OK, long story short, my 3 month old head gasket is blown. I've no choice but to put another one on, but I would like to brainstorm what could possibly be the problem in advance of pulling the head and seeing the evidence for myself.
The gasket had about 1200 miles on it. No problems with it until it just went all of the sudden.
How it went: I was driving to work on the first extremely cold morning we had. Went out to get food first. I was doing about 35. The motor gradually began to run erratically. I dropped into neutral and gave it some gas. Noticed a billow of smoke out the tail. Wonderful, I'm thinking - lost a ring. A little bit later I smelled antifreeze and there were wisps of smoke from under the hood. Then I knew it was the gasket. Drove to work and parked it. Looked under the hood and saw antifreeze and oil leaking out from the gasket onto the block and tranny case. After after work I drove it the few miles home (damn the torpedoes!). When I got home, I checked the oil. It was a mess as could be expected.
The last time I got gas, I had checked my oil including under the cap, and it was clean. I now have 47 miles on the odometer. So this was quite a sudden breakdown. It may have been gradually weakening and then finally gave out altogether today.
I ordered a new Felpro gasket which I will have on Friday. Hoping to get the gasket done in 1 day this time now that I know what I'm doing. But I would really like this to be the last time.
Here is what I did last time:
- Used an exchange rebuilt aluminum cylinder head
- Cleaned the old gasket off the cast iron block with a metal scraper (some have said a rotary wire brush is a better idea)
- Checked both the head and block for straightness as best as I could
- Cleaned up the head bolt threads until I could finger screw the bolts in
- Cleaned all oil/antifreeze/machine lube off the block and head with MEK
- Placed the dry Felpro gasket, fresh out of the sealed plastic bag, onto the block aligned with the two dowels, correct side up
- Placed the head straight down onto the block with the aid of a helper
- Tightened the new head bolts to exactly the correct torque, using a quivering wand Craftsman wrench, in 3 stages using the proper torquing sequence.
What I screwed up:
- Initially I did not oil the head bolts and tightened them down dry. I realized my mistake while reassmbling the motor and 1/2 hour later, loosened them in the correct sequence, removed them one by one, oiled them, and then retightened them to the correct torque as before. I am not certain if this affected the gasket in any way.
- My 3 stage torque values were arbitrary - 1/3 final torque, then 2/3 final torque, then final torque. I do not know if this is correct. The factory manual only lists a single torque value.
What I did not do:
- I did not attempt to resurface the deck in any way besides removing the old gasket
- I did not check closely for burrs around water or oil passages and file them down
- I did not use any kind of sealer on the gasket - it was completely dry and the surfaces clean
- I did not retorque the bolts after 500 miles since no manual suggested that I do so
Complicating factors:
- Several weeks after replacing the gasket, I had a coolant leak. This turned out to be a broken radiator hose clamp. I replaced all the clamps at this point.
- Several weeks after that, a rock knocked a hole in my radiator. I did not notice it for several weeks; I only noticed a coolant loss when I checked. Then I realized I could squeeze a hose and a stream of water would squirt from the radiator. I had the radiator repaired. This was several weeks before I lost the gasket.
Even with the above coolant issues, I have never noticed the temp gauge above the middle where it has always been. So I do not believe I have overheated the head, but the rebuilder said they put an overheat tab on it that melts if it gets too hot, so I'll be looking for that when I get a chance. If it did not overheat, I am inclined to believe that the problem is not with the head.
I am wondering if I need to do a better job of preparing the deck. What is the best way that can be done at home with hand tools? At some point, it was suggested to me to use 80 grit sandpaper on the deck to give it texture, but the head rebuilder said NOT to sand the deck at all and especially not with a coarse grit, so I declined to do so.
The motor is Isuzu 4XE1 4-cyl SOHC. Not a motor known for gasket problems. I'm tempted to say that the cold had something to do with the failure, but that would be implying causation from correlation. And none of us are willing to do that. Right?
Does anyone have any other suggestions to improve my chances of the repair lasting? They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, so I'd like to at least TRY to improve my procedure somehow this time. (Or I could just bask in my status as a looney-bin destinee.)
This event came one day after the hard drive in my main workstation crashed (a total loss), so bear with me if I haven't quite thought things through thoroughly. Life has not been pleasant lately, to make an understatement. There are many advantages to the life of a self-sufficient university student, but having the luxury to throw old things away and buy new ones is not one of them. Believe me, right now there is nothing I would like to do more than set my car ablaze and roll the smoking carcass off a towering cliff, preferably to come to rest upon a bed of sharp spikes of some sort. But I've got to get 2 more years from it somehow (a reasonable goal given the amount of new and rebuilt parts that are on it), and sadly enough my time right now is less valuable than nearly any amount of money. So in the end a time sink like a gasketing issue is not a problem for me... I've just got to keep my sanity somehow while I fight it.
Maybe I should try "Elmer's Glue" as a head gasket, after all just about anything could last 3 months right? And a bottle of glue is cheaper than a $40 gasket...
I'll post again once I've pulled the head off. Probably be Friday.
Thanks.