Ford Ka water leak

you need to do the whole job again. Was it a genuine gasket?

Mr C might well turn out to be right - he's got more experience than me - but I would try re-torquing the bolts up, but certainly not by untorquing them first. They may be a bit loose, who knows, and you might save a lot of hassle.

Rob Graham

Will have to ask (daughter in law's father who helped me and supplied the parts lives over in Wales) why is it a known problem if you don't fit an original? It was an awful job as the space was so limited.. If it's of any interest here's a link with some photos.

it is torque, 90, 90. If you miss out the second 90 it will work for a while !!

Usually genuine gaskets are far better quality than pattern.

I once changed a head gasket on a montego (one burnt valve) it ran perfectly, but the head gasket leaked water all along the front edge, a genuine gasket to replace the pattern one fixed that till the car was stolen by pykies several years later. So yes a cheapo gasket can give you grief.

Blimey that looks very involved.

I thought changing my air filter was a heart rate riser! lol.

It was the top engine mount which had to be removed before the head could be taken off, not only was it different to the one shown in the manual, from memory it was one or two bolts which were almost totally inaccessible which made things very difficult.

Mr C, while you're on about torque settings can you tell me the correct torque for the caliper sliding pins on a 03 1.3 KA? I've just fitted new disks & pads - Autodata says "Brake caliper carrier to hub 58 Nm". But it also says the same 58 Nm for the brake caliper to carrier? I'm not sure if that's a mistake as it seems rather high to me with risk of stripping the thread. Other brakes I've done are usually around the 25 to 30Nm mark so thought I'd double check.

Well for people like Mr. Cheerful I suppose it's easy when you've done a few, one example was that I found a bolt which was almost impossible to gain any useful access to with any kind of spanner or socket configuration, however the realization eventually dawned that simply removing the headlamp would make the job a piece of cake (which it did) like I said easy when you know how, but not quite so easy for the uninitiated like me!

nah thats a lovely little job to do ! back to work tommorrow & my 1st job of the day is to strip & report on a 53 plate renault megane with 26k on the clock that the timing belt has snapped, i know its going to be terminal, but have to go through the motions, the guy has only had it for 6 months & the warranty has just run out !

good to see you having a go & some pics, i guess the rad was the cause of the initial problem. To be honest its very rare for these to give problems after they have been done as its a pretty simple engine to work on & being a cast head as opposed to an ali one ive never had to skim one, just a rub over with some rubbing paper, you dont think you might have you nicked the gasket when you put the head back on ?

autodata says the same as you have found. I would not be likely to use a torque wrench on something like, just relying on feel.

The story is that my daughter in law (who lives in Bristol) was studying at Exeter University, which meant that she had to make frequent motorway trips, one day when she was travelling back the radiator got holed (probably a sharp stone judging by the damage) by the time she realized there was a problem (no water temperature gauge in Ka's!) it was sadly too late, we originally fitted just a new head gasket, but it was obvious by the bubbles in the top-up tank and the white exhaust smoke that the head had warped and needed skimming, which afterwards was refitted along with another new gasket.

Well we were pretty meticulous in checking everything for cleanliness or any signs of physical damage. the tightening instructions we used says.. first stage 30 Nm.. Second stage using 303 - 174 special tool: 90°.. Third stage using 303 - 174 special tool: 90°.

Cracked head?

A neighbour who used to be a mechanic wandered across this morning whilst I had my head underneath the bonnet, he had a look and reckoned that it was more likely to be a leaking water pump, unfortunately it's impossible to see anything in that particular area (from the top at least). A while ago the radiator or on my focus was holed so badly that the water was literally pouring out almost as fast as I could put it in, originally intended as a temporary fix I purchased a product called K-seal, not cheap at circa £10.00 for a tiny bottle, but >20,000 miles later the cooling system was still working perfectly with the temperature gauge needle hardly ever deviating from its usual central position. Not being as keen to get involved with my current predicament as I would have been a few years back I decided to purchase another bottle of K-seal, plonked it into the cooling system and everything is now back to normal, well if it goes on for as long as in the old focus then I won't have any complaints, if it doesn't than expect to hear from me again sometime in the future;o)

wonderful stuff k-seal, its the only thing we use/recommend in the workshop as a quick fix solution. They other do products as well

Yes, they recommend it on the Rover forums and they should know! I put some in my last 1.6 when it developed a slight water loss and it went for another couple of years before someone wrote it off for me.

Andy C

I wonder how many otherwise dodgy motors are sold in 'sound' condition with that stuff inside the engine?. especially if they run OK for several years and thousands of miles after being sold, in which case it's hardly likely that any problems would be laid at the door of the original seller..

"Ivan" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

When I bought the Saab, the header tank looked rather suspicious. All was relatively OK, though, until I had to drain and refill the cooling system to change the coolant temp sensor. Then a hose burst, so I drained and refilled it again. Then I started getting mysterious water losses, which led to the replacement of several more hoses, the water pump, the header tank - and finally, the head gasket.

And all because some previous owner had lobbed goop in instead of properly replacing the £30-odd header tank when a fine crack started spraying water towards the pump.

But isn't K-seal supposed to be a cut above the more usual Radweld goop?. 'K-Seal: Antifreeze compatible permanent cooling system repair incorporating unique ceramic microfibre technology'.