Omega Owners Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Search the maintenance guides for answers to 99.999% of Omega questions

Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Down

Author Topic: Head Gasket  (Read 2115 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

LC0112G

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • 0
  • Posts: 2439
    • View Profile
Head Gasket
« on: 18 September 2021, 11:17:45 »

Car has been losing water for a while, but recently it's been getting worse. No oil in the water, and no water in the oil, so don't think it's anything to do with the oil cooler. Have been having problems with hoses leaking at either ends, and have been replacing them as and when, but that just seems to shift the problem from one place to another. Recently it's started to misfire when cold as well.

A few years back I bought a sniffy dooo-dahh kit of eBay when the LC was playing up. One of these : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132436479596 . Don't think I paid £90 though!

You pour a little of the blue liquid into the syringy thing, and then put it on the open expansion cap orifice thusly:


Then you start the engine, and get it warm (you will probably have to remove some water from the expansion tank first to stop it overflowing first). Once the engine gets warm you pump the rubber bellows on the top, and it sucks/bubbles gasses from the expansion tank through the blue liquid. If the liquid turns pi55 yellow, then there are hydrocarbons in the gasses, and that almost certainly means a head gasket leak. If the fluid stays blue, then no hydrocarbons, so head gasket is Ok.

Anyhow, suspect it's rubber ducked...



Logged

STEMO

  • Omega Lord
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 8303
    • Astra 1.6 diesel
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #1 on: 18 September 2021, 11:21:41 »

The car that just keeps on giving.
Logged
Diesel till I die

STEMO

  • Omega Lord
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 8303
    • Astra 1.6 diesel
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #2 on: 18 September 2021, 12:53:53 »

And, if your piss is that colour, drink more fluids  ;D
Logged
Diesel till I die

LC0112G

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • 0
  • Posts: 2439
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #3 on: 08 October 2021, 14:05:47 »

So, assuming I decide to try and fix this what do I need? Presumably 2 head gaskets, a set of bolts and then throw it back together? Perhaps some exhaust gaskets too?

What do we think - a Sunday afternoons work, or you'll be lucky to have it done by this time next year?

I suppose the other option is to throw (another) new engine in it, if I can find one.
Logged

Nick W

  • Omega Queen
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Gender: Male
  • Chatham, Kent
  • Posts: 10834
  • Rover Metro 1.8VVC
    • 3.0l Elite estate
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #4 on: 08 October 2021, 14:23:11 »

So, assuming I decide to try and fix this what do I need? Presumably 2 head gaskets, a set of bolts and then throw it back together? Perhaps some exhaust gaskets too?

What do we think - a Sunday afternoons work, or you'll be lucky to have it done by this time next year?

I suppose the other option is to throw (another) new engine in it, if I can find one.


A head gasket set will include every gasket you need, although some probably could be reused. Yes, you'll need the head bolts. With some shopping around, that's about £100 worth of parts.


Other things to consider whilst its apart:


Thermostat has to come off, and with the timing backing plate off doesn't need to be separated from the transfer tube.
Inspect the oil cooler for obvious external faults.
How soon is the timing belt due? I refitted mine as it had only done about 12k miles in 18months.
DIS pack and plug leads depending on a visual inspection.
New spark plugs. All the engine service parts
Remove, disassemble and clean the breather box.
Front oil seal while the timing belt is off, and a new oil pressure sender
Aux belt pulley.
I replaced all of the exhaust manifold studs and nuts when I had the heads off mine. There wasn't really anything wrong with them, but I've spent far too much time dealing with damaged ones to not spend the fiver on new.
If you have any plans to upgrade to the later exhaust manifolds, now is the time
Flushing the heater matrix is much easier, as is cleaning the filth off the block and heads.
Logged

LC0112G

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • 0
  • Posts: 2439
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #5 on: 08 October 2021, 15:01:12 »

Cambelt, Water pump, Thermostat all done in Nov2013 at roughly 210K miles. https://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=119444.msg1516715#msg1516715

So Yes, at 300K miles now it's probably due.

Ignition coil pack done 3 or 4 years ago, so providing its not showing any signs of cracking in the plastic that can go again.
Logged

Doctor Gollum

  • Get A Life!!
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • In a colds and darks puddleses
  • Posts: 28089
  • If you can't eat them, join them...
    • Feetses.
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #6 on: 08 October 2021, 15:48:42 »

Either do it or not bother. Or to put it another way: Paint or get off the ladder... ;)

If you now have a replacement and somewhere to store it, then Sorn it, if not already, and start collecting parts. Once you have everything spend a few days going through everything methodically.

But don't plan to do that and never get around to it.

At 300k miles, the only reasons to even think about it are sentimental... Either from the time/miles or as a potential Co project with offspring. That's the reality of it.

The only wrong choice would be to leave it unfinished and dismantled ;)
Logged
Onanists always think outside the box.

