Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Rp0thejester]

I'm getting the impression I've done something to anger the gods this month.



That oil slick was clean coolant 48 hours ago.

Why do I have not one, but TWO cars with head gasket issues on my driveway at the same time? That's just not funny!

Edit: Had pretty much decided this was getting thrown at a garage to be sorted. I don't like messing with OHC engines at the best of times, and I really don't have the time or patience right now - especially when it's so fluffing hot.



Yes that's obviously a temperature reading taken in the sun...but guess where I'm sitting/standing while working on things...yes, in the very same sun.

Unfortunately neither of the usual garages I use are even vaguely willing to take this on because they're too busy. So I guess I am doing it myself then.

Three or four months on as well, Autoglass still haven't been able to source me a replacement windscreen for the Caddy. It's still on indefinite back order. Great. Wonderful, glad to be a part of it...remind me why I do this to myself again and don't just have one modern white appliance of a car?

which cars have the head gasket issue? Just out of interest.

[Zelandeth]

I'm getting the impression I've done something to anger the gods this month.



That oil slick was clean coolant 48 hours ago.

Why do I have not one, but TWO cars with head gasket issues on my driveway at the same time? That's just not funny!

Edit: Had pretty much decided this was getting thrown at a garage to be sorted. I don't like messing with OHC engines at the best of times, and I really don't have the time or patience right now - especially when it's so fluffing hot.



Yes that's obviously a temperature reading taken in the sun...but guess where I'm sitting/standing while working on things...yes, in the very same sun.

Unfortunately neither of the usual garages I use are even vaguely willing to take this on because they're too busy. So I guess I am doing it myself then.

Three or four months on as well, Autoglass still haven't been able to source me a replacement windscreen for the Caddy. It's still on indefinite back order. Great. Wonderful, glad to be a part of it...remind me why I do this to myself again and don't just have one modern white appliance of a car?

which cars have the head gasket issue? Just out of interest.

Rover 110 is peeing coolant down the side of the block. Only feasible place for it to be coming from is from the head to block seam unless something is cracked very near to it.

Renault 25 pictured above has started to pump oil into the coolant. This engine doesn't have an oil cooler or anything which could be a likely candidate for such a condition so it's basically head/head gasket issues it looks like. Or of course something more sinister...but head gasket failure seems more likely. I can't see any signs suggesting the head has ever been off in 34 years and 102K miles.

[Rp0thejester]

Well you'll have your hands full with those 2, just hope it doesn't rain on you whilst doing the work

[Zelandeth]

Well you'll have your hands full with those 2, just hope it doesn't rain on you whilst doing the work

All being well the Rover shouldn't be too bad. Being an OHV engine (well, that half anyway) means it's basically just a case of "get everything out the way then unbolt it" rather than having to mess about with timing and the like.

I'm not thrilled at the prospect of doing the same job on the Renault, I really dislike messing with timing chains or belts.

[Rp0thejester]

So out comes the Tippex pen to mark everything so it goes back how it was, good luck with that!!

[CitroJim]

I'm not thrilled at the prospect of doing the same job on the Renault, I really dislike messing with timing chains or belts.

Happy to help and assist as and when I can Zel, just shout and don't hesitate to...

[Zelandeth]

Just had a phone call from our old friends at Adrian Flux. Which is never a good sign.

I had chased them up yesterday regarding a windscreen replacement.

Their nominated repairer has been (unsuccessfully) attempting to source a replacement windscreen for my VW Caddy for several months now following it getting cracked. Which I attempted to resolve through the glass cover on my insurance, as any normal person would.

Apparently the screen has been on indefinite back order since the event, and there's no indication of when that might change.

They wanted to update me on things, because if they are unable to resolve things before it hits the six month mark since the case was opened, their policy is due to the age of the vehicle automatically to close the case and mark the vehicle as a total loss...

Yes, Adrian Flux want to write my car off because they can't find a windscreen for it.

Suffice to say I told them where to stuff their automated proceedure and would sort it out of my own pocket instead. They are "Consulting with a manager" to see if it's possible to abandon a case in progress.

Give me strength...

[CitroJim]

They are "Consulting with a manager" to see if it's possible to abandon a case in progress.

This world gets more bizarre by the minute Let's hope this has a happy outcome Zel

[Zelandeth]

Given my past history with this particular insurer, I'm not holding my breath.

Edit:

Had a look myself. Took me approximately 90 seconds to locate a screen. From about half a dozen sources.

Apparently a supervisor is going to call me back on Monday to "sort out things."

Suffice to say I will be making my displeasure known and be suggesting that they arrange to cover my costs for having it sorted, or remove the glass cover from my policy and adjust the premium accordingly.

I'd ideally like to just tell them to shove it, but as I discovered when trying to get it covered initially there really aren't many options to get cover on a 20+ year old wheelchair adapted van. Which is how I wound up with them in the first place (as they bought the company I originally used mid-policy).

