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Blown head gasket?

C

CSVT1214

Addicted CEG'er
Joined
Nov 1, 2003
Messages
6,752
Location
Plainville, CT
Started from this thread:
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=53211

I have replaced numerous parts, and the idle continues to be very rough. A compression test yesterday found the following:

Cyl 1 - 190
Cyl 2 - 45
Cyl 3 - 45
Cyl 4 - 180

When testing 2 or 3, the opposite cylinder puffs air while cranking. My diagnosis is a blown head gasket since air from one cylinder is crossing to the adjacent cylinder. Correct?

The head gasket was just replaced in the summer from a coolant hose bursting and then overheat. Recently, another hose gave out and it was caught before the engine climbed into the red on the temp gauge. It was shut off and towed home. The hose was replaced, coolant added and driven for four days before the problem started. Are the gaskets that sensitive to high temps?
 
yes, it sounds like a classic head gasket failure.

when you replaced the gasket the first time, did you have the head checked for flatness? since its an aluminum head its possible that you warped it when you over heated the engine. this would cause you to blow the new gasket in fairly short order.

if the head is warped, it may be able to be fixed depending on how bad it is, but be prepared to need a new head.
 
Just curious, what hose(s) burst? My 2000 Mystique has 120k miles and so far I've only replaced the upper hose due to a soft spot. The other hoses still look and feel ok. Being that it's my wife's car and she's not as attentive to the gauges as you or I might be, I'm just curious as to which hoses are likely to fail first.


As far as your head gasket problem, what brand gasket did you use? It sounds like the gasket was a POS or the head is slightly warped causing premature gasket leakage.

IMO the best head gaskets are "Victor" which are available at NAPA. OEM would be my second and only other choice.
 
Were the head bolts changed in the summer with new gasket? Those are torque to yield bolts, using over just asking for head gasket blowout. Meant to be used only once, after that they will not hold torque as well as new. Was head properly angle torqued as last step of tightening sequence? All this can still happen even with perfectly flat parts.................
 
It was repaired with guidance of a Haynes manual I'm pretty sure, with the addition of a rather talented mechanic to boot. :shrug:
 
New head bolts for sure, but beyond that, I'm not sure what steps were followed. As zorrex said, I trust the mechanic that did the work. He has done this work plenty of times.
 
I have seen and read things in both Haynes and Chilton manuals that would have you destroy parts for sure if you do not know what you are doing. Many times they update manual to include the latest year available on cover, but the inside info will only cover earlier years with nothing on the later at all that is pertinent. Zetec cam belt timing for post '98 comes to mind, those manuals had only procedures for the early ones forever. Things like telling you lifters are hydraulic when not, that sorta stuff. Got one that says must yank engine/trans together to be able to remove trans, not that way at all. Got one that says check oil pressure at 7000 rpm, oh yeah that's right.......

NOTHING can replace an exact year factory service manual, and even those can be lacking sometimes.
 
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