Worst day ever!!

[dan-hipgrave]

Ok, today i woke up and the weather was good so i decided to have a look at the alternator on my car because its been really loose lately and not charging the battery properly..

I take off the alternator and see that the bolt holding the alternator bracket to the inlet manifold looks loose - upon closer inspection turns out that it has actually been sheared and is all being held in place becuase its wedged against the cambelt cover :!:

So i started to remove the carb and inlet manifold with the intention of putting the standard stuff on for now, and when i remove the crankcase breather pipe i get a load of water and brown gunk come out if it - headgaskets gone methinks, so now i have no idea what i am going to do - i have been looking for a new car for a while now but there is no way mine is going to sell in its current condition :(

How long can a car go for with a busted headgasket before the engine gives up?? I cant take mine off the road yet becuase i need a car to get to work in.

[raza]

Head gasket went on My old astra Not a good idea To drive with it Just goes all gunky can tell how bad it is when u undo the oil Cap if pistons are all gunky U no its Bad I got my head gasket done on my car for ?50 So somone would buy the car i no i would :)

[nam]

you will be able to tell if the head gaskit has gone if you take the oil cap off and the is a creamie coloured oil on it, as well as on the dip stick, if you end up selling the card and all the give us a shout mate i could be interested.

hope this help some how lol. Nam

[dan-hipgrave]

The headgasket cant be that far gone because the oil filler cap and dipstick are clean..

It seems only the crankcase is full of water and gunk, so maybe its not too bad at the moment?

I know it shouldnt be left as it is, but i cant afford to take my car off the road to fix it because i need to get to work etc.

[raza]

Thats weird usually U can see the Creamy shit Straight away Could of just been a leak or somthing have u cleaned where The gunky stuff was and see if there is a leak .. If not leave then engine running for a bit And just see if there is any creamy stuff on the pistons when removing the oil cap

[epo]

when my head gasket had gone i had not creamy shit mixed in with the oil
the main reason i knew it had gone was due to overheating
luckly it hadnt warped the head either

[dan-hipgrave]

So it doesnt always give gunky stuff when it goes then?

My car has never overheated - the temp guage never goes over the first white line just out of the blue.

The water level has also dropped in the expansion tank, so its definately headgasket gone..

[raza]

Damn when mine went on astra It was like Thick Creamy Tar And smoked like a bitch

[epo]

So it doesnt always give gunky stuff when it goes then?

My car has never overheated - the temp guage never goes over the first white line just out of the blue.

The water level has also dropped in the expansion tank, so its definately headgasket gone..

just make sure the heads not warped

[dan-hipgrave]

how do i do that mate? Is that where i have to take it off and have it put onto a milling machine or something?

[epo]

if its warped itll need skimming i think

me dad checked mine with the use of a straight edge ruler (i think)

[dan-hipgrave]

ok cheers mate, will have to look into getting it all sorted next weekend or something..

[Riggy]

headgaskets on novas arnt that hard to do really mate just go get yourself a head set and it should only take half a day ish :D

[m.d.]

that creamy gunk is allways there in the breather hose. just took mine off to clean it and fit a catch tank and its full. and mine is a brand spankingly new engine. just sort the bolt out and itll be fine

[Phil_G]

hiiya

M.D - even with him having lost water you are utterly certain that there isnt headgasket failure?

Dan - get your car down to a garage and ask them to either compression test it or run a "block leak test" i think its called. Either way they fill a device with a (usually) blue liquid and fit it in place of the header tank cap. The engine is then started and if the headgasket has failed exhaust gas (Co2) will escape into the cooling system, rise into the highest point and into the gadget and then it reacts with the blue liquid and changes colour (yellow usually)


Phil


PS: Good luck and let us know how it goes

[Matt2107]

Hope you can get it sorted Dan.

I'm a big fan of your motor.

[dan-hipgrave]

Cheers Matt and Phil - your advice will be followed ASAP mate, thanks a lot :+:

Oh and by the way - drove the car today and for the first time ever the temp guage was right up - even in this weather!! It has never overheated before, and before i noticed the gunk it was fine so it cant have been bad for a while..

[m.d.]

hiiya

M.D - even with him having lost water you are utterly certain that there isnt headgasket failure?

hmm never saw that hed said that. maybe it could do with being done just for good measure