Blown head gasket?

[Baboon_AU]

if it was a head gasket you would know about it mate.. your stressing way to much.. if you dont know much about cars take it to a qualified mechanic.

[xr8ute]

I cant remember, off the top of my head, what sort of resistance your leads would be....but just check them all and right down the value of each. It will become pretty aparant if one or two have a much higher resistance than the others.

On the topic of idle....have you checked/cleaned your idle speed control solenoid? Or throttle body?

Are there problems at conditions other than idle? Like any surging at cruise, or missing under acceleration?

[apoc]

Hey all,
Thanks for the new wave of replies.

LOWAU - "How many kms has the car done and are the leads on the car the original(red motorcraft) ones?"

The car has 190,000km, just rolled over (not that any rolling is involved in the odo these days) as for the leads in the car they are a newish looking bosch number.

Baboon_AU - "your stressing way to much.. if you dont know much about cars take it to a qualified mechanic"

As for stressing too much, yeah probably, but im less stressed now it hasnt gotten any worse and still drives fine for most the part. Taking the car to a qualified mechanic, well yes i can do that but then i wont learn much about my car will i, I want to know what, when, where, why. I like to think i would one day have enough knowledge to maintain my car without a mechanic (prolly not gonna happen, but i dont want to be useless).

xr8ute - "On the topic of idle....have you checked/cleaned your idle speed control solenoid? Or throttle body?"

Yep cleaned both of them prolly should hit the ISC solenoid with some carby cleaner i simply gave it a brush out and wiped the throttle body out with metho and a rag, The ISC solenoid really didnt look like it was dirty enough to influence operation...

"Are there problems at conditions other than idle? Like any surging at cruise, or missing under acceleration?"

Nope no surging it cruises along no probs cruised back tonight with some other fords cruise control set to 130km, didnt miss a beat for like 40 mins, it cruises fine at lower speeds and revs. Only when the revs are below like 1100rpm, can only notice at idle or taking off in first. When idling the kick or miss is more noticeable or hard, the higher revs its more of a putt in the exhaust and as i said after like 1100 rpm you cant notice any issue.

When i was taking off at lights when i got back in town, with the econ button off, when i gave it a bit of peddle and held it there, the car would start of fairly mildly then hit a decided rpm (unknown in value) you could feel the car lunge forward and it was a whole different level of acceleration with no change in pedal position. I understand the whole powercurve etc. but this is like a step straight up in power.

I have also checked my battery voltage as there a a few threads reporting half dead batteries as being responsible for missing at idle. My battery voltage reads as 13volts which should be fine.

I have ordered new leads from supercheap just to kill that bird, so ill have both new plugs and leads.

Cheers peoples,
Simon.

[XR6-VCT-2000]

I think Peterban might be on some kinda right track , seems strange having those problems just after gettting a new exhaust , makes me wonder too if welding has been done without disconnecting the battery , and possibly fryed/damaged an electrical component or put a setting out of whack.

Have you tried the very basics , just even reseting the ecu ? , something could of been put out of whack maybe if the above happened .

Only other thing i can think of that might cause the problems , now you have a new more free flowing exhaust ... it might be your old catalatic converter was getting blocked. Maybe not so noticable with the old exhaust , but with a newer more free flowing exhaust the problem would be more noticable , if it is that ??? , could be ! . cheers , gl

[apoc]

Hey again,

XR6-VCT-2000 - "I think Peterban might be on some kinda right track , seems strange having those problems just after gettting a new exhaust , makes me wonder too if welding has been done without disconnecting the battery , and possibly fryed/damaged an electrical component or put a setting out of whack."

What electrical components do you think could have possibly been toasted to give the kind of symptoms i am suffering? surely any damage to the ECU would result in a much broader range of problems.

XR6-VCT-2000 - "Have you tried the very basics , just even reseting the ecu ? , something could of been put out of whack maybe if the above happened"

Yeah dude reset the ECU, bout a week ago, it should be all re-learnt by now having done several hundred k's, suburban and urban driving. Obviously still no fix.

XR6-VCT-2000 - "Only other thing i can think of that might cause the problems , now you have a new more free flowing exhaust ... it might be your old catalatic converter was getting blocked. Maybe not so noticable with the old exhaust , but with a newer more free flowing exhaust the problem would be more noticable , if it is that ??? , could be !"

From what i have read about blocked cats i would expect that my top end pull would be severely restricted, but my car loves the higher revs reving cleaner and pulling harder. Not shooting this idea down but i dont see how it might cause the car to miss at idle / low rpm while still revving fine at top end. Do you have any explanation as to how this might cause my problem?

Cheers dude,
Simon.

[peterban]

My only other thought is a vaccuum leak.
Check all those small hoses and manifold for leaks.
The small hoses are sometimes tricky to spot as they crack or perish on the underside and look from the top as good as new.

[apoc]

Well i have replaced the leads,and car still carries on, i am seeing a fair bit of freshish looking oil coming from the join of head and block, and i think its getting worse, despite the compression test being all good, i think i have a buggered gasket, oil should not be leaking from there irrespective of whether or not it is causing my problem.

peterban- "Check all those small hoses and manifold for leaks."

I have scouted around all the vaccum hoses that i could find and they all appear to be pretty much new no brittleness or cracking. I am unsure about leaking manifold ( i take it you are talking mainly about the intake manifold) i have cranked around all the bolts to check they were tight, some were moderately loose and sucked to get to but this didnt help my situation. What is the procedure for testing this for leaks?

