Blew my head gasket today!

[Rex2342]

Yup! It blew out this afternoon. I was just driving normal too! I started hearing this weird sound from my engine bay and then the car just stalled. I got it restarted and managed to limp her home. I did a compression check and found that clyinders 1 and 2 had no compression what so ever while 3 and 4 were percetly fine. I pulled to head off thinking I bent the valves or something and found a 1/2" chunk taken out of the gasket between #1 and #2. This sucks because I just got her running and now she will be down for at least a week.

 

[redhatman]

what car?

 

[bashaholic]

I'm not busting your balls, just curious. Why is it going to take a week when you already have the head off? :shrug:

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Maybe no time? Head gaskets dont take more than a couple hours for the complete job...

 

[Diver6127]

Maybe the headgasket is not in stock and needs to be ordered.

 

[redhatman]

maybe....

 

[beason]

one word for ya.. RTV (not really a word i guess but that will fix you up..)

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Yeah man.. that stuff is great...

 

[jmarzilli]

Yeah man.. that stuff is great...

I once used a half a tube to seal a thermostat housing cause I cracked the head were the bolts are. Work good for a while!

 

[.21Rc10GT]

I once used a half a tube to seal a thermostat housing cause I cracked the head were the bolts are. Work good for a while!

My grandpa put it in every spot he thought the car would leak water in our out... I now have that car and it is in all the windows, in the spaces in the fenders, all over the wheel housings... door seals... Its crazy, and this stuff is hard to clean off. :arrr:

 

[jmarzilli]

My grandpa put it in every spot he thought the car would leak water in our out... I now have that car and it is in all the windows, in the spaces in the fenders, all over the wheel housings... door seals... Its crazy, and this stuff is hard to clean off. :arrr:

LOL.....bet it doesn't leak water!

 

[Diver6127]

Well, on a hot day close the doors, wear some swim trunks and fill the interior with water. There you go ... rolling swimming pool!

 

[beason]

just make sure you get the stuff that hardens.. i ended up with the stuff that doesn't harden (guy sold me the wrong stuff..) redid that damn thermostat housing three times befor i realized i had the wrong rtv!!!! bout killed a dude!!

 

[CorradoPsi]

whoever uses rtv, instead of a headgasket, is a numb nut. just get the right part, and fix it once. dont forget to buy new headstud/headbolts too. a lot of modern cars have stretchbolts which are single use only.

 

[Rex2342]

Well it's going to take about a week because I'm taking the head into the machine shop to be cleaned and checked.Boosting 22psi on a warped head isn't a good idea. I'm also going to get the valve guides and seals replaced.The seals were starting to go bad anyway.I was getting a little smoke on startup from the seals.I also have to wait on my ARP head studs to come in and my EGR blockoff plates. I figure as long as it's off I might as well get everything done. I'm going to pick up the top end gasket set and lots of other parts in the morning and get the head ready for the shop. I needed to do all this anyway I just didn't want to yet. I was hoping the car would run through the summer so in the winter I could rebuild whatever needed it.

 

[beason]

no corrado I'm not a numb nut.. but it will get you back and forth to work ( he said it was gonna be a week.) till you can get the parts..

 

[CorradoPsi]

and how is the car going to run, without the headgasket in there? holding the proper compression ratio is vitally important to normally asperated cars and even more so for boosted cars. taking out the gasket raises compression, increasing risk of detonation. which will blow out that rtv faster than you can turn the key. you also dont know if the head is warped or cracked, something caused the gasket to go, they dont let go on thier own. a rental, ride from a friend, or second car will get you back and forth to work without causing further damage to your car.

 

[JESSE G]

I have to agree with Corrado your just asking for more problems and more money in the long run. I would fix it right and do what you can to get around untill then just my two cents

 

[Rex2342]

Well I've got my girls VW to fall back on.We're just going to have to share again until mine is running. I hate driving the VW though because it needs some TLC and it has a few problems that I just can't seem to figure out.

 

[.21Rc10GT]

What year is it? If its an older one, they all need work, no matter what ya do to em... My oldest brother had about 15 of em over a time period of about 3 years...