How Do I Blow A Head Gasket

[Aliens]

How would I be able to blow a VN head gasket?

One of my VNs still overheats, although revving the engine cools it down, and so does drifting through the wind.

It runs true straight-gas and so the oil is still in pristine condition after months of being driven - no coolant in it at all. Compression is 210 in all cylinders, cooling system components such as radiator, hoses, and pump are working fine and not blocked, and there's no air in the system. No coolant loss whatsoever and no sludge or oil in the coolant.

On a 35 degree day the temp gauge reaches the full H mark.

If I were to just keep driving it with the temp at the full H mark, would this realistically likely blow a head gasket?

The head gaskets were new ACL Monotorque ones installed earlier this year when head work was done.

Unlike a VP I drove for a while which also got the full H, this one doesn't feel worse or have less power when so hot. In fact it feels like it as even more power when at H.The VP had bad head gaskets with oil in coolant and coolant in oil, and previous owner only had water in it.

 

[moose man]

are you sure your guage is reading correctly?

 

[excalibur]

The VP had bad head gaskets with oil in coolant and coolant in oil, and previous owner only had water in it.

How can it have oil in coolant and vice versa if previous owner only put water in it there would be no coolant at all. :nutkick:

 

[levymetal]

One of my VNs still overheats, although revving the engine cools it down, and so does drifting through the wind.

does the thermo kick in when you're standing still?

 

[Zuicider]

i over heated my engine every day for about 6 months bores not glazed but she did pop a head gasket only recently its just a time bomb

 

[Aliens]

How can it have oil in coolant and vice versa if previous owner only put water in it there would be no coolant at all. :nutkick:

The previous owner only used water and told me water is fine for it. But one I had acquired it, I put coolant into it and always topped it up with coolant.

 

[Aliens]

does the thermo kick in when you're standing still?

Yes forgot to mention the fan - it's always on (100% of the time) and is working fine too.

 

[Aliens]

are you sure your guage is reading correctly?

I thought about that a while ago and to try to find out I connected a laptop to the diagnostic connector of the car's computer unit. The temps seemed to match the temp gauge.

Also on the hot day after turning off the engine in the driveway, the coolant/water mixture made that boiling sound for the first time (although it was 35 degrees and the temp gauge had been sitting just above the full H mark for a few minutes).

Recently I dumped the ~100% coolant mixture, and replaced it with that 50% Organic coolant fluid from tectalloy, so maybe that's why (boiling point would be lower than 100% normal coolant I guess).

 

[Aliens]

Would anything like "water injection" or a cold-air ram-air intake etc cause a considerable reduction in "coolant temp"?

 

[PaRaDoX]

Would anything like "water injection" or a cold-air ram-air intake etc cause a considerable reduction in "coolant temp"?

no, don't be silly, coolant temps are regulated by the thermostat.

A) lpg burns colder than petrol
B) have you even considered that your cooling system may be to blame?


just because you topped it up with coolant dosnt mean that the thermostat isnt jammed shut or the radiator isnt blocked..

Is it series 1 or series 2 (series 1 runs a pressurized overflow tank, series 2 does not)

here is what to do, remove the thermostat, boil up a pot of water
drop the thermostat in the pot of boiling water, note if it opens, might take a few seconds but should happen

standard thermostat is 192deg F (88 Celsius for those playing at home)
waters boiling temp is 100deg C

if it fails to open, replace it,

if its series 2 the radiator cap could be broken, this is another valve that opens to allow for volumetric expansion of the coolant, it pushes coolant into the tank when hot and sucks it back in when it gets cold to prevent the system from pressurizing too much

from here, if you havnt found any issues a coolant specialist can do a "hydrocarbon"test
they put a sensor in your coolant tank and can tell if combustion gasses are entering the cooling system. if still ok look at the radiator.

there are 2 sensors for coolant, 1 for the gauge, 1 for the ecu, the ecu is turning on the engine fan and the gauge reflects the same thing so i DOUBT both sensors are faulty.

Go forth and fix....