Head gasket @ 50k

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:07 pm

per cent age

Titanium S1 111S (gla) · Post by **Titanium S1 111S (gla)** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:53 pm

Elises you have owned perhaps????

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:05 pm

shooomer wrote:
DDtB wrote:
shooomer wrote:I've had 3 HGF failures
Stay away from my car then ... you're obviously jinxed!!

All 3 in one Elise, so it was the car

Robin/Ross
Has HGF in Silver Shed since?

It's had a voluntary HGF when it got the PTP165 kit fitted and not missed a beat since despite heavy abuse. When I fitted the kit the car *STILL* had plastic dowels - *sigh*.

Robin

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:56 pm

DIY it when it goes. No major issues (As long as you follow the instructions

) not many special tools (Torx socket, cut down 22mm socket, cam lock tool helpful but not vital) Parts are relatively cheap.

can be done by 3.5 SE'ers, 2 mental collies, a tolerant wifey and a toddler in less than 15 hours.

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:39 am

Campbell and I just completed stage 1 (remove head) in only 6 hours

- had one barsteward bolt - the lower timing belt cover had one seized or over tightened bolt that was causing the captive thread to spin in the rear cover - ended up having to "modify" the rear cover - luckily I have a spare to replace it with

Cheers,
Robin

Post by **campbell** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:14 am

Chortle.

Yep, 66k miles and no HGF. Tonight it all came to bitz though, so I will never know how far it might have gone!

I too used to worry about whether "preventive maintenance" might be used to avert HGF, but seeing what goes into disassembly of the head alone, you DEFINITELY don't want to go enforcing that on an engine until it needs it

It's understandable to want to avoid HGF, as it is a costly and time consuming business to put right if it does happen. Which will always be at the least convenient moment, as per Mr Sod's Law.

Anyways, looking after your engine in terms of the way you drive it and service it probably has a lot to do with it. [polishes halo] Our inspection of my block, liners, etc, tonight revealed somewhat "as new" condition. The head and gasket were in great shape too. I've done my share of track days, and am not afraid to rev it when the opportunity allows, but I don't abuse it when cold and don't do that much real town driving (which I guess could stress the cooling system a bit..."thermal shock" is apparently a big cause of K series HGF).

Of course we'll put the new head on next week and I'll be eating my words shortly after. Typical!

Campbell
(long apprentice shift faction)

r10crw · Post by **r10crw** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:26 am

like everyone says head failure can happen at any time, only benefit I could see would be the replacment of the plastic dowels which have been present in every k head ive done, including a 340r! At the same time it give a good opportunity for upgrades.

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:26 am

6 hours is pretty good going. We would have finished quicker if we had worked out how to lock the crank effectively. Most importantly for me was I learned loads and loads.

PRRT seems to be a popular preventative measure but nothing is guaranteed!

What were your liner heights like Campbell? Mine were between .10 and .15 mm IIRC across the lot. Only measured them as I was there as there was feck all I could do about them!

IMHO, (which I know doesn't count for much!) HGF is down to so many factors: original engine construction, correct warm up, head porosity, the weather on that particular day, how much abuse you give/don't give to the engine, coolant mix/type, age, mods, etc, etc, etc its not something you can prevent really or predict (Unless you have run with no coolant for example) so put away a HGF fund or get AA Parts and Labour cover and ignore it until it goes pop!

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:34 am

shooomer wrote:
Lawrence wrote:per cent age
of what Lawrence?

Dear Paul

Of all the number of K series cars that you have owned, how many have suffered HGF? Please express your answer as a percentage of the total.
If K represents the total number, and H is the number of failures and P is the percentage failure rate.

H/K x 100 = P (%)
we know that H =3 from your previous post

so P = 3/K x 100 = ? (%)

Thanks
Lawrence

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:49 am

Better would be the total mileage (M) divided by the number of HGFs (H) by those Elises

ie how far did you get each time!

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:55 am

thanks Paul

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:05 am

shooomer wrote:the answer you're looking for is 50% but I've already said all failures happened on 1 car

Interesting that you got a "new" engine from Lotus.

I cannot be 100% sure, but I don't believe the engine fitted to the shed is a Lotus sourced 1.8K - the reason I say that is mostly because it had an oil temperature sender fitted to the oil filter housing but not connected to the wiring (Elises don't have these normally).

It's of course possible that was fitted by an owner at some point.

Cheers,
Robin

Post by **campbell** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:11 pm

RICHARDHUMBLE wrote: What were your liner heights like Campbell? Mine were between .10 and .15 mm IIRC across the lot. Only measured them as I was there as there was feck all I could do about them!

We haven't formally measured them yet but I think Robin planned to do that before reassembly. Big Brother will get back to you

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:03 pm

Just interested that all. Like the block tester, nice to know but you'd rather not know if it fails!

Post by **campbell** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 6:14 pm