Found out today my EF has a blown head gasket (as i suspected cause it was using alot of water). My mechanic said he'd send the head off to check if it has gone "soft" in which case i'll need a new head. What exactely makes the head go soft? Also what price is a reconditioned head?
'Soft' could also be a term for the head being corroded. On a high milage car the alloy actually starts to turn into this shit that you can chip off with a screwdriver. The 6th water port would be the worst.
no when he says soft I can guarantee he meas soft, ALOT of people are under the impression that the E-series heads had a bad alloy compound from factory and went "soft" after a while. Its total bullshit, I would get a second opinion if I were you. I have had numerous amount of mechanics trying to tell me that ea's suffered from head gasket problems because the heads go soft! then you try to explain to them about the radiator side tanks, poor sealing surface around no6 piston etc but they wont listen, get a second opinion first, I would suggest sending your head away to be reco'd and doing it yourself
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Lets go find that Hotdog tree I planted
Lowered EF Futura
Black Steelies ( too cheap to buy proper mags )
Well the cheapest i have ever done a head gasket is about 380 dollars, thats with a genuine Ford gasket kit, new headbolts and all the other assorted bits and pieces (including head machining if i remember correctly)
To those of you out there who feel its unneccesary to have your head machined everytime you blow a gasket, i really hope you like visiting wreckers looking for heads and enjoy changing gaskets. You must have a nice square flat surface everytime you mate the head with the block, otherwise the gasket is only going to blow again quick smart. You also want a pro to check the head and give it a pressure test, a visual inspection hardly ever reveals any REAL demons.
will a leaky head gasket make the compression in the pistons lower?
I ask this because I was wondering, would you be able to have a compression test in the pistons to see if you have a leaky head gasket..
What they may mean by soft is that, apart from warping, the metal does become soft. I have seen a soft head and it usually happens if the head has been done a few times. What seems to happen is that the head can not take the pressure from the head bolts and will get squeezed by them. This just makes matters worse and you may need to do the head again. Let them test it to see if it's soft, if they say it is and your still not satisfied or sussed, get a second opinion. But they do become soft after time and after a few welds, quite a few!
It's just a like a piece of flat metal, the more you bend it the softer it gets. Best explaination I can give.
Good luck
Alex
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Alex
"Give me any task to do, and I will find something else to do in it's place." Plato - a definition of procrastination
My mechanic says he sends the head off to be tested for 'softness', apparently they test it by dropping a ball bearing type thing on it and see how high it bounces back. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
And what about the price of a reco head?
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Another head gasket bites the dust!
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