I'm kind of stubborn with my little diesel and have been through some trials and tribulations recently. I just got through some questions regarding gasket thickness and what not. The head I have on the car right now is supposedly a brand new AMC head, but no combustion whatsoever, not even with starting fluid. The person I bought it from had the same problem but sold the head to me with the claim that it was probably the block itself. The last head I tried was a Mexican made head that I bought off of ebay. There were no cracks and it was not warped, but the machine shop would not shave it due to the fact that it was too low already. I decided to try the head anyway. I got it on there and when I tried to start the engine, it would fire up, but then stall after the expansion tank spat out some coolant. It did this every time, even after I checked all the coolant hoses. I figured there was a crack or something that I missed, due to the extreme amount of pressure being pushed into the coolant system. So that is when I moved on with another head that has proved not to be the solution.
Now I'm ready to go backwards and try the Mexican head again. This is why, and most of you are going to get a good laugh (I'm learning as I go along). When I installed the Mexican head, my brother was assisting me. I wanted to let him in on some mechanical experience. As it turned out we might of had one too many beers and I suspect that the head bolts were not torqued as specified in the Bentley. Would this be the cause of the exploding expansion tank? I'm thinking so.
All my friends are urging me to just get rid of the car, but I don't want to throw in the towel just yet. Should I be suspect of the block, or try the head that almost worked again? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
head bolts that are not tight enough, will definitely allow pressure into the coolant and reduce compression alot.
try it again and torque those bastards down right.
Thanks for your enthusiastic tone. I'll get right to it, it's actually sunny today here in Portland and the weekend is supposed to be warm. Hopefully I'll have the car running by Sunday.
make sure you get a new head gasket and maybe bolts if they are stock ones... That's what they say is not to compress an already compressed headgasket
maybe someone has more input?
As it turned out we might of had one too many beers and I suspect that the head bolts were not torqued as specified in the Bentley. Would this be the cause of the exploding expansion tank? I'm thinking so.
that is very likely.
All my friends are urging me to just get rid of the car, but I don't want to throw in the towel just yet.
'friends' would be urging you to buy more beer so they can come over and help you fix the problem :wink:
Do it once, do it right...
All my friends are urging me to just get rid of the car, but I don't want to throw in the towel just yet. Should I be suspect of the block, or try the head that almost worked again? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
some friends you got there... :lol: jk what do they expect you to get instead??? these cars are so cheap if you can fix them yourself, and this forum is full of good people and advice! :wink:
