Corsa C 1.2 head gasket

[Hugh Jaleak]

Daughters car, had the head gasket replaced last March by a guy I know, he's done a lot of work for me, and I trust him. However, it appears to have blown again, suspect between a cylinder and waterway as its loosing coolant, pressurising the cooling system, and steady stream of bubbles can be seen going into the expansion bottle with the engine running.

Daughter's adamant the car hasn't overheated, and in fairness if it was kicking out steam she'd have been straight on the phone to me. The original repair is still under the 12 month guarantee, so possibly can get it done again, but could there be an underlying cause why it has failed again so soon?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Did you get a receipt?

Andy

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

No, but it's a Gentleman's agreement. Their reputation is their guarantee.

 

[HERTS P&D]

The trouble is, in business a receipt is always needed. He might say that it was done 13 months ago and labour/parts are chargeable.
Best to give him a call in the morning and hopefully he will honour his work/reputation.

Andy

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I've already spoken to them, they're coming to do a cambelt change on one of mine next month, so will look at it then. I dont want to blame them for bad workmanship if there's a possible underlying issue why it's gone again. They do hundreds of Head gaskets, (MG Rover specialists), and did mine nearly 5 years ago, car is still going strong. I'm not so clued up on the Vauxhall's.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

OP, Did the fellow who did the job checked head for any warping, and had it skimmed? And did he have it pressure tested for any cracks and leaks? some car have a certain procedure when undoing old head bolts so as to not warp anything as well as a different sequence for re-tightening, and most importantly using new head bolts of good quality, some after market bolts are cheap and useless , so would have been worth spending a little extra on new genuine head bolts. These bolts are stretched bolts and need a certain procedure to torque them correctly including using angles to do the final torque .

Sorry my post crossed yours, so they are experienced on MG rover cars, GM Vauxhall cars have a certain opening and tightening procedure.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I have every confidence he will have done the job properly, the guy is vastly experienced. Just not sure why it would have gone again so quickly, not saying he hasn't made a mistake, just think its unlikely. Its going to have to be done again, but I don't want to mess about and get it redone if there's an underlying fault in the engine which is causing them to fail. Admitted last time though, oil was getting into the water, that's not happening this time around.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Replacing HG is not an easy task, failure rate can be higher if meticulous care is not taken, even a small dirt or using an unclean rag to wipe surfaces, some people use sharp instruments to remove remnants of old gaskets, can inadvertently dig minor groves or scratches, that can lead to premature failure. It is a scary job, I did my HG and so far two years and about 6K its been holding so far, I haven't used a single drop of water since its rebuilding, I had my head skimmed and Pressure tested, my old HG suffered a failure causing a hydro lock.

I bought some cheap after market bolts, and felt when I was tightening they started to feel as though they had overstretched as the effort needed to tighten them became less, so I rejected them all and bought another genuine new set of bolts.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I'm going to see what they say, ultimately due to the age and condition of the car, I am loath to spend too much more on it. If it can scrape through til June that'll be fine, daughter is off abroad for 6 months on a Uni exchange, and I'll see about replacing it when it returns.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Long as she is not doing long journeys, keep water topped up daily, even take some in a plastic carrier, show here how to top up, and not to open fillar cap when the engine is hot, as it could suddenly pop out under pressure and she could get scalded, and keep the cap slightly loose to allow pressure to escape, could possibly last till June, I drove my car for almost a year when it started to consume water or needed topping up every 100 or so miles, and one day it just gave up the ghost and water had seeped into the cylinders causing a hydro lock.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

She's back and forth to Uni, about 60 miles each way, but only does it about once a fortnight on average. Going to show her how to top her coolant up, and keep fingers crossed. It did a 200 mile round trip yesterday, had lost about 1/2 pint when I checked it this morning.

 

[Burnerman]

Frankly I'm surprised that only 1/2 pt of coolant was lost over such a trip - I would have expected more!
No matter - once the motor is stripped the gasket fault should be visible across the flame rings - those tough steel bands that seal directly onto the top of the cylinder.
Vauxhall in their infinite wisdom often claim that their heads must not be skimmed but in reality a tiny skim can be taken - more just a clean up, really.
There have also been a few porous cylinder heads around (ala VW) so its worth considering that if a head gasket issue isn't visible.
John

 

[Mikefromlondon]

If you lost only 1/2 a pint of coolant, then ignore my advice regarding leaving the filler cap slightly lose, as you might start loosing more as the water boils quicker at 100°C under atmospheric pressure and dry up fast, so given that under pressure it won't boil dry until it hits higher temperature well above 100°c, as the radiator and thermostat along with coolant circulation would keep it below 100 and most probably the thermostat starts opening at between 95 - 98c, so yes keep the cap secured tightly, any excess pressure should escape via the built in pressure release valve.

Is she a member of a breakdown club such as RAC or AA or others, that might be well worth signing on for. Least they would drop her home!

 

[DaveHerns]

You could try some of that additive people swear by - K Steel (?)

 

[Burnerman]

I've never come across anyone who has used this.....looking forward to a genuine comment!
I do use a compound called Wellseal on head gaskets though.....its a viscous brown liquid that hardens like a lacquer and its highly thought of.
John