Ford Ka water leak
Ivan
(Endura-E engine).. head skimmed, new gasket/bolts, torque and 90� settings
all done by the book, a couple of weeks ago I noticed a few spots of water
underneath the car, on checking everything out I couldn't see any problems,
however it's now got worse and I can see that the water is dribbling out
from between the head and block on the driver's side at the rear of the
engine (although the car starts and runs fine and doesn't appear to lose too
much water from the reservoir tank).
Is there a reason for this i.e. should the bolts have been re-tightened
after a number of miles of use, will it be worth attempting to do that now
by releasing and re-torquing the bolts 'in sequence' or will the whole thing
have to be dismantled once again and another head gasket refitted. TIA Ivan
Mrcheerful
> 18 months ago we replaced the head gasket on my daughter in law's
> Ford Ka (Endura-E engine).. head skimmed, new gasket/bolts, torque
> noticed a few spots of water underneath the car, on checking
> everything out I couldn't see any problems, however it's now got
> worse and I can see that the water is dribbling out from between the
> head and block on the driver's side at the rear of the engine
> (although the car starts and runs fine and doesn't appear to lose too
> much water from the reservoir tank). Is there a reason for this i.e.
> should the bolts have been
> re-tightened after a number of miles of use, will it be worth
> attempting to do that now by releasing and re-torquing the bolts 'in
> sequence' or will the whole thing have to be dismantled once again
> and another head gasket refitted. TIA Ivan
you need to do the whole job again. Was it a genuine gasket?
robgraham
"Mrcheerful" <nbk...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0PRmm.73981$OO7....@text.news.virginmedia.com...
Mr C might well turn out to be right - he's got more experience than me -
but I would try re-torquing the bolts up, but certainly not by untorquing
them first. They may be a bit loose, who knows, and you might save a lot of
hassle.
Rob Graham
Ivan
Will have to ask (daughter in law's father who helped me and supplied the
parts lives over in Wales) why is it a known problem if you don't fit an
original?
It was an awful job as the space was so limited.. If it's of any interest
here's a link with some photos.
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Anth230542/KaRepair?authkey=Gv1sRgCLac3tz17LeoSw&feat=directlink
Mrcheerful
They have loads of room !!
it is torque, 90, 90. If you miss out the second 90 it will work for a
while !!
Usually genuine gaskets are far better quality than pattern.
I once changed a head gasket on a montego (one burnt valve) it ran
perfectly, but the head gasket leaked water all along the front edge, a
genuine gasket to replace the pattern one fixed that till the car was stolen
by pykies several years later. So yes a cheapo gasket can give you grief.
Peter smith
Blimey that looks very involved.
I thought changing my air filter was a heart rate riser! lol.
Ivan
It was the top engine mount which had to be removed before the head could be
taken off, not only was it different to the one shown in the manual, from
memory it was one or two bolts which were almost totally inaccessible which
made things very difficult.
Redwood
> They have loads of room !!
>
> it is torque, 90, 90. If you miss out the second 90 it will work for a
> while !!
Mr C, while you're on about torque settings can you tell me the correct
torque for the caliper sliding pins on a 03 1.3 KA? I've just fitted new
disks & pads - Autodata says "Brake caliper carrier to hub 58 Nm". But it
also says the same 58 Nm for the brake caliper to carrier? I'm not sure if
that's a mistake as it seems rather high to me with risk of stripping the
thread. Other brakes I've done are usually around the 25 to 30Nm mark so
thought I'd double check.
Ivan
Well for people like Mr. Cheerful I suppose it's easy when you've done a
few, one example was that I found a bolt which was almost impossible to gain
any useful access to with any kind of spanner or socket configuration,
however the realization eventually dawned that simply removing the headlamp
would make the job a piece of cake (which it did) like I said easy when you
know how, but not quite so easy for the uninitiated like me!
reg
"Peter smith" <Peter32423...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:h7gva3$m5b$2...@aioe.org...
nah thats a lovely little job to do ! back to work tommorrow & my 1st job
of the day is to strip & report on a 53 plate renault megane with 26k on the
clock that the timing belt has snapped, i know its going to be terminal, but
have to go through the motions, the guy has only had it for 6 months & the
warranty has just run out !
reg
"Ivan" <ivan'H'ol...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:h7gqdb$h3g$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
good to see you having a go & some pics, i guess the rad was the cause of
the initial problem. To be honest its very rare for these to give problems
after they have been done as its a pretty simple engine to work on & being a
cast head as opposed to an ali one ive never had to skim one, just a rub
over with some rubbing paper, you dont think you might have you nicked the
gasket when you put the head back on ?
Mrcheerful
autodata says the same as you have found. I would not be likely to use a
torque wrench on something like, just relying on feel.
Ivan
The story is that my daughter in law (who lives in Bristol) was studying at
Exeter University, which meant that she had to make frequent motorway trips,
one day when she was travelling back the radiator got holed (probably a
sharp stone judging by the damage) by the time she realized there was a
problem (no water temperature gauge in Ka's!) it was sadly too late, we
originally fitted just a new head gasket, but it was obvious by the bubbles
in the top-up tank and the white exhaust smoke that the head had warped and
needed skimming, which afterwards was refitted along with another new
gasket.
