kraggah

hey

we need a stronger car, so im thinking of buying a dual fuel 1998 EL falcon (gas for driving, petrol for towing) with 165,000km's on it.

now i know the headgasket is due at around this stage, the current owners have not replaced it. So, how can i find symptoms of the headgasket going?

so far i know:
- milky oil or coolant
- white smoke out exhaust
- drinking coolant
- (dodgy test) smell exhaust gases in coolant/radiator

what else can i check to ensure the car i buy wont blow anytime soon? compression check?

can i take it to ford and get them to check it? and if so, what would they do?

thanks for your help
krag

 

Ghia5L

pretty much all those symptoms should tell you whether not the gasket is blown. As far as I know there isn't really a "this gasket is about to blow!" indicator, the gasket is either busted or intact.

The only time I'd be worried about having a gasket let go in the near future would be if it recently blew a gasket and the head wasn't decked before fitting a fresh gasket.

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www.boostedfalcon.net

Aussiblue

Rough running at start up or restart when the engine is hot and car has been left for with engine off for a few minutes - initially they only leak when hot and run OK most of the time. So when a hot engine is left the coolant builds up in the leaking cylinder and causes rough running on restart.

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Regards Blue

jas24zzk

Also a pressure test on the cooling system.

165k for a headgasket is EA territory, after that they improved the design greatly.


IF you are runnign dual fuel, then have the head bleed mod done...where a bleed line is added from behind number 6.


Cheers
Jas

kraggah

Jas,

im assuming it is the same for the EL's? and if i buy a car, with say 230,000km's on it... would it be safe to say the headgasket is fixed...

whats this bleed mod? more info? links?

cheers mate, most appreciated

jas24zzk

G'day,
i have done a little research for you... I recently did an EL head gasket for a mate (i'm a panel beater who moonlights as a mechanic....but E-series are my forte)
The vehicle in question, driven and 'cared' for by people who are not mechanically minded. The invoice shows 278,433km on the odometer.

I have photo's of the job (digi pics are cheap, so i take lots to justify invoices etc).

Maintenance wise, the vehicle had no inhibitor in the radiator, and every item down to how the car drove showed neglect.....ALso evidence by the owners refusal to have the head inspected and linished.

Problem was actually not the headgasket, but a broken head bolt. This showed up as classic headgasket.....water in oil. associated water usage and overheating, rough running.

I would be happy to say that a well maintained and cared for EL is worth good money, even with 230k on it..

As an example i own an EB series 1 (last of....4.0 CPI) Mine has 390k on it.
I purchased it with 30k on it, maintained it poorly, drove it hard (still do) and did my first head gasket at 174k. I did my second at 201k. The reason for this was i neglected to replace the headbolts...this is a must.
The next headgasket was done at 350,006km. But this was not due to it failing...the car was written off, and the payout allowed me to repair it, rebuild the motor and transmission, with few hundred left for my time.

If the car is really clean, has been maintained well and the price is good, then buy it, these falcoons are bullet proof.

The head bleed mod. I am not sure who does them (although i believe it requires removal of the head)
What they do is drill the head, into the water jacket behind number 6 spark plug, and add a line up to the bleeder on the thermostat housing.
Johnny from Mirafiori Motors in Melbourne would be able to give you details on who does this mod (its the only shop i have seen cars with it done in)

Cheers
Jas