Replacing the VX head gaskets -job almost done

[Mr Blackstock]

Suffering from a blown head gasket usually sends most car owners to the nearest dealership to part hard earned money on a newer car. Thankfully I have a VX, a push rod V6, and changing a head gasket is pretty straight forward compared to many current car options.

I find it sad that Holden has closed down, but what better tribute than to keep them on the road for the simple cost of a few gaskets! Hears to another 250,000kms.

I will be disconnecting the crankcase breather from the intake system, too much crud build up. So far all things are going well...

IMG_20171005_130359

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

during the dismantle, years of dust and grot...

IMG_20171005_130408

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

evidently needing some cleaning!

IMG_20171014_172156

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

Mostly completed, amazing the difference some degreaser makes! I wanted to do some spray...

IMG_20171020_133114

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

Cleaned up the front a fair bit...

IMG_20171020_133121

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

There was so much built up crud in here I had to use a small wire brush on a drill, gently...

42090700-1-sz

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

The best degreaser I have found over the years... great stuff

 

[KustomKulture62]

Poor engine, so dirty. While the heads were off did you have the heads looked at or the lifters and pushrods replaced.

 

[Mr Blackstock]

G'day,
The heads I took to M&W in Ballarat, I requested a shave and inspection for cracks and the like. The pushrods and lifters I did not replace... I checked the pushrods for wear, quite minimal I thought. Are the lifters prone to cracking?

I am thinking I might research that a little...

 

[KustomKulture62]

No the engines are prone to the Holden lifter rattle. I'm slowly rebuilding an engine and have bought the Yella Terra roller rocker lifters and pushrods to avoid the lifter rattle. Probably an overkill on your engine but while the heads were off I would have thought replacing what you could would be a must. Wondering when you took off the heads did you take any pictures of the top of the pistons, how many ks has your engine done and what did the piston tops look like.

 

[Mr Blackstock]

G'day,
As the VX is a family car I needed to get the job done as quick as possible, paying $580 to get the heads done, gasket set and studs, almost broke the bank, let alone getting extra new bits...
The engine only has 250K on the clock, and the top of the pistons had minimal carbon build up, I was pretty impressed considering how filthy with oil scum the intake was.

I'm pretty happy to leave the engine standard, while it may be an under performer, one of the things that attracted me to the VX was not it's speed or hoon ability, I was after a low revving, reliable, easy to maintain workhorse, and the VX fits the bill perfectly. Even the engine is good to work on!
Can't say I understand how both imperial and metric exist on the same engine though...

 

[Mr Blackstock]

Well the other day I noticed the car was getting a wee bit hot, odd since it was very cold, so when I got home I lifted the bonnet and there was water trying to escape from my new radiator cap! Once the engine was cooled abit I took off the rad cap, warmed the car up again, and lo and behold! huge air bubbles pushing all the water out of the radiator.....

bloody head gasket again..... with 360,000kms on the clock, not too bad.... but i did the heads at 250,000kms.....

This time the engine has not over heated so I will not need to get the heads shaved to regain their flatness.... just the gaskets replace.... do I need to replace the stud bolts?
I will put a compression test on the heads to see if I can identify which head, and perhaps just do one?

Is it unusual to blow a head gasket after just 110,000kms? The car has an easy life, highway travel in teh country only, very few trailer hauls, regular oil changes....still a great car, insanely reliable, I reckon I will get her to 500,000kms.....

I hope that does not mean another two bloody head gaskets!

 

[max101cfh]

Hey mate, in my experience I've never seen many head gaskets done on an ecotec, lots of lim gaskets yes but not many head gaskets (except on high mileage engines or race/drift cars) the head gaskets on a ecotec are really rare I've done only 2 head gaskets for a mate and that's only because he thrashed his car. I've only ever really done lim(they are really common on ecotecs) last lim gasket I've done was a 240,000km and before that was a 420,000km one and both never needed head gaskets both looked after. So If you have blown your head gasket after 110,000km I think something is wrong, I would check your lim gaskets first most probably the culprit

 

[Mr Blackstock]

G'day,
Thanks for the good info, would the LIM gasket failing introduce that much air into the system? Ill do some research and see how the job is done...

cheers.

 

[commodoredave]

Suffering from a blown head gasket usually sends most car owners to the nearest dealership to part hard earned money on a newer car. Thankfully I have a VX, a push rod V6, and changing a head gasket is pretty straight forward compared to many current car options.

I find it sad that Holden has closed down, but what better tribute than to keep them on the road for the simple cost of a few gaskets! Hears to another 250,000kms.

I will be disconnecting the crankcase breather from the intake system, too much crud build up. So far all things are going well...

IMG_20171005_130359

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

during the dismantle, years of dust and grot...

IMG_20171005_130408

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

evidently needing some cleaning!

IMG_20171014_172156

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

Mostly completed, amazing the difference some degreaser makes! I wanted to do some spray...

IMG_20171020_133114

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

Cleaned up the front a fair bit...

IMG_20171020_133121

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

There was so much built up crud in here I had to use a small wire brush on a drill, gently...

42090700-1-sz

• Mr Blackstock
• Oct 21, 2017

The best degreaser I have found over the years... great stuff

For those of us who have not done a head gasket before had you thought about doing a point by point instructional. The sequence of steps is almost as important as each task. Also tricky bits or after thoughts worth mentioning for newbies. Unexpected tools that were needed. Did you get a full gasket set...which gaskets and so on.

 

[Immortality]

No. I don't think a failed LIM gasket will introduce air into the cooling system like that.

Think about it for a minute. The cooling system is under pressure, the intake manifold is always under vacuum unless at WOT when it is almost at atmospheric pressure which will always be less than the pressure in the cooling system (when the engine is running).

When the LIM gaskets fail it allows a small amount of coolant to be pushed from the cooling system into the intake and crankcase as the engine gets up to operating temperature and pressure rises in the cooling system. Then when the engine is shut down the cooling system pressure drops (actually creates a vacuum) and sucks coolant back into the system from the reservoir as well as some air/oil via the failed LIM gasket. Let this go on long enough and all the coolant will be gone from the overflow reservoir and you will get a lot of air into the system.

If you are seeing continues bubbles coming from the radiator it does point towards a head gasket issue.

You can re-use your head studs.