Head Gasket! Help!

[Peteric]

Hi everyone

 

In october last year i bought an esprit an esprit turbo se. Drove her home 100 miles without any sign of over heating. I parked her in the garage to do some work.........chargecooler impellor, oil change etc. Found the chargecooler was leaking so i had to opt for a new uprated one.

While waiting for this i thought i would cure the bad oil leaks from the cam housings which i done to the letter of the service notes, torqueing all bolts to the lotus settings in the correct order.

 

Well today the new chargecooler goes on, fill with coolant as much as possible before starting engine and then start engine, topping coolant up as needed.

As the engine warmed up the header tank started foaming like a rabid dog and i noticed drips of water coming from exhaust backbox seam! Naturally i stopped the engine!

 

I guess this is a sure sign of head gasket failure????

 

I think that resealing the cam housings must have disturbed an already weak head/gasket seal? Opinions welcome!!

 

I am not afraid of mechanical work and i have torque wrenches etc to do the job with but this would be my first head gasket job on a car if i am going to undertake it myself.

 

So, if it is the head gasket can this job be done with the engine in situ as the lotus manual says to remove the engine?

 

If i do undertake this job the head tolerance would have to be checked against a straight edge so i was thinking of resting the head on a clean sheet of glass, testing the various points with feeler gauges.....any thoughts on this?

 

I am hoping that as the engine never overheated the chances of warping are slimmer.

 

Any help or comments would be appreciated greatly!

 

Thanks

 

Peter

[Bibs]

Before you panic do a sniff test. The water return to the header tank can be pretty violent and no idea why there would be water coming from a seam in the exhaust unless there's a hole in it, but they can chuck out an awful lot of moisture if it's cool outside. 

 

[leeds1972]

hi.i wouldn't panic too much re the water dripping from the backbox unless of course theres buckets of it.when was the car last run.in my exp when I cars been standing for any length of time moisture can accumulate in the exhaust.have you tried running it to see if it gets up to temp or beyond ? steve

[internets]

Not knowing what you did when sealing the towers but I would take a step back, sleep on it and take a fresh look another day. I think its unlikely the head gasket has gone and would not be pulling the head off until you have completed some investigation work i.e. a compression test and also, as Bibs mentioned, a Sniff test.

 

Clean it all up and then try and see where the water is coming from, maybe you have dislodged a hose or clip? 

Did you completely flush through the CC system?

[Peteric]

Yes, i assumed there must be a slight crack or something on the weld seam of the exhaust. It did drip enough to leave a nice moist patch on the floor but no water/wetness in the tail end of the exhaust.

I didn't run it up to full temp and see if the temp goes down with the fans cutting in as i was afraid of causing more damage.

Sniff test? can you smell strong fumes from the header tank if the head gasket is gone?

[internets]

[Peteric]

Hi Chris

 

I wont pull the headgasket off until i am sure! I may invest in one of those kits that you kindly put up for me there.

I guess it might be moisture in the exhaust as it hasnt been started for at least three months......i am crossing my fingers!!!

[Vanya]

Peteric, don't panic! This is normal when filling the engine or charecooler with coolant - which is why it says in the service notes to put the cap back on the header tank (or tighten bleed screw) to prevent overflow. I had a blast last season when I had the bleed screw entirely off the chargecooler and the engine ran up to temperature - foamed all over the place and I got a nice burn off from the exhaust manifold - (vaporised coolant! Probably NOT good for the lungs.) 

 

If you have a hole in your backbox then water will drip out - either there or from the exhaust pipe as water is a byproduct of combustion and subsequent catalytic conversion. 

[jonwat]

Definitely stop panicking, drive the car & enjoy. 

 

The only thing I'd take issue with is you should have replaced the charge cooler pump with an electric one. 

[Peteric]

Thanks for the opinions guys! I will invest in a sniff tester as its a good tool to have. I'm off work this week so I will keep you updated on how things are going.

Again, thanks for the help, its greatly appreciated

[andydclements]

As you're local, if you need to borrow any tools feel free to ask. Pressure cap tester for coolant system (if you have a compressor), compression tester, sniff tester etc.

