Saga

[crossam]

So car went in for a tune this morning.
It was barely running so i had it towed there, first problem was the fuel pump had shat itselft so in went a new fuel pump and the car was much happier.

Onto the dyno, base run showed about 175kw and was pinging up high, wouldnt make anymore power..?? Investigated timeing and cam timing no probs there.

It was pushing coolant out the overflow a bit.

Looks likes i am up for a head gasket..

 

[Skankyjoe]

Fail! Lucky i was there to witness this, poor old galant. This car hasn't ever had any luck.

 

[DOUGMO]

there are so many things it could be mate, here is a few,

what fuel is in it?
has the head been shaved before? eg; comp ratio.
how was the timing checked an at what timing?
standard cams? dialled in correctly?

 

[Skankyjoe]

It's a head gasket, they're about 95% sure that's what it is.

 

[DOUGMO]

was it pushing coolant out the whole time?
what Im getting at is has the head gasket failed because of the pinging

 

[brisvr4]

God point about the fuel George, Adrian have you changed the fuel since the car has been sitting?

 

[Skankyjoe]

From memory his cams are BC 272/272's, timing was checked (with timing gun) and i *think* it was 15 degrees, fuel 98 octane vpower/ultimate.

I know he said he put 10liters of fresh stuff in there, don't know if he dropped the old stuff out thought.

 

[brisvr4]

God I hope the timing wasn't 15 deg!
5 is more like it!
Is the car still at the tuners or back at Adrians?

 

[crossam]

the timing is all fine, fuel is fine had a full tank of ultimate might of had 2L or so of old fuel. Car is back at mine, mate will do head gasket in the next 2-3 weeks and i will take it back for tuning again.

 

[MDK87]

Oh no...

What sort of head gasket what is that broke?

 

[crossam]

some sort of metal one, what ever APC put in there when they did it.

the fuel pump was all gunked up bad, the rubber line from the pump to the outlet had completely collapsed, the engine was litterally sucking fuel though via vaccume alone. No wonder it would idle nicelyish, and then fail under any sort of load.

i do sorta remember the car getting a little hot when i first took it off the road so the head gasket is very plausable, its not leaking bad, car is still quite driveable, just doent make the power it should and pushes a bit of coolant out under boost.

 

[MDK87]

Oh no. Are you getting APC to fix it again? The reason why I ask is because I want to know what sort of headgasket it was. I have a Mitsubishi (Nippon) MLS on the way, and after some reading I'm a little hesitant to put it in.

Keydiver (Jeff) says he's had similar trouble to what you've had with MLS headgaskets on his own and clients cars, reverted back to stock Mitsu HG accompanied with ARP to solve the problem.
Apparently that combo is good for anything upto 25psi!?

Do you know if both the head and block were shaved when the gasket was installed?
Does your car currently use ARP head studs?

The last thing you want is to have spent lots of $$ replacing the HG and then have to do it again....trust me.

 

[Skankyjoe]

I can guarantee you 100% that apc won't be fixing it. When liam takes it off i'll get him to put it aside and i'll go round and take a look at it for you if you want mo.

 

[GVR40]

tim base timing on normal fuel is 10 BTDC. just coz you have special sugar cane fuel you can advance your timing

 

[brisvr4]

No it isn't Craig, it's 5deg base. Trust me

And Mo, I run a Mitsi MLS headgasket with no problem at all mate. The main reason that they will fail if the head and block aren't prepped correctly before fitting - lazy buggers fitting them!

 

[MDK87]

Ah ok, yeah I was thinking it could be because of something like that Tim.
It'd be cool if you could let us know anyhow Jason. Thanks.

Man good luck fixing it Adrian, VR4's just love being themselves hey...

 

[crossam]

yeah its got ARP head studs.
not sure on the head gasket its metal of some sort, i sent you the URL with the scan of my APC invoice didnt i? its not descriptive about brand.

i will get it fixed and running... on the plus side i gotz a brand new alpine head unit to go in the galant. thanks to JB hifi gift cards for my birthday, and a new GPS, so that will keep me busy and my mind off that problem while i am waiting for the head gasket to get done.

i am hoping liam will be accomodating and degree the cams for me as well.



on a side note, when driving it back home after dropping the car trailer off on saturday, i decided to test the cruise control at 70km /hr in 3rd gear...

cruise control + 80mm throttle body.... interesting to say the least.

 

[crossam]

whats the general consensus on which head gasket is the best way to go.
will be looking at 25-30psi max and its got head studs

 

[robevo]

definatly a cometic head gasket.Its the same one I use in my evo.
Sounds like detonation from bad fuel/fuel supply caused your head to lift mate.
You have had nothing but trouble with that car

 

[crossam]

well i am determined more then ever now to get the thing back on the road.
so hopefully the 2.5years to get it back on the road only turns out to be 2-5 weeks this time.