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Another head gasket bites the dust!

5K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  Aussiblue 
#1 ·
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?
 
#2 ·
I thought heads only warped.. :shurg:

A head gasket job for the EA-EB s1 is usually ~ 1 grand

unsure about the EB s2 onwards...
 
#3 ·
Maaate just buy a head gasket, new head bolts and some coolant, do it yourself, takes about 2 hours and costs about 100 dollars. You'd need a torque wrench and a 14mm socket too, maybe $100 there but it more than pays for itself the first time you use it

I've never heard of a head going "soft" either - maybe I'm just paranoid, but I've done about 3 head gaskets on various falcons and never had a problem
 
#4 ·
yeah.. never heard of this "softness"
I've heard of warping, where they are machined.. or straightened or whatever they do to it
 
#7 ·
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
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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..
 
#10 ·
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
 
#11 ·
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?
 
#12 ·
Yea, that test would be some sort of Rockwell Hardness test or something similar

While i have never heard of a head as going 'soft', i suppose it would be very possible if the alloy Ford used was rubbish...

Was it related to all E-series cars, early EA's or what????
 
#13 ·
Actually metal doesn't soften from bending, it hardens. When you bend a piece of flat metal you are stretching one side and compressing the other. By repeatedly stretching and compressing you cause it to "work harden" whereby it becomes more brittle and eventually breaks. The only other way to soften metal is through heat. By heating and then very slowly cooling a piece of metal it is possible to anneal it and return it to its natural state after work hardening or heat treatment hardening has occurred. Unless Ford uses a heat treatment process on these heads that is "undone" by the continual heating and cooling of the engine. (Seems very unlikely to me!)
 
#14 ·
NAPARM said:
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?
I have heard of this. A bloke I used to know had an engine rebuilding business (and not a shonk either). He was telling me that he'd seen a lot of heads go "soft" and used the ball bearing test to determine this. If the ball bearing hardly rebounds then you have a "soft" spot. If so then the head is a throwaway because even with a surface grind it'll still blow out. Don't ask me about the science of it because I don't know.

Most people I know who have had E series 6cyl's have had head gasket dramas.

An annual chore (just before the warm weather hits) is:
Change your coolant.
Clean out radiator, pull it out, tanks off and clean ALL the gunk out (the radiators gunk up something dreadful).
Check your fans for proper function (particularly clutch fans).
And after all that, keep a real close eye on your temperature gauge.

Do that and you JUST MIGHT get through the warm weather without any trouble.

Cheers..........
 
#15 ·
Bearman said:
Do that and you JUST MIGHT get through the warm weather without any trouble.

Cheers..........
Provided your fan belt is in good nick i hate it when they blow cuz u gotta take off the power steering belt just to get the fan belt on and in my opinion the power steering belts the bigest C**T of em all.

And it doesnt help that the RACV's to tight to stock fan belts so you can actually have a working car instead of just getting a tow and having to F**K around some more.

Since i baught my falcon i've had to call racv assistance 7 times cuz the things gotten a problem i cant rig up. i only got one service call left
 
#16 ·
I have seen lots of alloy heads go soft (all brands) Caused by really overheating them --You can't keep head bolts tight, bolts just keep pulling into the alloy. I think that the alloy is heat treated in the manufacturing process.You can usually pick it if the bolts arn't tight and you can see where the bolts are indented into the alloy.
Station-rat:toocool:
 
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