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April 9~12th - Springtime Service and Head Gasket Change! With some moderately nice weather in early April, I gave Jessie the springtime service. Everything checked out ok, oils were checked, changed and topped up, and then I drove to fill up with fuel ready for the York Crank Up. When I started up again at the petrol station, there was white smoke for thirty seconds and the engine was a bit lumpy. After that, it ran ok. |
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| Once home, I heard
a little sizzling from in the engine, but it was late, so put the Jeep
away. I had a feeling something wasn't right, and a couple of days
later, went to run the Dodge and took the Jeep there. After warming the
Dodge through, the Jeep wouldn't start, in fact, it wouldn't turn over.
I used the starting handle to turn the engine over to clear the
suspected hydraulic lock, it then started up and I drove home carefully.
Once home, I pulled the plugs and turned it over on the starting handle, and it squirted a little water out of the number four cylinder; not gallons, but enough to be concerned about. Grrrr. The Fel-pro gasket fitted in 2014 had only done 685 miles. A new one was ordered on Monday 11th, and fitted the following day. As advised, I then did three five mile runs, allowing the engine to cool after and then torqued the head up again after each. After the last, the nuts virtually didn't move. I felt it was then ok for the York run. |
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| The Crank Up was a 164 mile round trip, and upon getting home, I checked the radiator and the level was unchanged. I suspect that after the last gasket fit, I didn't keep torquing it down for long enough after fitting, and it has gradually formed a weak point. When I fitted a new radiator cap in November last year, this cap perhaps had a stronger spring, and put more pressure on the weakened gasket, causing the failure. |
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