LC0112G

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • 0
  • Posts: 2439
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #7 on: 08 October 2021, 18:13:26 »

Either do it or not bother. Or to put it another way: Paint or get off the ladder... ;)
Yeah, I know. Tax is up at the end of the month so I'm just trying to work out whether to fix it, sell it on as a spares & repairs, or recover the parts that would be useful on the LC and scrap it.

If you now have a replacement and somewhere to store it, then Sorn it, if not already, and start collecting parts.
Replacement on Wednesday hopefully, but there is a long list of things to do on the LC that will take priority if I don't/can't fix the Omega quickly. Would prefer to store the LC inside overwinter which means outside on the drive for a dead Omega.

Once you have everything spend a few days going through everything methodically.

But don't plan to do that and never get around to it.

At 300k miles, the only reasons to even think about it are sentimental... Either from the time/miles or as a potential Co project with offspring. That's the reality of it.

The only wrong choice would be to leave it unfinished and dismantled ;)
It's not really sentimental. More that throwing a few £100 quid at it may get me another year or two out of it. If you read that 2013 post you'll see I thought it was on it's last legs then. I'm just trying to convince myself that I want to repair it this time too.
Logged

Doctor Gollum

  • Get A Life!!
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • In a colds and darks puddleses
  • Posts: 28089
  • If you can't eat them, join them...
    • Feetses.
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #8 on: 08 October 2021, 18:25:30 »

In which case, I would probably sell it as a going concern on Auto trader... £500 ono would see it gone reasonably quickly.

The LC will always be special, a 300k mile Omega will always be a 300k car that will be starting to show its age physically, if not mechanically (once fixed). With some Mot remaining it will be worth something as a fixer upper, but you could spend time and money on it just to try and get a few more quid out of it only to not recoup that... Because of the age/mileage... So may as well let it go.
Logged
Onanists always think outside the box.

ronnyd

  • Omega Lord
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Bury St Edmunds Suffolk
  • Posts: 8591
    • Vectra 1.8 SRI Silver
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #9 on: 08 October 2021, 18:30:49 »

And, if your piss is that colour, drink more fluids  ;D
Dunno, looks very similar to the colour in the bottles that litter the verges of the A14 ;)
Logged

Migv6 le Frog Fan

  • Omega Queen
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Webs End.
  • Posts: 11732
  • Nicole's Papa
    • 3.2 Elite. Boxster. C1.
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #10 on: 08 October 2021, 18:38:38 »

If it were mine and I wanted to keep it I would spend maybe a couple of hundred quid on an engine with half the miles and drop it in.
That would depend on the condition of the rest of the car though.
Logged
Women are like an AR35. lovely things, but nobody really understands how they work.

Doctor Gollum

  • Get A Life!!
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • In a colds and darks puddleses
  • Posts: 28089
  • If you can't eat them, join them...
    • Feetses.
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #11 on: 08 October 2021, 18:42:00 »

If it were mine and I wanted to keep it I would spend maybe a couple of hundred quid on an engine with half the miles and drop it in.
That would depend on the condition of the rest of the car though.
Which is as much about what you can't see... Bulkhead etc :-\
Logged
Onanists always think outside the box.

LC0112G

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • 0
  • Posts: 2439
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #12 on: 08 October 2021, 19:12:20 »

In which case, I would probably sell it as a going concern on Auto trader... £500 ono would see it gone reasonably quickly.

The LC will always be special, a 300k mile Omega will always be a 300k car that will be starting to show its age physically, if not mechanically (once fixed). With some Mot remaining it will be worth something as a fixer upper, but you could spend time and money on it just to try and get a few more quid out of it only to not recoup that... Because of the age/mileage... So may as well let it go.

Thing is, it's probably worth £500 to me as a spares source for the LC. Rear springs and Shox, Suspension Compressor, Power steering box, sun roof. But I don't have room to store or dispose of the remainder, and I doubt many would want what is left either.

11 months MOT left, but recouping any money spent to fix isn't a consideration. More along the lines of if it costs (say) £500 to fix would I get £500's worth of use out of it.
Logged

LC0112G

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • 0
  • Posts: 2439
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #13 on: 08 October 2021, 19:23:01 »

If it were mine and I wanted to keep it I would spend maybe a couple of hundred quid on an engine with half the miles and drop it in.
That would depend on the condition of the rest of the car though.

The engine has less than 100K on it. It was changed in 2014 after the original one's oil flow was blocked. What I should have done then was re-build the old engine so I could just drop in now, but that's water under the bridge.

There are a (fairly large) number of issues with the rest of the car. The mechanicals are mostly ok. The sills have been done, but I'm too scared to take a proper look at the under windscreen area and chassis legs. Cosmetically it has seen better days and proper replacement/repainting would be expensive.

So I don't "want to keep it" unless the cost of repairs is similar to the value of the use I can put it to.
Logged

STEMO

  • Omega Lord
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 8303
    • Astra 1.6 diesel
    • View Profile
Re: Head Gasket
« Reply #14 on: 08 October 2021, 19:46:40 »

If only there was a forum or something that could guide you through it step by step.
Logged
Diesel till I die
Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.023 seconds with 18 queries.