Hi,

Got a bit of bad news last Friday when I took my S2 to Power engineering, she was due a tune up but after a quick head check it was discovered that the head gasket had blown. They were not willing to take a look at her and just said 'it would be like opening a can of worms' great help that was!

My mates a mechanic by trade so to cut costs down we whipped the car into his garage yesterday, and got to work. The car has had a new engine fitted about 9000 miles ago and we found that the head gasket wasnt actually blown but was fitting incorrectly. This in turn has warped the head, cos she had been running hot in traffic.

This is where it gets tricky, hes not really sure about Turbos in particular and suggested just getting the head skimmed I can get this done as well just up the road, but am not sure if this is the right thing to do.

So if anyone can help, whats the next step???

Bear in mind that money is tight with xmas and all that!!!

Cheers.

 

How on earth can a head gasket be incorrectly installed?

 

Dunno mate! I aint got a bl00dy clue, my mate was doin all the work I just stood and watched and made tea! Thats what he said, he reckons it aint blown, and it weren't fitted properly?? Im not a mechanic so I really dont know, he did start telling me in detail but it just flew over my head.

 

If you skim the head its gonna raise the compression ratio and that aint good!!

 

Thats what I thought mate, I spoke to Vulcan engineering and they said they can skim it safely to an extent but if its too much they have to open the combustion chambers or something, too technical by far for me!

In short would u say skimming is a no no, and that its time for a new head?

 

the other way(cheaper) is to skim the head and get a low comp plate from 'mad for it' in liskard cornwall,then you wont need a new head and you could run a little more boost aswell

 

Wouldn't go for a compression plate myself, there is reasons!!!

Skimming the head is ok but can only be done to a cirtain degree and WILL raise compression, what vulcan said is basically they will open up te chambers in the head to counteract the area taken off by skimming which will give you a flat head and the same CR.

PJay

 

Thanks for that guys!

I have spoken to my mate and the head has been take to a specialist not far from his work. Apparantly on closer inspection its not actually warped, the water holes have gone flakey, so the bloke said he needs to skim it ever so slightly just to get rid of the flakes.

He guarantees all his work and said that the amount he will be skimming is well within the tolerence levels!

Just thought id let everyone know anyway, she'll be up and running again this weekend!

Cheers!

 

Just had the same problem with mine mate,cost me an absolute fortune ,but hey that's the rs world for you

Good to here you got it sorted


Rich

 

Nightmare mate, especially this time of year, but like you said its part and parcel aint it!

What did you end up doing to get yours fixed? New head or.....?

James