I think i might try the compression test again sometime see if there is a difference now that more oil seems to be coming out... But im starting to feel defeated : , i think it might be time to go to a mechanic :

I have now done the following:

Compression test (at least 170kpa all cylinders), checked vacum hoses, new plugs, new leads, cleaned TB, changed fuel filter, reset ECU, checked battery voltage, checked oil condition, checked for coolant loss, ran a 1L of metho through tank, gone to different servo for fuel.


Cheers for all the help and suggestions people,
Simon.

[JC]

Originally Posted by apoc

Well i have replaced the leads,and car still carries on, i am seeing a fair bit of freshish looking oil coming from the join of head and block

Are you sure you are looking between head and block? Or do you mean rocker cover and head?

[apoc]

Hey again,

JC - "Are you sure you are looking between head and block? Or do you mean rocker cover and head"

Well i think my terminology is correct, but just to make sure, the oil is leaking from the front, intake side, corner, it is a leak between the section of the motor with the intake and exhaust manifolds attached (2nd chunk down), and the large cast piece (bottom chunk). and the rocker cover being the top chunk.

Cheers, i hope this is correct... (not really considering the ease of changing the rocker cover gasket vs head gasket)

Any help appreciated,
Simon.

[GK]

Resistance for high tension leads.

I6
1. 12-24 kohms
2. 11-23
3. 10-22
4. 9-21
5. 9-21
6. 7-19

V8
1-8. 2-6 kohms

Motorcraft Info
Gaps for plugs

I6
1.0-1.1mm
Gas 0.9mm

V8
1.3-1.4mm

Spark Plug torque
20Nm

Denso Plug Info
I6
NORMAL PLUGS
AU S1 (LPG) W16EXRU (0.8mm gap)
AU S1 (PETROL) W16EXR-U11 (1.1mm gap)
AU S2 (LPG & PETROL) VW16R-A13 (1.3mm gap)

IRIDIUM PLUGS
AU S1 (LPG) IW16 (0.8mm gap)
AU S1 (PETROL) IW16 (1.3mm gap)
AU S2 (LPG & PETROL) IW16 (1.3mm gap)

V8 (All AU’s)
NORMAL PT16EPRL13 (1.3mm gap)
IRIDIUM IT16 (1.3mm gap)
IRIDIUM TOUGH VT16 (1.3mm gap)

Cheers,

GK

[apoc]

Hey,

Cheers GK for that stuff i didn't think anyone was going to get back to me with that . I have now changed the leads though and i believe that the plug gap would be set correctly on the plugs i brought the iridiums which were from memory the 1.3mm gapped ones.

Do you perhaps know of a procedure to test the ignition coils? This would be much appreciated if any exists for average joe blow with multimeter on hand.

Thanks again,
Simon

[apoc]

Hey all,

Cruised out to a work mates, old mans, shop yesterday morning to have the car looked over...

You wouldnt beleive it the car cruised over there no problems, old mate let it idle for a while looked over it no problems. Connected several types of diagnostic machines to leads and ecu and stuff, no problems there... took it for a cruise and stopped, started etc, no problems, bloody typical... all i had to do was threaten it with a mechanic i think

So anyways after telling old mate my symptoms etc he told me that its probably a good idea to have my injectors out as the spray pattern may be buggered which has more influence at lower revs, and that the 98 octane fuel and metho probably helped clean the injectors up a bit, and to put some more through it. So next weekend ill get him to sort that out for me and also to do a quick fix on the oil leak from the head and hopefully that will be the end of my dramas.

Cheers for your input people,
Simon.

[5tumpy]

I know it hasn't been an issue for a bit, but I wouldn't worry about water coming out the exhaust. Part of the job of the cat, is to convert unburnt hydrocarbons (the combustable component in petrol) to water. Therefore, if your has the problems you're describing, it's not burning as much hydrocarbons as it should be, which means the cat creates more water.


For anyone who cares, here's the chemical reaction:

2CxHy + (x+y)O2 → 2xCO2 + yH2O
Hydrocarbon + Oxygen → Carbon Dioxide + Water

[GK]

Originally Posted by apoc

Cheers GK for that stuff i didn't think anyone was going to get back to me with that .

Do you perhaps know of a procedure to test the ignition coils? This would be much appreciated if any exists for average joe blow with multimeter on hand.
Simon

Hi Simon,

No worries about the info. We all aim to help each other out.

As for the coil pack test, I can't help you there. Others might though.

I would have thought a fault with that would show up during the diagnostic testing you did recently.

Hope the injector cleaning gets everything sorted.

GK

[peterban]

took it for a cruise and stopped, started etc, no problems, bloody typical... all i had to do was threaten it with a mechanic i think

Glad to hear it is running properly again.
You may have to put up with a little oil leaking from the head, if that is where it is coming from, as it is not a quick fix to stop it leaking from between block and head

[apoc]

Greetings again,

A few things...

5tumpy - "I know it hasn't been an issue for a bit, but I wouldn't worry about water coming out the exhaust. Part of the job of the cat, is to convert unburnt hydrocarbons (the combustable component in petrol) to water. Therefore, if your has the problems you're describing, it's not burning as much hydrocarbons as it should be, which means the cat creates more water."

So why would my car not be burning as many hydrocarbons as it should be? Would this be because it was missing or partially firing before and this would create more hydrocarbons? It doesnt bother me anymore just curious...

Cheers again GK and peterban

peterban - "You may have to put up with a little oil leaking from the head"

Well old matey seemed to think he could do something about it so im not gonna stop him from having a go, i dont have heaps high hopes but if he succeeds im happy

Simo out.