Head Gaskets, Victor reinz, turbo Zentrum etc

[Puggie]

So headgaskets, what do people recommend (OE are out of stock with TPS) Victor Reinz seem the popular aftermarket make, i see Turbo Zentrum do a 2.5mm (thicker than the 1.9mm OE) reinforced gasket.

What have people used or can recommend?

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[Mɐʇʇ]

The Victor Reinz gaskets I've had (albeit not HG) seem like good quality.

[Ajc]

Do cometic not do a version ? I used to swear by there gasket sets for anything performance

[Mɐʇʇ]

Yeah, I have a custom cometic on one of my motors. Not cheap, but they are rolls royce.

[Puggie]

Going Victor Reinz, MRC said they are good so that will to me.



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[Puggie]

Hmmm that explains the coolant leaking (intake side on the right), there was a pin hole leak in the top of the rad on inspection, and Radweld type rusty crap in to coolant system.

Has someone had a leaky rad, lost coolant, knackered the headgasket, gunked it up and punted it onto a dealer..... i think so!

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[Mɐʇʇ]

Oh dear, how annoying.

It always amazes me to see 5 valves - but you can also see what a nice chamber shape it creates - a far cry from the old side valve engines.

[Puggie]

So i think someone has not had their MAFs seated properly and been inhaling all the crud!

Pic 1 is a couple of score marks near the top of the cylinder 1 (first of the left looking under the bonnet), you can just get a finger nail to catch them.

Pic 2 is a wider pair of very shallow score marks, you cannot get anything to catch on these. They go the full depth of the cylinder and stop with the top ring. The ring does not feel broken (poked round with a feeler gauge) and the scoring is not where the ring gap is.

Pic 3 cos they look funny without heads!

I poured a bit of petrol in and later some brake cleaner while cleaning them up, and you could not see any draining through. The compression was pretty good considering the head gasket was leaking.

Does anyone think these are likely to cause real issues? Or have any suggestions on what to do before reassembly?

Thanks.

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[IchBautAuto]

ICE's are a bit of archaic machinery, they'll run OK with quite huge wear. Clearly if you are looking at using all the HP then you'd be pedantic about all wear and damage and at least pull the piston to check the rings. Maybe a very light hone but if anything I'd at least want to confirm that the rings are good.

[Puggie]

I'd really like to avoid the added expense of pulling pistons if possible. I'm not going mad with the engine, uprated cooling milteks Inc the downpipes and a remap, not crazy.

What is the deal with honing and the Alusil block? I know you can't use regular hones on them.

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[IchBautAuto]

Time for you to do some reading. Alusil can be honed and Mahle do it as an example. Alusil is an alloy, not a coating so don't get it confused with nikasil which is a coating. Yes it's not for the novice but my intention would be to ensure that there were no sharp edges to the score, not to hone it out. You can leave it and chances are it will outlive you anyway. My only question is, what is the cause of the score and is it still there. You'll only ever know by pulling the piston but if that doesn't enthuse you, take a chance. It's a better bet than the nags that it will survive.

[Mɐʇʇ]

In the marine engines we run, they all end up with some scoring.
Bit of moisture makes it’s way back up the exhaust port, through the open exhaust valve and condenses. Motor then sits for a while and the ring and cylinder “do their thing”.

The above look well polished, no evidence of it being major FOD.
If it were me, I’d leave well alone. Honing really needs new rings, and doing a good job of honing, ensuring you leave the right angle on the cross hatches and exactly the right finish is all non trivial (if you know it and are practiced already then you can achieve it at home, reasonably well). It also requires a proper strip down and clean of the block, inc oil ways after.

The number of times I’ve seen a motor be pulled apart for a “freshen up” and it goes back together with less compression and lower power is crazy. The above scores, being small, IMVHO would only have a very small impact on compression pressures.

I defo recommend leaving well alone.

[Puggie]

No i doubt its major FOD, I suspect little crap from a MAF that has not been seated properly or similar. My other block has had a bit of valve bouncing up and down in there... that is scored very differently.

I'm aware of the difference between Nikasil and Alusil, Alusil is still only hard thtough a very thin thickness of the surface though. Im sure you could rip through that with an ill informed hone.

I will start reassembly at the weekend.

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[Puggie]

So to bring this thread from the dead back again.

Headgaskets were done all to the specs on ElsaWin. New bolts... lots of new bolts! Everything well cleaned and torqued up to spec. engine ran sweet as a nut, and behaved very nicely for a number of runs out to bed everything in again (and sort out daft little faults like duff coolant sensor etc). As soon as the engine was given a full beans the head lifted on the drivers side outer front corner and is now leaking again, I'd say more significantly than before.

Any thought on this apart from just 4 letter word rants, I think I've done all of those.

Does this sound like the threads in the block have yielded? Anyone heard of new head bolts (all parts from TPS) failing (doubtful IMHO). Any thought on where to go next with it? I'm not going to have time to tear into it now until after xmas in all probability .

[Lander91]

Threads would have yielded during the torque down process if they were going to go (IMO). Bolts could be duff e.g manufacturing fault, could be torqued too high and yielded, but I'm not sure that this would be possible before the block threads give way.

Have you checked the torque on the bolts in the vicinity of the leak? Otherwise, warped head, foreign object, failed gaskets. Either way that head has to come off, so very close inspection would be required e.g. head and block mating surfaces, thread conditions, possibly helicoil threads as a precaution etc.