Please could someone possibly shed some light on the fact in my escort cossie just after being re-built, on bores 2, 3 & 4 the compression was between 11 & 11.5 bar but 1 was 14. This was because after only about 8 miles, all the water had gone from the header tank into the oil, this was then making its way into 1 increasing the compression. On taking the head off again 1 had water in it (not a mixture just water), and there was no soot and they looked just as new. Also a cometic gasket was used and this has left an impression on the head, not around the edge of the bore, it looks like two 8's joined together surrounding the bores. The head was torqued down to the figures I was given with the engine. Is this usual for these gaskets to do this? it doesn't look right to me. Please help.

Sorry about the size of the photo's I don't know how to make them smaller.

 

hmm, this is interesting. could the head be warped in anyway? other than that could it be a dodgy head gasket?

 

Cheers, it did turn out to be the head gasket. But there is 1 thing still bothering me. The bottom end was rebuilt using a high pressure oil pump. When it was first run up, the oil pressure went to over 5 bar. Then the head came off again and now reads the same as before the engine let go, both hot and cold, and idling and driving. Surely a high pressure oil pump should read more than a standard one!

 

as an indication, mine when hot does read quiet a bit lower than when cold at idle.

 

Is yours standard or a high pressure one?

 

std, with about 20Kmiles after a rebuild.

using castrol rs10-60 makes it much better though.

 

A low oil pressure reading on a hot engine at idle is not a problem,as long as it picks up with the revs and normal driving.Al.

 

yup the oil pressure on mine when hot was low on idle but as soon as the car was mobile and picking up the revs it was fine