You don't say why you think the gasket has gone again. If it is due to oil in the coolant, this is fairly normal after a gasket failure as it is near impossible to clean out the system and it will keep reappearing. The system will need flushing with something like Forte Bio Degreaser.

You say you are getting puddles under the car! Are you losing coolant? If so you must investigate this at once, it almost certainly won't be from the gasket. If you let a K Series run low on coolant, you will be in big trouble again.

If the gasket change was done correctly, it should not fail suddenly for a second time. If the head or block were damaged beyond reuse, this should have been identified at the time of the fix.

 

You don't say why you think the gasket has gone again. If it is due to oil in the coolant, this is fairly normal after a gasket failure as it is near impossible to clean out the system and it will keep reappearing. The system will need flushing with something like Forte Bio Degreaser.

You say you are getting puddles under the car! Are you losing coolant? If so you must investigate this at once, it almost certainly won't be from the gasket. If you let a K Series run low on coolant, you will be in big trouble again.

If the gasket change was done correctly, it should not fail suddenly for a second time. If the head or block were damaged beyond reuse, this should have been identified at the time of the fix.

First of all - THANKS to you guys for anwsering!

Right I found Oil in Coolent and water in oil - Hence my diagnosies of HG. Took to a respected Garage and they fixed HG as described in my thread.

He told me when I pick it up he was 90% sure it was holding but they had alot of trouble with it. I got it home and having parked it found water under car with a tiny amount of oil mixed in. Checked water and is was nearly empty and with gunk in. Garage said they will look at it again on Tuesday, but if it is leaking they beleaved it to be unfixable. I cant see where the water is coming from, and am only going by what I was told by mechanic.

They said they flushed it 2-3 times and would do it again in tuesday.

I thought about the water pump but would of expected the mechanic to check that if they were losing water.

 

I am very sorry to hear your predicament, you need to come back and answer some questions, so someone can help you sort this one out speedily.

 

I use soap powerder myself to clean all the pipes out. But make sure you get it all out. I have seen people use corstic soda aswell.

If your leaking coolant check where from,

water pump, thermostat, inlet manifold or the rad if it's blocked and failing.

If the compression is down. Did the company pressure test the head as it could have a crack in.

But follow the advice from above and I am sure you will get to the bottom of it.

 

I have seen people use corstic soda aswell.

The use of Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide) is a definite NO!!

It dissolves aluminium!!

 

They take the pipes off the car and flush them out before re-fitting them.

It's good by all accounts if you have all day to strip all the pipes off.

 

A flush with auto washing powder and run the engine for 15 mins and then flush it a couple of times with clean water gets most out. Then run the car for a week with degreaser in the water/weak coolant mix and that shifts the rest of it.

 

This is all great guys, but its detracted a little from the original thread.

 

If you,ve got puddles,it should be easy enough to find the leak,run the car,look for the drips.As everyone says.The crap in the system could be from old HG.

 

I think we're all still on track.

Unless you can give some more symptoms, the current diagnosis is that you probably don't have a second gasket failure, but your system needs flushing with a degreaser of some sort and the coolant leak needs tracking down and fixing.

 

I think we're all still on track.

Unless you can give some more symptoms, the current diagnosis is that you probably don't have a second gasket failure, but your system needs flushing with a degreaser of some sort and the coolant leak needs tracking down and fixing.

Thats more what I was looking for. Degreasing I can get sorted ok, but if you people think the leak is something else then I'll concentrate on that. Just Didnt want to start throwing good money after bad.

 

Leave something under the car overnight like a peice of plywood or board, so that you can see if there is a leak, and where abouts in the cooling system it is coming from. i.e from the front or rear of the engine bay. You must find and fix the leak first. It's very rare for the head gasket to have an external leak of coolant. But somewhere on the coolant circuit you have a problem.

Is the oil level ok? If the head gasket was not sealing, and you were still losing coolant, then it would be fair to expect to see more water either getting into the oil, or into the cylinders, which would cause steam from the exhaust.

The inlet manifold gasket could be another source of a water leak, if you cannot find any other sign of coolant leaks on the pipework, radiator, or heater matrix etc. The thermostat and water pump is another potential area to check, but less likely to be the cause of the leak. To check it i would get the car up on some ramps, and get underneath with a torch, you should spot any signs of leaks from the pump or thermostat easily then.

 

You could always buy some coolant dye to detect the leak.

 

He used it in the first instance. You should see the mess they made with it!

 

All the OE fluids in the car used to have UV dye in them, not sure how long it lasts for or if it was removed at some time on cost grounds. I wonder if after market products have this?

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VEHICLE-RADIA...itemZ150128722388QQihZ005QQcategoryZ108798QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

 

Hi there. Yes I've been hit by the head gasket issue. Noticed oil in water filler tank. Gunk etc. Checked my oil and it was running of the Dip stick.

Head has been skimmed and an aluminium gasket fitted, but its still leaking. Garage recon my cars knackard and theres nothing they can do. They said the Head could be warped, (but if its been skimmed that should cure it).

I'm losing water and theres little puddles under the car which i never got when it first went!

Anyone got any ideas, I've only had it a year and I got a baby due soon so I really need some advice!

get garage to pressure test cooling system, comfirm leak area and rectify asap. inlet manifold gasket should have been covered on rebuild, was manifold gasket area checked for damage i:e sealing surface , brittle or worn away. it sounds like the repairer was not thorough enough! (90% sure it was holding). should not have released the vehicle until it was right. should not have taken job on if not fully competant in fixing it. its funny how it is knackered now , but was repairable then. heard this story so many times before. normally when this repair is carried out , inspection of all related items is paramount, as well as the specialist test and resurface of head, liner checks should be made for sinking. although your engine is running so sure you can rule this out.. water pump / timing belt should have been replaced as rule of thumb, radiator and hoses also checked ,along with hot / cold heater valve for evidence of a leak. after rebuilding a few of these , even when using a shim with wellseal, i have never had 1 comeback with immediate gasket failure , when all is rebuilt correctly. i have stripped a few over the years as an independant repairer , on several occasions i have noticed that the gasket has been split on the seal , this normally caused by sharp edge of head, when care is not taken whilst lowering on block! mistakes can be and are often made in this trade. a lot can be said for the man who admits them, and puts them right.....

 

I've found that it only leaks water when level is over a certain point, so I recon a hose must be loose somewhere, that covers the drips and little puddles, but I'm lossing a crap load of water far more than the leak accounts for.

Well car goes back in tomora! Chap is gonna have another look and see where its all going wrong! He hasnt charged me yet but I cant wait to see the bill!!!!!

Fingers crossed everyone!

 

ALL SORTED.

Muck left in radiator! And Water pump was leaking.

All fixed and at a fair price!

 

Great news
The water pumps do seem to have a habbit of failing shortly after the belt has been disturbed.

 

another pump gone , due to the retensioning of belt to correct spec, putting strain on a worn pump, amplifying this wear rapidly and causing a leak it seems...

 

You might be right, there is something going on here...........

I can't quite figure out the theory though because the old belt tension will probably have been very similar to the new one - they don't loose much tension during their life. Also, the seal floats on a spring so that it can cope with a certain amount of bearing wear. However, I have not got a better theory to offer!