Air lock or Head Gasket that is the question

[DJ.]

No, you could have twice the power and Tony will still get past

Shame it's the gasket

[Tony B]

No, you could have twice the power and Tony will still get past

yes, shame its the gasket - hopefully you can get it done quickly....

[Rickyrjb]

So today I cleared my diary and decided to pull the head off.
Strange I was really pleased to see a clear leak mark on cylinder 3 so now I know what the problem was.

Now when I was at the rolling road a couple of weeks ago I was told that I had the wrong plugs in it and he replaced these with new "longer ones" and this should help with the overheating as the current ones have the electrode too high up in the head. Well I think he was wrong on that point and was very lucky that I dont have a hole in my pistons

Looking at the offending cyclinder there is quite a bit of material missing from the edge of the head and looks like its been worn away, I am a little concerned if it will ever seal properly at this point as there is not much material to seal against the gasket at this point.

Also spotted two small witness markes on each piston when the inlet valves are just toughing.. So after its been skimmed I need to find a thicker head gasket to prevent bendy valves.

When I took the cams out I noticed that these have badly scorded bearing, the caps look fine and so does the head just the cam look really ropely. Should I be concerned or just put it back.. The answer on that one has to be put it back as I cannot afford new cams.

Tonight I dropped the head off at the garage for a skim, hoping it comes back before the weekend so I can spend father day in the garage

[Phil N]

So today I cleared my diary and decided to pull the head off

Used to love days like that

[Rickyrjb]

OK So looking for a new head gasket for use with a skimmed head, The Zetec is supposed to be a non interference engine due to the concave pistons, if that is the case when have I got marked on the piston tops.

Think I should possible go for a 1.8mm gasket as that seems to be the thickess around but there again cannot seem to find then anywhere... or am I just worrying and should just put a standard gasket back on, after all if the timing is set up correctly surely the valves should clear fine... shouldnt they ??

[nelmo]

I thought the Zetec was an interference engine? According to Wikipedia, only some US variants were non-interference.

[SteveRST]

Never heard of fitting longer plugs. Different heat range plugs yeah, but physically longer? Sounds odd to me.

Standard blacktop head gasket is 0.6mm - Victor Reinz part 61-34440-00
Thicker blacktop head gasket is 1.3mm - Victor Reinz part 61-34340-00
They are less than £20, or Burton do a Cometic 1.8mm gasket but it's 6x the price!

[ChrisL]

And you can double them up. Do you know how much you're having skimmed off? That should tell you how much more you need to add. But I'm surprised the inlet valves have been hitting the pistons so you'll need to add some more on to take account of that. Top you know if the head's already been skimmed?

[Rickyrjb]

And you can double them up. Do you know how much you're having skimmed off? That should tell you how much more you need to add. But I'm surprised the inlet valves have been hitting the pistons so you'll need to add some more on to take account of that. Top you know if the head's already been skimmed?

Hi Chris,
I dont know if the head has already been skimmed, I suspect yes but not 100% sure. The part number on the head is also confusing (XS7G6090 AG) This seems to be a Transit Connect head.

Engine Number is NGB WU319
So the block is: 2.0 Litre Engines (1989cc - Phase 3)
Code Standard Power Standard Torque Vehicle
NGB 130 PS @ 6000 180 Nm @ 4000 Mondeo 2.0 (05/98 On)

I was hoping to use the part number above and find the original thickness, however that data seems hard to find. I could then calculate the gasket thickness needed.

Could the cam timing be too far advanced causing the inlet valves to open too soon. But then it would run like a dog wouldnt it?? (Dyno at 180hp 2 weeks ago)

I am kicking myself for not measuring the head thickness before sending it off, I am hoping they will tell me how much they have taken off. I was planning on putting on a 1.5mm gasket, that is twice the thickness of the one currently on it. But am going to wait to get it back before deciding.

If I stack two gaskets should I use multilayer or composite?

Any help greatly received

[Rickyrjb]

OK so the head part number is actually a 1.8 Focus Head, aparantly people mount 1.8 head on 2.0 block to increase compresion ratio, so maybe this could be why the valves are classing as the combustion chamber is smaller on the 1.8... But then surely it would have valves suited to a 1.8.. Oh going round in circles again