Not running right, don't have a clue why!

[lazy rambler]

I put it in for an MOT on Friday, it turns out the head gasket has gone again after only 250 miles! I'll pull the engine apart this week to try and find out why.

[ScottieJ]

Did you tighten the head down with the correct procedure? did you re-use the old head bolts? if the old head bolts were re-used there is a chance they would've needed to be tightened down again after a few runs maybe?

The head bolts should be tightened in 3 steps at the following torques (lbs-ft) 25, 40, 48-50 following the order

head-sequence2.jpg (32.12 KiB) Viewed 3068 times

another possibility could be that it's not the head gasket but a cracked head? but i don't see why it would've been fine for 250miles if that was the case???

[lazy rambler]

I didn't do the head, it was done by a local mechanic, I'll try and find out tonight if he changed the bolts when he did it. On the plus side if it was because of something he did, the next head gasket will be free. Although he's told me if it goes again the engine will be too high compression to do a third time if necessary. Is that true?

[ScottieJ]

well you can get 10:1 compression pistons for the 1.3 so as long as it doesn't go above that it should be fine! there's nothing to say that the head will need skimming again anyway, they don't always warp.

It should be fine if he re-used the old bolts really, as long as they are in good condition, as far as I'm aware they are not stretch bolts.