BoDarville

Why do problems always come at once?

Just been told the head gasket on my JDM 97 classic is on its way out, but need some advice before I go ahead and spank the 800 my garage quoted to fix it.

The first I noticed was some serious overheating at the weekend, but not losing any coolant. Fans kicking in, and temp gauge maxed. I can't see any leaks, and the engine's definitely getting hot, but no gunk in oil or water, and no smoke or reduced performance.

The garage dude today said it's 90 per cent certain to be HG, but they said a compression test wouldn't show much... Any other tests I should be looking at to make sure it's not something else (can you read the desperation in my type?) I thought it's probably worth a second, third, fourth? ... opinion before I go ahead with it.

AND, if that wasn't a headache enough - the new clutch I had a few months back is really juddery, and the pedals very close to the floor... the dude today said it needed looking at again, and maybe should've had a flywheel skim at the same time, despite me being told it didn't need it. Rubbish.

Any advice from people who've no doubt already spent more than me?

Thanks!

clark822

Do your heaters get hot ?
Is it an excedy clutch theres a few posts on here bout clutch judder try the search that and also about adjusting your clutch pedal - could be wrong on the pedal adjusting but pretty certain i read about it on here

scoobyboy

hydraulic clutch on turbos which shouldn't need to be adjusted ever!

STI Mav

Had a similar issue with my 06 Hawkeye STI in terms of the over heating. Subaru ran all the tests they could to source the problem but came up empty handed. They said they tested for exhaust gases in the coolant but couldn't find anything.

I took the advice of various members of this forum (and others) and tried replacing the thermostat, and had the coolant system flushed and refilled to remove any possibility of an airlock. That was done on Monday and touch wood so far the temp gauge hasn't moved much past the middle of the gauge - so I'm hopeful that mine is sorted.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Your radiator could be knackered, they slowly collapse in on themselves when they go and it doesnt cool the engine down enough, though one good test is to see if your getting air into the system and that is to (from cold) remove the rad cap, start the car and let her warm up a little and rev her a bit (2 people for this really), the system is a pressurised system so the water wont flow out of the filler cap/header tank with the cap off, if it does then you have air in the system and there begins the start of your issues because you have to find out why there is air in there, and you dont have to have oil and water mixing to have a head gasket failure, it just depends where the failure is, ie across 2 water ways.

Tony

arumdevil

I had some test the other day - firs they vacuumed the coolant system and re-filled it to remove any airlocks. Then they did some test for CO in the coolant which came out positive (ie exhaust gasses in the coolant). I've already replaced radiator, thermostat and water pump and the heater matrix is not blocked so that left no other possibilities.

My engine is out now

Hopefully yours is an airlock or bad rad, - chang the water pump and thermostat and rad first, you may be lucky.

BoDarville

Thanks everyone - STImav, been reading your posts in your thread, hope yours is sorted soon man.

Looks like mine is HG too - no probs with the rad or water pump so got it being trailered away tomorrow for tests / replace and skims. On the plus side - if there is one! - the garage said my clutch might have been fitted wrongly, but once the engine's out it's an easy check and fix for that.

Tried to drive it again today to prove to myself it wasn't too bad, but the temp was still edging up (even on a cold night) to just over 1/2 way, and when I parked it up in the drive I had some steam out of the left side of the engine bay, so something's def not right. Plus, it smelt rotten!

my94wrx

iTrader: (4)

my advice is if your not happy, go to another garage! £800 for the head gaskets is the top end of the price to have it done, and if they didn't think the flywheel needed skimming then, why do they think it does now.

BoDarville

Yep. That's good advice! Am using a different garage now anyway to the one who first fitted the clutch (which is why they now think it could be a flywheel thing when the first didn't), but am a bit stuck on the HG as the overheating is so bad I don't want to drive it that far for fear of breaking something else... so that price includes getting it trailered away too.