock and was still the origional head gaskit!!

go the ford!!!

[megsy]

mine had the head gasket done a few thousand k's agon it's on it's second cluster, but the origional gasket had done about 200,000 and when i got it done the mech told me one of my head studs had broken and had been broken for a while, possibly since it was built

[bindi]

Change of plan... the Ford's coming off the road for two weeks as financial circumstances prevail. Hubby just started a new contract and he doesn't get paid for a couple of weeks dammit, so I have to be patient.

Chris has suggested an EL head with all kinds of yummy and brilliant things done to it so we're looking into it once we get a firm price (around the $800 mark) - so that is a probability.

TG we have the rolla to fall back on for the two weeks. She was gonna be fixed up this week and put in the paper next week...