[Zelandeth]

Right...I *believe* we've got the insurance issue resolved.

Had another call this morning, and after spending nearly 30 minutes on the phone, being transferred to four different people trying to get them to understand that there had been no accident and that this was an ongoing issue with a glass claim, I've got them to drop it. Apparently whoever I spoke to yesterday had changed the claim type to being accident damage.

According to the "supervisor" they have no facility to cover costs if I arrange my own repairs, and to be honest after how much stress and hassle this has been so far it's just not worth even trying. I'll just sort it myself out my own pocket.

Of course I haven't had the promised email confirming all of this yet...

Moral of the story: Adrian Flux are utterly useless. Oh, wait...I already knew that. Never mind!

-- -- --

Had the pleasure today of speaking to one garage that had been suggested to me elsewhere, enquiring as to whether they might be willing to take on the head gasket job on the Renault.

Their response: "For [expletive] sake, do yourself a favour and scrap the [expletive]!" Before hanging up on me.

Real professional. Would it have been too much trouble to just politely tell me you didn't want the job?

On a slightly less depressing note, things *may* be looking slightly less grim for the Rover though. As I'm sure you would, before committing to pulling the head off I wanted to be as absolutely sure as possible the water wasn't coming from somewhere else.

Using a camera to get where I can't see directly I noticed something which very much made me go "Hmmm..."



See it?

Zoom, enhance...



That is a bead of water running down the face of the head, *above* the seam with the block, apparently from the bottom of the inlet manifold.

The inlet manifold which I know is water heated. Which for some unknown reason my brain had decided didn't have a wet connection to the head...yeah, given there's only one coolant line to it that would work real well wouldn't it? Of course there's coolant passing between the manifold and head.

That corner, where the seal looks distinctly compromised from what we can see of it, I believe corresponds to the circled bit on this new gasket in the photo below.



There's no reason I can really logically think of for that void being there other than for a coolant passage...

So I think we'll try replacing that before we go to the lengths of pulling the head off. Though I'm not actually sure it's all that much less actual work.

...It does mean not having to bin two gallons of oil with all of about three hours of run time on though, which my wallet would definitely appreciate. The coolant is expensive enough.

The head *will* need to come off at some point in the future, at the very least to replace the water pump to head seal, but if we could take a bit of the urgency off that at least until I get the Renault sorted and through its MOT next month that would be lovely!

All of the retaining nuts have been thoroughly doused in Plus Gas this afternoon while still hot and have been left to soak overnight to hopefully give us the best shot at getting things apart without nonsense like snapped studs to deal with...as that would just pretty much ensure the head would need to come off.

In other news, my mission to own every piece of technology I coveted when I was a teenager is continuing.





I do already have the Psion badged version of this somewhere, but as a die hard Acorn fan basically since day one this variant has always had the most draw for me. Aside from badging and a couple of the applications in the ROMs it really is identical to a Psion 3A.

I really do need to get some of the Acorn kit actually on my website at some point, it's conspicuously absent at the moment.

[CitroJim]

That was a shocking way to treat a potential customer for a head gasket job Zel

Good news on the Rover Fingers crossed...

[mickthemaverick]

I have to agree that the inlet manifold gasket does look promising! A small point though Zel, if you do have to remove the head there is no need to bin the oil, perfectly acceptable to ensure your oil drain container is clean and then reuse the oil when you refill. If you are concerned about possible swarf in the oil then run it through a funnel with a very fine filter cloth cone in it which will remove any solids.

[MattBLancs]

Well, think you've dodged a bullet with that garage! Better to find out their view now, rather than half way through!

I'd save the oil too, if worried about bits dropping in it then it's ideal for putting back in and doing a short interval change after the head swap -

- which I agree with others is after the inlet manifold gasket replacement as first attempt. Good spot by the way! Not that obvious in the photos!

[Gibbo2286]

I have to agree that the inlet manifold gasket does look promising! A small point though Zel, if you do have to remove the head there is no need to bin the oil, perfectly acceptable to ensure your oil drain container is clean and then reuse the oil when you refill. If you are concerned about possible swarf in the oil then run it through a funnel with a very fine filter cloth cone in it which will remove any solids.

A lady's nylon tights make a good filter.

[myglaren]

I have to agree that the inlet manifold gasket does look promising! A small point though Zel, if you do have to remove the head there is no need to bin the oil, perfectly acceptable to ensure your oil drain container is clean and then reuse the oil when you refill. If you are concerned about possible swarf in the oil then run it through a funnel with a very fine filter cloth cone in it which will remove any solids.

A lady's nylon tights make a good filter.

I wanted some to strain paint through. Not easy to get hold of these days. Every corner shop used to have them.
I ended up using the bags that Aldi/Lidl have for vegetables. May be a rather coarse weave for oil though.