rebuilt motor blown head gasket
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ive done a few searches but couldnt find anything relevant to what im looking for...right this second im a bit shattered to be honest....i bought a vl turbo about a month ago with a rebuilt motor with receipts....its been running really smooth and nice and cool the hole time...i honestly havent been giving it a hard time...and then all of a sudden my temp guage started shooting up and i had only been cruising at 60kmph on my way home and when i looked at the water level it was right down even though i only checked it before i left and then i saw a thick white sludge coming out of the catch can and took the oil cap off and it was full of thick white sludge as well...the oil on the dipstick is clean as a whistle but im certain its a blown head gasket....my question is how the hell does a gasket just blow out of nowhere on a rebuilt motor with a race series turbo connetec head gasket.....any help would be very very much appreciated cos at the moment im kinda shattered that a car with 5000km on the motor has done this. thanks. josh
Another VL Driver
Sea Dogs Champion!
shit head gasket, or not put in properly.... too much boost... could be a few factors.
Hope it just your gasket and not a cracked head causing oil and water to mix and make a milky residue..
well its only been runnning 8pnd boost.....so if i have a thick white sludge in the catch can and on my finger if i feel inside the oil cap i have a cracked head?.....and if it was a shit gasket or not in properly would that be something the engine builder had stuffed up along the way somewhere?
Another VL Driver
Sea Dogs Champion!
possibly man yeah.... as u said the water was down and with the design of the vl front end the head sits higher than the radiator,,
so if u get low on water the head is drained first.. and being an alloy head prone to cracking.
Hoping for your sake its just a head gasket..
Best is pull head off and inspect.
Get a new gasket and put it on.
yeah cheers mate, like i said i checked it before i left cos i was driving from rosebud to ballarat so i thought id best check the oil and water and they were both full, it drove fine for the first 30 min then all of a sudden the temp gauge shot up so i checked the water and it was almost empty....the bastard got me by suprise
You have probably cracked your head as well..Alloy heads don't like the heat. From memory it cost me $400 to have my head welded up like 10 years ago..
Apparently genuine nissan head gaskets are the best to use
1988 VL Berlina turbo 5 speed
http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/...ml#post1446411
1987 VL SL turbo 5 speed ~STOLEN~
http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/...ed-manual.html
so if i have cracked the head does anybody know a rough idea on what i would be up for? im just hoping i can get my way out of this for under a grand if not ill have to flog the car off cos ive been putting a fair bit of cash into it already and the reserve funds are running a bit tight
yes genuine are good.
i had similar problem with my motor i used an acl race series 1.6mm thick copper head gasket and mine leaked didnt blow it but seaped water into motor.the cause was because my block was not "o"ringd so i used 2 standard head gaskets and its all sweet now
Another VL Driver
Sea Dogs Champion!
depends on the head u have already bruz
like has it been shaved/ported polished etc for performance in the rebuild,,,
you might pick one up for $500 and do it yourself...
really depends where u get it from and condition..
cheers for the help all..so if the head hasnt warped and can be welded does anyone know if this is a reliable repair or just a temp fix? cos with the funds the way they are i think im going to have to fix it and bugger it off
Another VL Driver
Sea Dogs Champion!
to be honest man i dont know...
Me personally i would get a second hand one rather than welding the crack...
Somebody may tell u it is ok and reliable but i really dont know
im takin it to get looked at in an hour or so and get a quote on just drive in drive out with a reco head so its just done and dusted so i have something to drive for a week or two until i sell it.....cant really see any more sensible options....would i need to get any head work done to help cope with the turbo if im only looking for it to be running healthy instead of a street machine "weapon" so to speak....basically will a basic reco head hold on if i dont go nuts and give it hell?
Alot of them crack along the cam valley.
When mine went I replaced the head studs with ARP head studs.
why are you talking about getting a head reco if you do not know what the problem is lol
cos i dont have the time to mess about with it, i just need it going asap so i can get to work till i sell it, people on this site seem to know a lot more about the mechanical aspects then i do so im taking their word for it that the odds are its a cracked head and even if its not the odds are with a blown gasket it would have warped and would need machining which i dont have the time for.Originally Posted by bow down
it would be warped or cracked if you kept driving it but you said you pulled over????i assum you didnt keep driving it?
would be fairly hard to blow that head gasket to.
it takes about an hour to rip head off and have a look and if you get a second hand head you can get that cleaned pressure tested and faced for around $130 add extra to assemble it then buy a genuine nissan head gsaket for $50 new head bolts $40 and a few bits and peices here and there and you could have it done for under $500 in a weekend
well when i say i pulled over it wasnt the instant the temp guage went above a 1/4...it was about 2km up the road when the temp hit 3/4 that i managed to pull over so i dont know if a couple of min would be enough to warp it or not...and as for doing the work myself i would be more then happy to give it a go except the vast majority of my tools are in storage in rosebud and im in ballarat cos i had to use me r31 to get home for work. and would a standard head cope with the turbo? becuase although i want to get rid of the car i dont want some poor bugger buying it then having the same thing happen a week down the track.
all vl heads are the same so you would be fine its realy not so expensive.
but i would be looking into why such a head gasket like yours has blown it would be fairly hard to blow one of those.
and if it hit 3/4 temp thats nothing! vl's are supposably supposed to run at 1/2 temp anyways.mine does all day long.
i had similar problem with my new head i used a acl race series gasket and it didnt seal good [leaked water into motor so i used two stock nissan gaskets and now its fine so the acl gasket was a waist of $200
does it run on 6cyl?does it vent lots from rocker cover and catch can like puff it out?
the oil cap was totally full of an EXTREMELY thick cream coloured residue and sticking me finger in the rocker cover got a little bit on me finger and there was a lot coming out of the catch can, like, probably a good 150-200ml but it wasnt constant it was more of a dollop then about 10-20 seconds later another good dollop (20-30ml) would ooze out and its thick enough and sticky enough that it actually needed scrubbing out of the engine bay but yeah the oil on the dipstick is still clean as a whistle.
and yes it still runs on 6 cyl....no misfiring or anything of the sort....aside from the temp guage shooting up there were no hints something was amiss...was running beautifully then pow up goes the temp.
im not saying 3/4 is something to worry about in most cases, i just mean this thing didnt manage to climb over 1/3 on my way down to rosebud on the 39 degree day the other week and with the twin el thermos i has generally stayed around 1/4 so when it suddenly shot up to triple its normal temp i thought it was a bit out of the ordinary if that makes sense.
ok well 3/4 temp isnt bad so you should be lucky enough and fingers crossed your head is fine[should be]
running on 6cyl is good but i dont like the sound of oil venting out catch can
yes makes sence perfect sence to me but i doubt you cooked the head if it was on the red for sometime then yes.you got a gregorys manual?they are helpfull also ran a comp test yet?
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