Possible Head gasket?

[Geastb 0]

I've got a lot of steam coming from left side of the engine (be air filter) looks like its the head gasket - or is there anything else it could be?

If it is the head - what else should I get done at the same time? (I don't want to take the head off again) I can't tell you what the mileage is as I bought it off flea bay and they said it had done 20k - it don't rattle much of startup but does use a little oil so i'm not going by what they told me!

How much am I looking at for the job to be sorted? ANd can you recomend somewhere that can collect car from wiltshire and get the work done?

[stockers 1]

i had a load of steam come from my car at the rr day, turned out a clip on a coolant hose had come loose, have you checked all the clips?

[Geastb 0]

Are there any pipes on the air box side? I aint checked any of the pipes yet - will have a look today - hopefully it might not be as bad as i suspected!

[VR6Rich 3]

Does it smell of burning oil? If so it could be the oil breather pipe from the rocker cover which has split and oil is dripping down on to the exhaust manifold heat shield.

[Geastb 0]

Its definetly water - its also taken out the alternator as I found out yesterday! I'm going to get the chains and guides done now as its all going to be in bits - anything else i should get done at the same time?

[petervr6 0]

water pump is buy the air box.

[kilokilla 0]

Its also a good idea to get clutch done at same time and crankshaft seal aswell whilst gearbox is off i can do the lot for you and collect from wiltshire for about £1000 all in .if you need any confirmation of the quality of my workmanship you can speak to eat this as i have just done virtually the same to his also ingham will put in good word for me .if you are interested you can contact me on 07957 204 365 .cheers carl.

p.s i also do stem seals ,clean all valves and reseat them while i have head off.

[Geastb 0]

I've just had new clutch put in when i had engine fitted - i'm thinking it could now be the water pump? kilokilla I've just sent you a pm mate (didn't read this reply before I sent it!) I may be interested in a head re-build anyway as it smoke on the over run!

[kilokilla 0]

must admit your water problem sounds more like just water pump which is common fault and sits just under head line under auxillery belt tensioner i would get some1 to do headgasket check b4 committing yourself to an expensive job mate.

[Geastb 0]

Cheers Carl - I will do!

You have PM too mate!

[matth76 1]

If you do need to have the head off it's an ideal time to get a more free flowing 6-2-1 branch exhaust manifold... it's much easier to fit one if the head is off. They are normally made of stainless steel which can be prone to cracking if it's of cheap quality (so get a good quality one - a good quality one will normally be around 300-600 and check it has "flexi-joints"... very important, to keep it independent to engine movement which prevents cracking) and it's a good idea to have uprated engine mounts. Unfortunately I haven't seen anywhere that do stronger cast iron free flowing 6 branch exhaust manifolds - they are all stainless. However stainless does look good and sounds amazing when you floor it. I've got one. I'm getting it rolling roaded and possibly remapped at Stealth beginning March to see what power increase it has provided.