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Location:
Adelaide
Registered:
September 2003
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18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Wed, 17 December 2003 07:34
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OK this is giving me the Pooh Pooh's now.
I had the baby running for a good two months.
when I took it to get dynoed they said my head was leaking coolant and I needed a thermostat.
well i chucked a thermostat in and now my car died completely.
I thought I sealed the head, it was going so well.
so how the hell do I do this.
Curse my first ever engine experience, ah well at least I am learning.
It is a copper head gasket approx 1.5 to 2 mm thick.
I heated it using an oxy for about 30 mins.
I then applied a copper sealing paste around all of the holes on the block, applied the gasket, applied sealing paste around all of the holes on the gasket and then chucked the head on and tightened to specified torque in the pattern specified.
ran it, and then re tightened after about a week.
I was loosing about a litre of coolant after this period each time I went to fill up the radiator, right up until the tuning last week.
the block is o-ringed so I assume that means I cant use a standard gasket.
so I see a few options presenting themselves.
1. is there a tried and true and tested method for sealing the head with a copper gasket.
2. if i got the head shaved and a few of the water jacket holes fixed up, how much would this cost and are there any recommended places (Woodcoft(South) South Australia.)
3. Studs, are these an effective method for the problem I am having and again if so, what are general prices and where can I get them from.
On a side note does the alternator from a commodore (vn-vr) fit onto the 18rgeu without much modification, it kind of looks like it might fit but I can't find out cos my friend won't take his car off the road for me (not as important as the above point).
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Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
October 2002
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Re: 18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Wed, 17 December 2003 08:25
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i dont know that much about copper headgaskets, but wouldnt heating it for 30 mins with an oxy melt/distort the fuck out of it.
was the block decked, was the head pressure tested
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Location:
Canberra
Registered:
December 2002
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Re: 18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Wed, 17 December 2003 10:09
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What exactly does a copper head gasket look like? Are the complete sheet of copper or are they a sandwich type of arangement with asbestos or something in the middle?
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Location:
Adelaide
Registered:
September 2003
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Re: 18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Thu, 18 December 2003 03:47
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well it kind of just feels like a bick thick piece of copper, possibly not all the way through (ie steel with copper on the outside or something like that), problem is i don't know much about the gaskets either, head was not pressure tested (i will be doing all that this time however, just to hope that it will be alright.)
Mates instructions said i needed to re-eneal (spelling?) it before reusing it, to just before cherry red in appearance, which should have softened it up a bit.
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Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
October 2002
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Re: 18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Thu, 18 December 2003 09:17
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use hylomar brand spray-on sealant, its very good stuff
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Location:
Canberra
Registered:
December 2002
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Re: 18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Fri, 19 December 2003 00:02
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Copper work hardens very quickly you can test this with a copper washer by bending it aneling is a form of heat treatment to make it soft and restore its origional crystaline structure so that it can mold to the shape of the head and block from what i can gather.
If you want to aneil copper you have to heat it just before its change of state (before it melts) so get it red hot and dont do it while it is on the block because the block will act as a big heat-sink.
Get the head checked and start from the beginning again i guess that way you will be able to narrow down the problem and fix it properly.
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Location:
Adelaide
Registered:
September 2003
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Re: 18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Fri, 19 December 2003 01:27
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curiously i was told it wouldn't make my engine overheat, just run like shit. so as an after thought, when i was putting the engine together i stole a temperature sender unit from an 18rc, running the car (idle in my driveway admittedly) for about 20-30 minutes caused the temperature guage to spike to about three millimetres below the line that tells me that my engine is too hot.
If i connect the computer and read the temperature from that it says it is reading as 85 degrees Celsius. now i assume the thermostat has only just opened up at around that temperature.
What is the normal operating temperatures for these engines and is my temperature sender giving me the wrong information due to the fact it was from an 18rc.
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Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
October 2002
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Re: 18rgeu head leaking coolant
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Fri, 19 December 2003 06:49
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as stated in my GENUINE 18RG book, 82 is normal and 88 is hot
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