A few folk asked for a thread on progress with this engine. So having been told by the physiotherapist that I can do a bit of light work I made a start this morning. (This is good news because before the operation I was told it would be weeks before I could do anything - however the surgeon did a slightly different procedure which seems to have been superbly effective.)
Some of you may know I bought the car as a HG failure, it had overheated on the motorway and run until the engine died. It still fired up from cold so I was able to drive it onto a recovery wagon and bring it home.
I put some coolant into the system and ran it for a few seconds - which resulted in the coolant system pressurising. So off with its head!
Surprisingly the HG looks intact, and there's no sign of a cylinder having been 'steam cleaned'. The seal on the timing chain cover where it meets the cylinder head is another story.
Here's the HG
Cylinder head
Engine block and upper timing chain cover
Seal on rear of water pump at the face between the timing cover and the head
Since there's no clear evidence that the HG had actually gone I shall need to investigate further - there's clearly water in the oil, and clear signs that the coolant hadn't been changed for a very long time, so I'm looking for signs of corrosion elsewhere just in case.
Some of you may know I bought the car as a HG failure, it had overheated on the motorway and run until the engine died. It still fired up from cold so I was able to drive it onto a recovery wagon and bring it home.
I put some coolant into the system and ran it for a few seconds - which resulted in the coolant system pressurising. So off with its head!
Surprisingly the HG looks intact, and there's no sign of a cylinder having been 'steam cleaned'. The seal on the timing chain cover where it meets the cylinder head is another story.
Here's the HG
Cylinder head
Engine block and upper timing chain cover
Seal on rear of water pump at the face between the timing cover and the head
Since there's no clear evidence that the HG had actually gone I shall need to investigate further - there's clearly water in the oil, and clear signs that the coolant hadn't been changed for a very long time, so I'm looking for signs of corrosion elsewhere just in case.