head gasket gone?

[martint]

I bought a 406 02plate HDi at an auction. When I took it home,about 2miles down the road,the heater was on full,then it suddenly went freezing cold.Then the coolant temp went upto the red and the "stop"-"check coolant"light came on.
I stopped & looked at the bottle.There was white frothy bubbles coming out underneath the cap.When I topped it up & took it to a mate/mechanic,it stayed there til next day.Went there today & he filled water-bottle up,and let it sit & idle.Temp never went up.BUT,the minute I revved engine up,white frothy bubbles started to come out again. He smelled the bottle,etc-No oily smell,or fumes!No oil in the water,or water in the oil!Did notice some goldy colour miniscule specs on top of the bottle,leading us to think someone's tried to seal something.Radiator gets hot,pipes get warm.Have bled it properly.dont know if it means anything but its -12 up here at night just now,so could it be anything to do with heater-matrix?water pump? HG? Its done just over 120k.He thinks it might not be the HG? What you all think?sorry if ive posted this twice.cant seem to find out where a moderator is so i can ask him how long this takes to be shown a a new post

[teamster1975]

Welcome Martin!

Did notice some goldy colour miniscule specs on top of the bottle

That could be K-seal in which case the HG may be leaking. Is the top rad hose hard with the engine running?

[martint]

no mate-its quite plyable

[carlb]

hi your best to take it to a garage they will do a conbustion leak test for you it only takes seconds and you will know for sure then

[martint]

okay-thanks.I'll definitely get back to you guys to let you know,as theres loads of things regarding this on the net,and no-one seems to be posting the results back.its driving me crazy not knowing.

[martint]

well,I got the result of my long awaited problem/s.
AND,,,,,,It's the Head Gasket!!! Sniffer test showed it up. Cant get the head skimmed now,til tuesday or wednesday,but at least I know what it is.Cheers everyone. Merry Xmas!

[FarmerPug]

The thing is, is it cheaper to actually change the whole engine than the process of working upon the broken engine by skimming etc, with so many hdis breaking on ebay a cheap engine might not be too expensive.

[lozz]

best option is to do the headgasket,
skimming isnt Expensive,

id change the cambelt and tensioner whilst at it also,

[martint]

how'd ya make that out farmerpug?Its only gonna cost £250.guys' doin it for 100 included in price.

[teamster1975]

I'd agree with Martin here, headgasket isn't a terrible job to do FarmerP!
I'd get the water pump done at the same time if you don't know its history Martin.

[FarmerPug]

I dont know much about doing head gaskets just that back in the days when i rallied old xuds round the fields the head gasket was the cause of their demise in most cases, of course these cars were so cheap i just scrapped them and bought another, but i just thought with there being so many 406s available for parts a new engine would be just as cheap, and while its getting changed it opens the possibility to do anything else like engine mounts, clutch etc. But i suppose a head gasket isnt too hard to change, just keeping the timing correct while the head is off, how is that done, is it as simple as a mark.

[teamster1975]

just keeping the timing correct while the head is off, how is that done, is it as simple as a mark.

I've never done one but you put a locking pin (or drill bit of correct size) through the pulleys to stop them moving. The biggest sod is getting the crankshaft pulley off, the bolt is bloody tight!

[FarmerPug]

and on my suzukis 1.3 engine just to do it i stripped the engine completley, if i put it all back together how do i know im getting the right timing.

[lozz]

and on my suzukis 1.3 engine just to do it i stripped the engine completley, if i put it all back together how do i know im getting the right timing.

there will be marks on the cam sprockets and the crankshaft pulley,
what suzuki is it some of them are on timing chains,

iremember doing a head gasket on a suzuki van once (SootyVan) what a night mare that was

[FarmerPug]

its a timing belt, the van i think has the same 1.3 as mine.