[johnpwalsh]

Andy, now that's what I call Lotus friendship. i dont know of any other club that are as helpfull as TLF.

 

John

[andydclements]

Or maybe it's a sneaky way of me getting a little breathing space in the garage.

 

Actually, my BM16 belt tension gauge is just out on loan to one member, my Dunlop tracking gauges to another...

[Simon350S]

I see a new business venture in the making Andy!

[Peteric]

Hi Andy

 

That is a very kind offer and the help so far on TLF has been great!

 

How much are you hire charges on a daily rate

 

Peter

[andydclements]

It may cost as much as a coffee if I have to drop them round.

[Peteric]

Right, well after some pondering and de-stressing from yesterdays proceedings and a good long chat with another very knowledgeable forum member who offered his help and advice I am going to get her to normal running temp tomorrow (week off work! Woohoo! ) and wait for fans to cut in and out again and see if she behaves herself.

 

Will keep you all posted. Many thanks for the advice so far and Andy, thanks for the kind offer.......I may take you up on that if things do not go well tomorrow!

[johnpwalsh]

Good luck, just remember it's a Lotus and may just give you a pleasant surprise, these engines are more resilient than a lot of people think.

[Peteric]

Well......ran her up to temp for 10 to 15 mins and let fans kick in (at about 95 degrees)  fans stop after cooling her down and i turn off. Let her cool down completely and checked coolant level in header.........water about 1/3 of the way down the header tank. Bleed off a bit of air at radiator, top up water and repeat........again coolant about 1/3 of the way down the header (by this time my exhaust back box had stopped dripping water which was nice).....bleed more air, top up water and repeat. This time no coolant loss what so ever, no dripping from back box......so it seems I was worried about nothing!

 

Next step I guess is to try once more and see if all water is retained (just to be sure) and then drain the water and fill with the proper coolant mix and bleed again.

 

On a side note I do have the rough idle issue that I read is very common on esprits. Will try to cure this with freescan by resetting and learning the IAC valve.

 

Many thanks Everyone!

[Vulcan Grey]

did you still have bubbles in the coolant header tank?

[Peteric]

Hi Travis

 

A few small bubbles which I would think is either little bits of trapped air or just from the reaction of the return to the header. Nowhere near like the volcano of bubbles which I had, I mean it was like a rabid dog! When warmed up its expanding into the expansion tank on the left hand wheel arch in the boot as it should and if I place my hand on the expansion I cannot feel it bubbling away in there.

 

What were your thoughts?

 

Peter

[Mike6]

When bleeding make sure the heater is switched on. Air could be trapped which wouldnt bleed through without heater blasting out.

Out of interest are you getting any warm air from the heater.

[Vulcan Grey]

Hi Travis

 

A few small bubbles which I would think is either little bits of trapped air or just from the reaction of the return to the header. Nowhere near like the volcano of bubbles which I had, I mean it was like a rabid dog! When warmed up its expanding into the expansion tank on the left hand wheel arch in the boot as it should and if I place my hand on the expansion I cannot feel it bubbling away in there.

 

What were your thoughts?

 

Peter

 

 

when you originally said there was a lot of bubbles, I believe you said "header tank started foaming like a rabid dog", it definitely sounded like you had a bad headgasket.  But now you say the bubbles are mostly gone.

 

 

Now sometimes it could be a small load dependent leak, and you may not see the gasses or bubbles until it heats up and sees enough pressure to force it back open.

 

When I had a head gasket leak that developed while on the track, I lost a gallon of coolant and when I put water back in, it kept bubbling up and out of the coolant tank.  There were a lot of bubbles!

 

Keep your eye on it, and the coolant level!  Do a compression test and the exhaust gas sniff test.

[Peteric]

Sound advice and i will certainly keep my eye on it and yes it was bubbling badly first off but it seems good now after bleeding.

Mike, yes i am getting hot air through the heater.

Going to see how it goes and check coolant for a while on each start up.