Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Farting about with K-Series head

believe its failed again! 200 miles later!

if you do this again ive got the camshaft locking tool if you need it

HGF is not an issue if you fit the full uprated kit and do the job properly, you are essentially converting the engine to an N-Series.

Also, the HG's don't just pop for no reason, contrary to popular belief, just like any engine, they will do so if you lose coolant etc, the capacity of the K'er coolant is small which does not help because it can/will run low quicker than most engine's, but the design of the original HG setup does unfortunately give the engine's less resistance to HGF when problems do occur. So weekly coolant checks (or even more reguarly dependent on how many miles you are hammering), are a lot more important than most engine, especially when running the original HG.

N-Series ftw.

Having said that, I know of one person who has a HHR 416 from 1996 and he is still on the original HG 128k miles later (but then I know people who have had them pop at less than 40k lol).

Yes, the car failed on 'something' today. Has been fine until recently, when it's had a load of white steam coming from the exhaust, plus there's mayo on the dipstick. I'm going to put it down to experience and say I have no idea what's up with it - it could be anything now - airlock, head gasket, thermostat, cracked block, blockage in bleed valves, general fault with the engine, etc.
The car is stuck in Wales and is getting recovered, have to go and pick the missus up.

They're great engines and good cars, but she really needs to get rid and get an MX5.

If you did the HG as it should be done, the only other common problem you will see with it is people thrashing them from cold - with a K'er you should always wait until ORT before taking it over 2000rpm. Thrashing it before its at ORT can lead to premature HGF because of the alloy components expanding at different temperatures.

Once at ORT, you can thrash it upto 8000rpm for as long as you like and it wont pop lol.

Did you get the head skimmed?

Yeah, head was skimmed!
Been doing this for over twenty years so never had something go wrong ... yet! K-Series is a bugger though. Actually, it was about 2,500 miles later.
Found a burst hose. There was an airlock in the return pipe from the radiator. Been told steam 'boils' at higher temp than water and the pipe just went. I changed the water last week or so, so might explain it! Stupid cars.

Gutted mate, its always this simple things that cause such big problems isnt it!!

Got car recovered, etc.
Had a look today (wanted a break from it for a while), and found the pipe that goes into some kind of elbow/hat thing had come off. No damage to pipe, but obvious where the water had gone. Also, there was no jubilee clip on it.

I decided to put water in, take it to my garage (to get a new clip), and then took it to the 24 hour Asda car park (where it's nice and bright!), and do it up there at 9.30pm.
I never knew about the bleed screw on the metal pipe returning to the head. When the water was 'hot', and undid it, and got a load of hissing air and then a load of properly cold water. Bled the water through (no hot yet) and drove it home three miles. Came to a stop at a junction off the motorway, and the heating went cold and then the temperature rose. Pulled over before home, and the coolant header tank was boiling. Let it settle, etc and noticed the level hadn't gone down significantly (apart from bleeding). I didn't bleed the screw behind the dash cover. I don't suppose this is bad, and I'll get onto it properly tommorow.
There's no emulsification in the water/coolant at all.

Oh, and these are highly recommended if anyone needs k-series sorting:

http://www.mgroversolutions.com/#/price-list/4531823635

OK, it's been a while, and the car has been off the road since that occasion. I rebuilt the head a long while ago, and it had a replacement head on. The car overheated on the way to the MOT, so I thought I'd get it sorted (again) and change the head.
Changed everything over on Sunday, and ran it for about 20 - 30 minutes, and the coolant was boiling again.

I'm looking at two things now, either the bottom end is cracked, or there's something wrong with the head.
I'm not sure which head I got skimmed, so I'm going to take both into a engine workshop and get it sorted.

WATER PUMP FAILURE


Water Been changed ???

Yeah, I changed it last year, there's water circulating around the car.

thermostat checked for opening temps? also is it just water in it or coolant, k series run at 109degrees. so that'll explain water bolling

yerr check thermostat opening temps


But check spindle not snaped on water pump

(might be faulty)

if the impellor detaches itself from the pump doesnt it have bleed off valves? so it'd be leakin badly? on the honda engines they do?