Blown Head Gasket Help

[PeterD]

Would like a little help/advice on my car which has just blown a head gasket I believe...

The car has a had a fresh engine rebuild around 2000km's ago so I'm very upset right now about this. I did the rebuild myself with the help of my father and everything was fine until the car had an accident.

I hit a kangaroo coming through the national park which damaged my front bumper,intercooler (externally only), radiator and A/C Condensor.

I had a roughly 10-15km drive home after the accident and the car overheated but not what I would describe as major and not sustained. I kept a close eye on temps, pulled over about 3 times on the way home to cool down and refill the radiator. The car stalled on me while doing 80kms, and refused to start for a while which I originally put down to electrical cause the radiator had pissed coolant all throught the engine bay. Got it started again eventually and limped home.

The car was not driven or started since then, this was about 3 months ago as the car has been sitting in the smash repairer all this time. I got a call yesterday saying there's a problem and they think it's the head gasket. Went and looked at it today and the thing doesn't start properly and even under cranking with the radiator cap off SPITS water out the radiator, so there's compression getting into the water channels right?

Didn't have the time or inclination to check spark plugs or cylinders or oil, stupid I know.

According to them to the car has been started and driven fine to the air conditioning place to be regassed, and drove fine there, but that was only 2 kms away. Then when the car was running to be re-gassed it started spitting water out the overflow bottle, and since then has been towed back to the mechanic.

This is definately a head gasket issue right? It's at the stage now where I need to strip it down to inspect the damage, or get a strip and quote from a mechanic and try to get insurance to pay for it because it was caused by the accident?

Is it possible this has damaged other things in my new engine?

God I hate cars sometimes

Cheers,
Pete

[Spac]

Head or head gasket....

1. You've gotta be careful when cars are leaking water - it might "happily" go to 130deg with a full, pressuried system without causing dramas, if its leaking, then it might creat a air pocket and warp or crack the head...

2. Was the head re-torqued post rebuild? Even the "Monotorque" ones should be checked after a couple of hundred kms... You may find that this combined with point #1 has brough you undone...

[PeterD]

Yeah it was torqued...then retorqued after about 100kms

[Chris Rogers]

head is warped.

[PeterD]

Originally posted by Chris Rogers
head is warped.

What makes you say that?

[Chris Rogers]

if it got hot and wouldnt start straight back up there is a good chance it is. especially if it is a alloy item. ( I did the exact same thing with a F8A Suzi engine and trashed a head & gasket.)

[PeterD]

Shit...I really don't like the sound of that...

I'm hoping just the gasket is blown. The head was fully recod just now

Now starts the fight with the insurance company to try and pay for the mechanical damage caused by the accident.

Cheers,
Pete

[PeterD]

I was under the impression that warping or cracking would require MASSIVELY high temperatures...

I didn't even let it get to the top end of the temp gauge before pulling over. It was only JUST starting to boil...

[Sprinter]

Are you saying that you think the insurance company should pay to repair the engine?

[Maztrix]

if it was fine when you took it in to the shop, and now it doesnt work. sounds like the crash repear bloke or air con people broke it therefore they should pay for it.

[PeterD]

It wasn't fine when it was brought to the shop...it wasn't starting properly after I got it home.

Sprinter,

Yes..I've been advised that mechanical damage caused as a direct result of accidents is covered by insurace, at least they will offer a partial payment, why do you ask?

Pete

[Spac]

Its always very hazy... If you busted (say) an alternator off because of the accident, its very hard to argue that it didn't happen because of the accident. But head gaskets is going to be a lot harder...

[Sprinter]

Yep, you will have to prove that it was as a direct result of the actual accident, not from driving it after the accident. If the accident caused the cooling system to leak and you continued to drive it knowing that it was getting hot, you could have some fun trying to get your insurer to pay for the engine damage. I think the main problem you will encounter is the fact that you drove it from the scene of the accident. You should have got it towed as your insurance company would have paid for the towing.

Hopefully your insurer will be helpful!