Topic

OK this looks like it will need a head skim, but what has caused the gasket to dig in like this?

These are quite deep, maybe 0.1 to 0.2mm and look like compression marks from the steel edging on the gasket.

No other marks found on the head.

What are the recommendations, Skim it, or go for a fully reconditioned head?

Anyone in the northwest recommend a supplier, or engine workshop to try?

Thanks

Peter

That gasket just looks wrong. I'm wondering if it's a fake. There has been numerous reports of fake ebay gaskets.
There is serious damage to that head that may be beyond saving.

Roger Parker mentions something about this in his book.

He reckons that

"the head can suffer annealing (softening) due to high temps on the exhaust side. Very slight markings that you can run a fingernail across without catching can be machined off and the engine will usually give reasonable service. But where the grooves are deep enough to trip over then skimming on its own is a waste of time"
He says " the only long term cure is to replace the head or use a Payen, Gosney or similar head saver shim which come in various dimensions. They can be used with either SLS or MLS gaskets"

Hope that helps.

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

That gasket just looks wrong. I'm wondering if it's a fake. There has been numerous reports of fake ebay gaskets.
There is serious damage to that head that may be beyond saving.

Looks genuine to me comparing it with this one on eliseshop



I think that has been overheated in the past.

Pretty sure it is the original one fitted.


What appears to have happened is the spot weld that locates one side of the steel edge strip has failed, and the strip has "squashed" out on one side!

All this is outside the sealing bits of the gasket and head.

What I fearmay have resulted from this is warping of the head, as the gasket thickness on this end will be less than the rest of the gasket.

There is no positive identification of where the coolant was leaking into the oil, but this seems a likely place.

I want to have a recon head, or at least have the head skimmed to ensure it is flat before re-assembling.

Dont want to spend too much at the moment as I am not 100% sure the gasket was the cause of the leak.

I bought my new gasket from MGMANIA, which is completely different to the original one, so hopefully will be OK.

Peter

Looks to me like the edge is damaged, and so when clamped down it has caused uneven pressure on an already softened head.

Swap out the head - if it has allowed that much indentation is must be soft. Not worth the risk.