.......and the day before this I was driving along beside Ulswater
(Lake District, UK) in the sunshine at about 35mph when my 1500 engine
started a feint chatter which rapidly got louder. Temp guage reading
low! Pulled off the road. Lots of steam. Expansion tank full of warm
water, and pressurised. Left it to cool down for half an hour whilst I
went looking for something to fetch water in. Removed thermostat plug,
no water to be seen! Topped up (with engine running). Seemed to be
running OK again so set off, but was definately down on power. After
about 6 miles had to stop and top up again. Continued like this home,
about 20 miles by which time I had put in 18 litres of water!! (5
gallons)
Compression test gives 130, 90, 120, 180
Mayonnaise
Stripped head last night. Checked head and block for warping. No
apparent damage, going for a new head gasket today.
Guy
----- Original Message -----
From <DLancer7676 at cs.com>
To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>; <midgetsprite@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: 24 August 2001 02:27
Subject: Blown!!!
> I have blown a head gasket. The Midget has been purring along quite
well,
> but it chugged a bit when I started it up in the morning, then as I
revved
> it, the engine smoothed out. That was probably because overnight,
water was
> being sucked into the cylinder past the gap in the gasket, not quite
big
> enough to be called "blown"
>
> Yesterday I was driving to work, and on a hill I looked at teh temp
guage and
> it was reading hot. I pulled over, popped the bonnet and the
pressure cap,
> after covering the latter with a rag. Water gushed out. I removed
the
> plastic filler cap (this is a 1500) and could see no water. A
nearby
> resident gave me a gallon of water, which I installed. It took
about 3/4
> gallon to fill it. Thanked the guy and climbed into the driver's
seat to
> start it up and continue to work. Pfffffuutttter pffffutttter
pffffuttttter.
> Running on about 2 cylinders and pouring white vapor from the
tailpipe. No
> question as to what this is.
>
> After AAAing home (getting my money's worth this year with the 3rd
call) I
> pulled the head last night and #2 and #3 cylinders had about a half
cup of
> water sitting in them. Stripped the head and took it to a racing
machine
> shop today to be magna fluxed and skimmed level, as well as cleaned.
Hope
> this will do the fix. I assume it is the head that is most likely
to not be
> true, over the block. Is this a safe assumption?
>
> --David C.
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