Hi members.

I'll soon be getting my head gaskets replaced, etc. as, funnily enough, a suspected HG has failed.

However, re. people's experiences who have had it done to their own car... has anyone actually experienced their actual head/s themselves that had cracked (rather than a failed HG/s). Also, has anyone - heaven forbid - had their actual block cracked, instead!

A cracked block really scares me (obviously) - but not so much the heads (they can easily be substituted relatively cheaply).

Also, has anyone had their HGs professionally done by any of the best specialists... only to find that the HG failed again soon after?! (i.e. the reason for the failure in the first place, wasn't sussed and addressed).

As many people's posted experiences are very welcome - I wish to glean as much info as possible...

Thanks in advance for any contributions.

 

We suspected a head gasket failure on our Group N rally car on an event in the middle of last year. We were running steel gaskets and were a bit unsure as to whether or not we were convinced it was a head gasket failure (even though all the signs were pointing to it) so we sent the heads away to be pressure tested and lo and behold it was a cracked head!!

For us the small expense of having the heads tested paid off or we would have been back to square one if we had just assumed a gasket failure and rebuilt the motor HTH.

 

Thanks Marcus. I'll be getting either Zen or API to carry out the job, and I'm sure (hope) as a matter of course, they'll have the heads checked .

Marcus, obviously steel gaskets are considered an upgrade (as they're sooo much stronger than the OEM fibre ones fitted to my car). How do the gaskets fare on the Gp.N cars? I understand that they last longer but if they do go, then they go quickly - as they're more rigid and don't seal as well as the more 'malleable' (but more fragile) fibre ones? Is this what you've found in your experiences?

 

Anyone else had tales of woe after pulling heads off, that they can divulge?...

 

The steel gaskets are certainly a decent upgrade but Im still not 100% convinced as we found they seem to let go very quickly once a symptom starts to show (for want of a better way of saying what I mean lol). At present we are rebuilding a clubman spec engine and are debating which gaskets to use as we currently have a 300bhp engine that is running on fibre gaskets and hasnt missed a beat in 2 years.

Steel gaskets certainly do have some benefits but there is the odd drawback as well.

 

Yeah, you've echoed what Zen had to say about fibre vs steel. - nothing in life is straightforward, is it?

 

We only use laminated steel original Subaru head gaskets for ALL of our rebuilds. Some people use the standard composite gaskets and some use spurious brands like Ajusa or BGA [ YUK in both cases ]

Never had a gasket blow on any of ours, after we've done it.

Cracked heads is rare. Cracked blocks even rarer. Heads go into our high pressure testing tank as a matter of course. We have the kit to pressure test the blocks too, but have never had a cracked or porous one. We only do it when our eyes aren't sure of what they are seeing.

Version 5 heads are always cracked around the plug holes and it doesn't mean a thing. Never seen a valve seat drop out of its own accord though.

I would be very surprised if yours was anything more than a simple head gaskets job JOZ. It just needs doing by someone who is diligent.

Like US

David APi

 

David

I know you can never tell what you're going to find once engine's out, but could you quote on std HG replacement work inc. all accessible gaskets & seals (that you'd normally replace as a matter of course)/metal head gaskets/head and block resurfacing/all labour, etc...?

Please note that rad, stat, water pump, top/bottom hoses & header tank are either very recently new/newish/good condition.

Email or PM should you wish...

Thank you

John

 

John pm'ed.