>
> you dont think you might have you nicked the gasket when you put the head
> back on ?
>
Well we were pretty meticulous in checking everything for cleanliness or any
signs of physical damage. the tightening instructions we used says.. first
stage 30 Nm.. Second stage using 303 - 174 special tool: 90�.. Third stage
using 303 - 174 special tool: 90�.
>
Mrcheerful
Cracked head?
Ivan
Well it has been running a OK for a couple of years (longer than I thought)
a couple of months ago my beloved Ford focus 1.8 TD got totalled by a
juggernaut on the M5, after wrecking two Armco barriers and winding up on a
grass embankment I was seriously impressed about just how sturdily it was
constructed, although it did do four and a half grand's worth of damage
which meant it was a write off, my daughter in law then kindly let me have
her old Ford Ka for running about in, it has to be said however that on
anything resembling an incline the engine is complete wank compared to the
old TD, so I may well have been giving it a bit more stick than it was used
to because the problem has only shown up in the last few weeks.
Ivan
A neighbour who used to be a mechanic wandered across this morning whilst I
had my head underneath the bonnet, he had a look and reckoned that it was
more likely to be a leaking water pump, unfortunately it's impossible to see
anything in that particular area (from the top at least).
A while ago the radiator or on my focus was holed so badly that the water
was literally pouring out almost as fast as I could put it in, originally
intended as a temporary fix I purchased a product called K-seal, not cheap
at circa �10.00 for a tiny bottle, but >20,000 miles later the cooling
system was still working perfectly with the temperature gauge needle hardly
ever deviating from its usual central position.
Not being as keen to get involved with my current predicament as I would
have been a few years back I decided to purchase another bottle of K-seal,
plonked it into the cooling system and everything is now back to normal,
well if it goes on for as long as in the old focus then I won't have any
complaints, if it doesn't than expect to hear from me again sometime in the
future;o)
reg
wonderful stuff k-seal, its the only thing we use/recommend in the workshop
as a quick fix solution.
They other do products as well http://www.kalimex.co.uk/index.html
Andy Cap
> wonderful stuff k-seal, its the only thing we use/recommend in the workshop
> as a quick fix solution.
> They other do products as well http://www.kalimex.co.uk/index.html
Yes, they recommend it on the Rover forums and they should know! I put
some in my last 1.6 when it developed a slight water loss and it went
for another couple of years before someone wrote it off for me.
Andy C
Ivan
I wonder how many otherwise dodgy motors are sold in 'sound' condition with
that stuff inside the engine?. especially if they run OK for several years
and thousands of miles after being sold, in which case it's hardly likely
that any problems would be laid at the door of the original seller..
Adrian
were saying:
<waves>
When I bought the Saab, the header tank looked rather suspicious. All was
relatively OK, though, until I had to drain and refill the cooling system
to change the coolant temp sensor. Then a hose burst, so I drained and
refilled it again. Then I started getting mysterious water losses, which
led to the replacement of several more hoses, the water pump, the header
tank - and finally, the head gasket.
And all because some previous owner had lobbed goop in instead of
properly replacing the £30-odd header tank when a fine crack started
spraying water towards the pump.
Ivan
But isn't K-seal supposed to be a cut above the more usual Radweld goop?.
'K-Seal: Antifreeze compatible permanent cooling system repair incorporating
unique ceramic microfibre technology'.
Adrian
were saying:
> But isn't K-seal supposed to be a cut above the more usual Radweld
> goop?. 'K-Seal: Antifreeze compatible permanent cooling system repair
> incorporating unique ceramic microfibre technology'.
Whoopee. Goop with a marketing department.
Ivan
Well I can only go by my own personal experience, three years and around
20,000 miles without the slightest problem, almost all of the comments I've
read about it on various forums seem to be very positive, however even the
manufacturers' themselves make no bones about the fact that it won't cure
every problem, perhaps there are others reading this who may have had some
experience of it and would like to comment.
Doki
"Adrian" <tooma...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:7g4mk7F...@mid.individual.net...
OTOH my MK2 Golf cracked its head, and K-seal fixed it perfectly. I've no
idea if it ruined the cooling system or not - at some point I have replaced
both the water pump and the rad, but I can't remember which I did first.
T i m
wrote:
>A neighbour who used to be a mechanic wandered across this morning whilst I
>had my head underneath the bonnet, he had a look and reckoned that it was
>more likely to be a leaking water pump, unfortunately it's impossible to see
>anything in that particular area (from the top at least).
We picked up a cheapo Ka a while back for daughter to learn to drive
in and that had a water leak than I'm pretty sure is the water pump.
The new one is still in the boot as we haven't gotroundto changing it
as yet. Mainly because she still seems uninterested in the whole
driving thing (but seems a good driver, preferring to be on her
motorbike [1]) and partly because leaving the expansion bottle cap
just cracked open means we don't lose any water.
T i m
[1] I think that's changing out of necessity as her b/f from Scotland
has only recently passed his test so can't accompany her in her car
and she hasn't had a winter on her bike yet. Theory test now for this
month. ;-)