Time to do the head - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

clive45 · 06-12-2004, 03:25

Well it seems time to do the head gasket. Just over 200,000K's and oil leaking from the gasket area over plug 1 also small loss of water. No leaks anywhere in the water system.Having inspected another EA with a blown head gasket the following was found.
Allareas from water jacket to cyl on the exhaust side blown.
All head bolts on exhaust side looser than inlet side.
Talks with an engine specialist suggested the following.
Add a few FT/lbs to exh head bolts.
Dont use inhibitor in the water as he suspects that it reacts with the gasket material at the hottest spot between the water jacket and the cyl.
Also I have been told to use NEW AU head bolts. Any particular model??????.

I would like to hear your comments on the above..

jajig · 08-02-2004, 17:18

I used astral head bolts on mine the box says EA-AU so go figure.

juarez · 08-02-2004, 17:47

Oil is leaking from the HEAD GASKET, OVER plug one?? The head gasket is BELOW the sparkplugs?? perhaps it's just your rocker gasket leaking (very easy / cheap to fix)...

In all the head gaskets that have blown recently, the only problem seems to be that there is a small leak from the two middle water jacket holes, which comes out below the exhaust manifold. Tightening the exhaust-side bolts will probably no longer help, as once it starts leaking, it makes little tracks in the gasket material..

Replacing the head gasket isn't terribly cheap, even if you do it yourself (new gaskets + getting head shaved is around $200-300), so if there isn't any real problem (how much water is leaking, and is the oil really leaking from the head gasket??), I wouldn't do it right now. If you do do it, make sure you use the AU headbolts, and someone said you can use the AU gasket as well (?? Not sure on this, but if you can it is meant to be a very good gasket).. The headbolts need replacing anyway, and the AU ones are probably the same price as any others.

Yagz · 08-02-2004, 18:10

Yeah, i picked up on that too juarez.. leaking above the plug one, means it's a cheap and easy rocker cover gasket.. The head gasket joins the block and head UNDER the plugs..