fiestaturbo.com

[Stemh]

Cheers mate! i really cant stop driving it at the moment.

Sorted a couple of small problems this morning, accelerator cable was sticking so bit of WD40 later and that was sorted. And there was a leaky vacuum pipe causing the revs to get a bit low sometimes. This is now sorted and its running amazingly!

Parked it over a piece of cardboard overnight to check for any leaks and there was nothing

Absolutely loving driving it again, and you cant beat the sound of the v6

What would people say is the recomended mileage to do the first oil change after doing head gasket?

Done just over 200 miles since putting it back together, thinking about doing an oil and filter change at about 300 miles, this sound about right?

[jonyb4]

glad your enjoying it again mate, shows your hard works worked out alright

[Stemh]

Well yup its dead again!

Had one hell of a few days bad luck!

Car had covered 200 miles since the head rebuild and thursday night i had to do a 560 miles round trip (unavoidable), and i think sitting on the motorway at 3k revs for 11 hours might have been a bit too much for the new gaskets, and when i pulling off the motorway, oil light came on. Stopped straight away and topped it up (had spare oil and water in the boot). Got home and everything seemed fine.

Next day, got home from work and there was a nice cloud of blue smoke following me. Did another quick check and there was oil in the water bye bye new head gaskets. Unbelievably gutted!

So the car is currently being stripped by myself and my brother whenever we can get a minute, and its second lot of head gaskets will be going on. and *hopefully!* it'l last longer than a week this time!

Heads will be back off in the morning and then ive gotta pick some new head gaskets up and put them on.

Also ordered a new waterpump which should come tomorrow, as these are prone to failing on the v6's and can cause the headgasket to go again.

Im determined to be at FITP with the v6 in one piece!

[FiestaBen]

Although we had a laugh on msn about the whole v6 thing.... I am sorry to hear this

Hope you get it sorted for FITP mate but aren't you going to have slightly less time to get it done this time? Last time you fixed it , it was easter holidays?

[Capri]

I believe I saw you on the motorway the other day - M40 or M42 heading eastbound, around 2-3pm on Thursday? Well, put it this way, if it wasn't you then there's someone else with a green Mondeo Ghia X V6 saloon in Juice Green with an FT sticker in the back window! Car looked good, I couldn't make my presence known though as I wasn't driving! Sorry to hear it's dead again - best of luck getting it fixed!

[Stemh]

Was there a trail of blue smoke following me? naaa that would have been me mate! was in the middle of the trip that killed my car

Thanks anyway!

Those FT stickers come in handy dont they for recognising people!

I will have it working again though! Both heads are now off... again! and new gaskets are ordered as well as a new metal impellored water pump. Plan on having them by tomorrow or wednesday at the latest. Then it'l be back together in a couple of days.

i WILL have it running by FITP, and hopefully properly run in this time. And yup ben, i've got a bit less time this time, but it was the week after the easter holidays that i recieved all my parts last time, so im in pretty much the same position. Took me 2 or 3 days to put it back together last time, should be a bit quicker this time!

[jonyb4]

...and your not rebuilding/renewing and skimming loads of bits

gutted for you mate, run it in a bit more gradually this time, maybe stick below 3k for 2 weeks driving and only do so much time in it a day

id hate to have to strip it all again

[Stemh]

Oh don't worry mate, once its back together it won't be coming close to a motorway until fitp! I didn't actually go above 3k this time. I think it was just the fact that it was sat at around 3k for about 11 hours on the motorway, don't think that did it any good!

[jonyb4]

haha nah probably not

[Stemh]

Recieved my head gasket set...again! this morning as well as a cruise control cable that i ordered from Ford because mine had about 1 strand of wire left before it'd snap haha

Got both heads cleaned ready to go back on and both faces on the block cleaned up. Should have a lot of it put back together tomorrow, and hopefully finished on thursday. Just in time for its MOT on friday

What a week! haha!

[jonyb4]

haha awsome mate

[Tweek]

Are you using Ford gaskets or pattern parts?

[3lward]

man thats s**t luck! nice to see your cracking on and not just breaking and scrapping it lol
little tip for the header tank is a few little marbles some sort of degreaser e.g fairy liquid block the holes and shake that mofo!

[RS Joe]

Holy sh*t, you're not having much luck are you! I bet you were gutted,

Are you using Ford gaskets or pattern parts?

That's just what I was thinking, maybe it's best to use genuine gaskets if they're prone to failure.
Hope it all works out for you this time

[Stemh]

Used Pattern parts the first time, but this time ive used ford head gaskets. £63 each

Still not having ANY luck with the car at the moment. Got it all back together last night, turned the key and it just kept turning over. The was a slight "popping" sound as it was turning over, so i think ive got the timing slightly out Turned the engine over by hand before trying to start it with the key, and nothing was clashing and no loud noises so *hopefully* no damage has been done with the timing being out. So the rocker covers and chain cover have to come off again so i can reset the timing and hope it fires up!

Bit gutted that its happened 2 weeks before FITP, im still determined to be there with the mondeo! Just getting a bit to close now! haha

[jonyb4]

Used Pattern parts the first time, but this time ive used ford head gaskets. £63 each

Holy s**t mate thats painful


damn about it not firing, check all the leads and fuel lines etc first, you likely have forgotten one int he hurry to get it back together?

