If this subject has been covered before please let me know and I'll go off and find it.
However if it ain't - here we go.
Last Tuesday me wagon went in for her 120K checkup (read service) and while on the hoist the service manager shone his torch up between the Exhaust manifold and the block/head. There was a little evidence of seepage from somewhere around that area and of course the first thing he said was HEAD GASKET $$$$$$$$ (about 800 to a 1000 of them)
My question is if in fact it is the gasket what sort of symptoms should i be getting, basically it's running like a dream - temp gauge always in the bottom of the guage - no use of oil - no use of water. I have heard these motors do have some problems with gaskets and head bolts but I just want to know what you guys think.
Well if the gasket was gone then you'd be using (losing) a fair bit of oil and coolant. If it's on the way out you mightn't get any of these symptoms but usually small oil leaks would proceed before it goes completely or before you notice your oil level dropping on the dipstick. Can't say i've had a blown gasket on the EL, just sorta going by general engine principles (ie if the seal isn't complete then stuff would be getting out).
Did the mechanic check the head bolts???
I had the same issue with my ute @ 100,000K a small amount of leakage about half way along the head, exhaust side. Became quite noticeable when I had the extarctors put on and thing were a lot more visible.
It has probably been leaking for a while, and mine only seemed to weep a small amount after hot runs, same thing with temp gauge etc. and no signs of oil usage.
My advice would be to get it fixed before the head gasket lets go in a major way, and get it done by somebody who knows what there doing otherwise it wont last (the first guy that did mine had never worked on a XR6 (or any Falcon) but didn't tell me till he was halfway through the job, and 9 months later it went again but this time alot worse)
Be aware though that it will probably cost more like $1300~$1600 depending on condition of the head, mine needed a total rebuild.
Mate, sounds exactly like the scenario when i got my car checked at the mechanics, seems a common thing they fault on falcon 6's head gaskets snapped head bolts. I don't know how good your mechanic is to you must i have a funny suspician that alot of the time it's just bull so they can get $1000 easy.
I think it's best you do some further investigation before you start even thinking of changing head gaskets.
A mechanic told me i had snapped headbolts going to cost $1500 to fix and now look yy car has done 203k with no headgasket blown or snapped bolts. What a load of crap.
"Touch's wood".
The way I look at it is if the Head gasket is leaking , no matter how minor, then there are areas of the Head that will be effected by the coolant that shouldn't be , and you'll get a track through of coolant that will still weep even if you replace a broken bolt.
Picture this scenario, A guy I work with has an EF GLi, and he was towing a boat up from the Murray, and noticed coming into Truro that the car was slowing down, so he put his foot down further, little bit later the car slowed down even more, so he put his foot down further, eventually he had his foot flat to the floor and couldn't keep 80K, so he pulls over and the engine seizes as he's slowing down.
Not having a coolant level sensor on the EF GLi he had no idea that his head gasket had blown, and because of the coolant temp sensor design, his temp gauge was still showing normal, with a seized engine.
$3500 dollars later he has a recon engine in his EF, plus a Alumium boat stained with coolant.
I dont know what you think but I'd rather keep on top of a head gasket issue, rather than let something like this happen.
Jesmol,
Had that happen on my mates EL drove and eventually lossed power then it was too late, the result was a slight pinhole burst in the top radiator hose. Which makes me wonder seems where the water temp sensor is, doesn't work. Kinda defeats the purpose of having one.
The temp sensor is located in the lower thermo housing, and is one of the first places to loose water when all hell breaks loose. Unfortunately the type of sensor used requires interface to the coolant to pick up the temp, hence the reason for no movement when you loose all your coolant.
On the AU the actually have a cylinder head temp gauge, not a coolant temp gauge, which will pick up when you loose coolant as the cylinder head temp rises. and they also have the sequential fuel injection limp home mode which will stop a motor from seizing.
Picture this scenario, A guy I work with has an EF GLi, and he was towing a boat up from the Murray, and noticed coming into Truro that the car was slowing down, so he put his foot down further, little bit later the car slowed down even more, so he put his foot down further, eventually he had his foot flat to the floor and couldn't keep 80K, so he pulls over and the engine seizes as he's slowing down.
Not having a coolant level sensor on the EF GLi he had no idea that his head gasket had blown, and because of the coolant temp sensor design, his temp gauge was still showing normal, with a seized engine.
Had a similar thing happen to my EA although it wasn't a head gasket, and it was my wife driving - temp gauge goes up into red then drops right down into the blue, looses speed on freeway, so down goes the right foot, engine starts to ping, but thats cool, just keep driving, reaches the traffic lights and it locks rock solid.
The first tell tale is the temp gauge behavior, it registers colder than normal operating temp after a brief trip into the red zone, after that the pinging is a giveaway!!
xr6wgn,
I had my done by Maugham Thiem @ Mt Barker, closer to where I live, I used to get my company hack serviced by MT @ Alberton, and had no problems with the work they did. Most places around now are aware of the issues with the Head Bolts on the pre AU series, so you could almost take it anywhere, but for the 12 month warranty I decided the premium for a Ford dealer was worth it.
dont cook, it run good quality coolant.. but no matter what u do the head gasket will come and get u... when it happens use AU STEEL head gasket and au bolts.. then it wont happen for a long long time
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