engine woes

_ali · Post by **_ali** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:01 pm

My k series let go this morning - currently waiting on the aa truck to arrive and take me to sls

Big plume of steam (I think) then engine stalled a few seconds later. Small amount of steam (or smoke, not sure) coming from air intake once I had stopped, no coolant in tank (I had checked and topped it up a few hours ealier) and when the oil cap was removed there was a continuous hissing sound from inside the engine.

Any guesses as to the likely severity? Suspect this might be a good opportunity to get some upgrades in (new engine?

Anyone selling a k-series engine?

Ali

graeme · Post by **graeme** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:07 pm

Bad luck. Could well be a head gasket failure. It's not unheard of on the K.

Hopefully just a reskim required, so don't order a new engine just yet - might as well let Ali@SLS at least see it first!

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:12 pm

i could just be an elestomeric bit of gasket letting go, would flood the place with water and steam in no time but not actually cause any real damage if you stopped sharpish. If there is no water in the bores then you might have been lucky.

clean out the mayo, new gasket and back together, but that no fun though is it...

BiggestNizzy · Post by **BiggestNizzy** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:42 pm

Rich H wrote:i could just be an elestomeric bit of gasket letting go, would flood the place with water and steam in no time but not actually cause any real damage if you stopped sharpish. If there is no water in the bores then you might have been lucky.

clean out the mayo, new gasket and back together, but that no fun though is it...

yep, hardness test the head, check the head and see if it has warped (why skim it flat if it already is?) and check liner heights before going down the reskim route,

Post by **Shug** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:13 pm

Yup - no need to skim unless you know it's warped. Will break through the hardening process that Rover used on the heads (allegedly) and expose any flaws in the casting (ask me how I know...)

Sounds like a pretty simple HGF - if it stalled quickly and you weren't driving around overheating the head, you've possibly dodged a bullet. Get liner heights checked too - around 5 thou standproud of the block is perfect - although the new MLS gasket supposedly works with less standproud.

If you want to upgrade - get a Kiwirog head put on it by Ali. Won't be a quick process - Rog takes his time to deliver and Ali is pretty busy too.

mckeann · Post by **mckeann** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:04 pm

Hi Ali

Nice to meet you today. As i said, depending on time scales, you could upgrade the head whilst its in bits, or you could just wait for the honda

Good luck with whatever you go for, and i hope its all sorted in time for your trip

neil the taxi

Corranga · Post by **Corranga** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:19 pm

bad luck, mine went last year. Part of me is kinda glad it did tbh, now I don't worry about it and Loti has been nice and reliable ever since

*touches wood*

Chris

Post by **campbell** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:21 pm

Shug wrote:
If you want to upgrade - get a Kiwirog head put on it by Ali. Won't be a quick process - Rog takes his time to deliver and Ali is pretty busy too.

Treat it as an opportunity rather than a problem.

Scottish Elises

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