how do i tell the differance

[tallfella]

just bought a 1989 vn berlina of a guy up the road for 250.00 the other day, apparently thats what he paid for it and he was moving and couldnt take it with him.

anyways he suggested this site if i had any issues with the car and i have one.

he told me he wasnt sure if the head gasket was gone or the valley inlet gasket ( i think thats right) but he said the heads dont go on the engine i have very often , is there anyway to tell what one is gone without pulling the motor apart because i know nothing about car engines , thanks

EDIT: by the way he mentioned i have a series one engine if that helps

[Emackulation]

Well, you have to take the intake manifold off to do the heads anyway, so take the intake off and inspect the gasket, it should be clear thats its rooted and if so, replace it. It is rare for a head gasket to go.

[tallfella]

yeah i dont nkow anything about engines so damn..

anyone know what mechanics normally charge to come have a look??

[VryNeat]

way more then they should! have u got a local tafe? if so a lot of them have trailers and they do the labor for free and u only pay for parts

[tallfella]

way more then they should! have u got a local tafe? if so a lot of them have trailers and they do the labor for free and u only pay for parts

yeah i got 2 near me one doesnt do mechanics and the other one about 20k's away does i might give them a call now thanks for the sugestion

[VryNeat]

let me know what they say

[pow3rslave]

if this is your first commodore, grab yourself a gregorys manual, they sell em at supercheap and autobarn and they're worth their weight in coccaine.
as well as simple tests to check if certain parts have gone bung,
they have illustrated how-tos to tell you how to do all sorts of simple, small jobs you'd probably put in the too hard basket.

[tallfella]

let me know what they say

they said they already have a full workload untill at least next year

ill pop down tmorrow and grab a gregorys manual i need to grab a few things anyways

made a few calls around to mechanics the cheapest i got was 450 for the inlet manifold and if it was a head gasket they reckon around 1600 DAMN

also out of curosity i called my local wreckers 550 for the engine and 600 to fit it so if it is the head gasket ill just get the wreckers to swap the engines and save a couple hundred now to start mugging people for money /sigh

[pow3rslave]

headgasket does stuff like oil in your water when you take off the radiator cap, and you can see bubbles in the water if you start the car with the cap off.

nb: don't take the cap off if the car has been running for a bit, or if it's still hot from before

[tallfella]

headgasket does stuff like oil in your water when you take off the radiator cap, and you can see bubbles in the water if you start the car with the cap off.

nb: don't take the cap off if the car has been running for a bit, or if it's still hot from before

well i been told oil in water can be inlet valley gasket also and as for radiator cap it would be nice but mine being a series one doesnt have a radiator cap just the cooland overflow cap gonna make flushing it fun appaerntly i hold the hose up and im not going to be holding the hose up and sticking my eye in looking for bubbles lol