[Stemh]

i checked the obvious things before coming to the conclusion that the timing wasnt right. Got most of the engine apart (AGAIN!!!!) with the help of 2 of my brothers (took us 2 and half hours... new record ). Looking at it, i think ive got the timing one or two teeth out on the rear head, and theres uneven tension along the back chain. Going to double check it in the morning and re time it up... and check it...

... then check it again....


... maybe check it again?...


... then once more....

Then put it back and have my fingers and toes crossed that it'll start!

[Turboboy67]

I've never heard of running a car in for just having the headgaskets done

Have you had the heads skimmed/crack tested ?, because you may well be just wasting your time unless you have.

Good luck with it anyway.

[Stemh]

thanks! i will really need the luck! haha

both heads were skimmed the first time but havent had them crack tested (probabily should have though!)

But i dont think the gaskets blowing was down to a crack as the first time it blew, it was the rear gasket that went. The second time, it was the front.

The place i had them skimmed at told me to drive very carefully and try to stay below 3k revs for the first 500 - 1000 miles. Im just going to have to see how it goes when i get it started again. Going to be driving a lot more carefully and staying away from motorways until at least FITP.

[dontpannic]

Ah crap luck fella, hope you get it all sorted in time for FITP!!

[Stemh]

ITS ALIVE AGAIN!!

Spent most of the day working on the car, managed to reset the timing and put it all back together. To start with it wouldn't fire up. Checked the plugs for a spark and there was nothing. So a bit of checking over later and found a multiplug that wasnt connected properly. Pushed it back together and it fired up first time!

Left it to idle for about 25 mins, then eased it down the road and back. Everything sounds and feels fine. Checked oil and water when i got back, and it hadn't used anything which im very happy about!

Gonna have to slowly build it up and run it in before FITP, so i don't go blowing it again on the way there!

[FiestaBen]

Well done Ste, really hope it stays fixed for you this time!

[MK4 Rick]

well done mate ive always liked the v6 mondeos

[Stemh]

Car had its MOT today and failed

The only thing im worried about on the fail sheet is the emissions were out by quite a bit on the fast idle.

CO and HC readings were both well above what they should be and lambda reading was 0.1% below the boundries.

The tester said that the car is running really rich. Does anyone know how i could get these emissions down for its retest?

Got me worried a bit! haha

Also failed on 2 wishbone bushes, an anti roll bar bush and the handbrake.

[jonyb4]

damn luck again mate, my green mk3 failed on high revving, turned out the idle speed control sensor was knackered


dont mean to be bad but im glad your gasket went the fist time, as you've made a good comprehensive guide for me now, think mines gone

need to find some prices on head gaskets and skimming done

[fiend]

Has it been serviced recently?

[jonyb4]

mine? yes, and new coolant this week

[dangerousdave]

Has it been serviced recently?

[Minstral]

The tester said that the car is running really rich. Does anyone know how i could get these emissions down for its retest?

on my sisters ka the readings were well over the emissions and i asked the garage as i was working there and they said stick some injector cleaner in it. stuck a bottle in took it for a blast down the road, came back re-tryed it and it was fine. so id just try that before you do anything expensive

[Stemh]

Has it been serviced recently?

Didn't think of that! I'll have to look into that

on my sisters ka the readings were well over the emissions and i asked the garage as i was working there and they said stick some injector cleaner in it. stuck a bottle in took it for a blast down the road, came back re-tryed it and it was fine. so id just try that before you do anything expensive

Just about to go try that now! hopefully it'll bring it down a bit. Don't think it'll be enough though!

I think my idle control valve was playing up a bit before the rebuild, the revs used to "hang" between gear changes which is another common fault on mondeo v6s. Could this cause the emissions to read too high?

thanks!

[Stemh]

damn luck again mate, my green mk3 failed on high revving, turned out the idle speed control sensor was knackered


dont mean to be bad but im glad your gasket went the fist time, as you've made a good comprehensive guide for me now, think mines gone

need to find some prices on head gaskets and skimming done

Good luck with that mate! Don't think much of my thread will help you really though, bit different engines

[Minstral]

well i cant remeber what it has to be under, is it 0.5% or something like that, but my sisters ka was 5.1% and it brought it right down under the limit

[FiestaBen]

My Astra's emissions were stupidly high as well and a full service and injector cleaner did the job perfectly, different engines I know but even if it doesn't cure it, it's worth doing a service on it anyway...

[Tweek]

Christ you're certainly an unlucky fella aren't you! Try bashing the cat too, see if it rattles. As for the other things, we had the handbrake done, guessing they bodged that then Also with the lower arms, when I changed the front brakes I looked at them and thought they were HUGE and wouldn't like to be the one who has to change them when they expire

At the moment we're both on course to miss FITP I pulled up today with blue smoke literally POURING out my bonnet vents. Hopefully it's just the cam cover gasket that's fubar.

[jonyb4]

damn luck again mate, my green mk3 failed on high revving, turned out the idle speed control sensor was knackered


dont mean to be bad but im glad your gasket went the fist time, as you've made a good comprehensive guide for me now, think mines gone

need to find some prices on head gaskets and skimming done

Good luck with that mate! Don't think much of my thread will help you really though, bit different engines

llama the order and accounts of things still applies, and i can take hints from the cleaning you've done, maybe if i wanna spend more time on it i can do some painting too