Think my headgaskets on its its way out!

[L33]

Okay so my beloved £300 bargain K10 is fast becoming a money guzzler!

All seemed okay when I first got her, after a few days i noticed a lot of bounce on front drivers side. Anyways, Iv been quoted £150 to do the front shocks...Okay I thought, then shell be pucker.

I wont go on about it again but iv started a previous thread about my Clutch release bearing...Not worrying to much about this one but its worth taking into consideration now im looking at even more costs...

Had a small water leak since Iv owned it, the water comes from the drivers side of engine and is clear but slightly oily and smells oily. had a friend look today and hes traced it back to the head, then hes checked the Radiator cap and says theirs emulsioning which means oils in my water, finally checked the oil cap, no mayonasing so the water seems to not be going into the oil.

Hes fairly clued upon mechanics and says hes 75% sure the head gaskets on its way out!

Anywho, anybody know roughly how much its gonna cost me to have this done on a 1990 K10 1litre?

thanks lots....Cars starting to cost more in damn repairs than what i paid for it!:down:

 

[karlj]

How much for the front shocks!!! I paid £30 for the pair and about the same for the rears

Not sure about replacing head gasket but lets say £10 for the gasket the X amount of hours labour unless you do it yourself or get your mechanically minded mate to help

 

[aLLeKs]

changing the headgasket is a nice diy job! you just have to be carefull while putting the timing belt back on. what takes the most time is the engine mount really tricky screws....

 

[frank]

if there,s an external water leak then i doubt if its the head gasket personally

 

[L33]

I dont think id like to try this myself. Like I said, the waters oily and my mate seems to think it looks like its coming from the head gasket. Its coming from the drivers side of the engine and TBH theres nothing that has water in it near where its coming from but please do suggest what it could be as id love it to not need a new head gasket!

 

[L33]

It only drips a bit so theres about a 5cm round spot under engine once a day. Its mostly water but slightly oily so it does stain the road. iv been telling myself since i had it that it was condensation that had collected a bit of grease off the engine on the way down...Till my work mate told me this that is.

 

[aLLeKs]

Thermostate?

 

[L33]

Not so sure about thermostate. Iv put some extreme radweld in it today (The one in the gold bottle that claims to even stop head gasket water leaks and hose leaks). i know theres mixed feeling about radweld on here but im all for the quick, cheap and easy fix so Ill wait till the roads are dry now, take her for a spin and see if she still leaks when Iv parked her up.

Worth noting, she doesnt run like the headgaskets gone, I mean, shes a little cracker, very nippy, sounds great and never misses a beat...:grinning:

 

[sr20bud]

i had a similar issue with mine it turned out to be the hard pipe that presses into the block thats near the drivers side i couldn't be bothered putting a new o-ring on it cause it was winter so i just slapped a load of quick steel round it lol did the job (Y) not saying yours is the same but worth a check tho bud

 

[L33]

Well, the radwelds worked. Its no longer leaking so on that note Im very happy. On another note bloody galeforce wind dagged the door out of my hand and slammed it against the wall, put a nice dent and chips in the edge of the door and also completely warped it so it didnt seal along the top. Father inlaw has bent it back so its not too bad now, just a low gust coming through once you hit 40mph. Oh...and my exhaust was hanging off but fatherin law fixed that too.

haha, the joys of old cars...

 

[porkpie700]

A blown carb gasket can give you the same side effects and mayo buildup as a head gasket problem. I had this problem on my GS, thought it was the head at first but it was the carb to manifold gasket.
Coolant flows through the manifold so with a blown gasket it was sucking air and coolant into the manifold and thus into the engine. £5 for each gasket and about an hour of your time if you plodd along with it and it's done.
Check around your carb for wet patches or leaks before spending anything, remember it costs nothing to check a douzen things, but costs an arm and a leg to fix a douzen things before finding the actual cause. (Y)