[alfa] Alfa Head Gasket

[AlfaNeely@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 2/18/2004 7:48:42 PM Central Standard Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 18:26:52 +0000
From: webb.p@domain.elided
Subject: [alfa] Head Gasket

Alfisti,

Last week coolant started leaking into the combustion chamber on the Spider.  
 This motor has about 500 miles on it since the head was redone.   Neither my 
mechanic or I remember if the head was retorqued after the first warm up and 
I know I haven't retorqued since.   

I haven't even looked into the problem yet while emotions were getting the 
best of me.  The working theory is the head has loosened and just needs 
retorquing.  I'll find out tomorrow when I dig into it.

So the questions is, if it is just a case of loose head nuts, will the gasket 
survive after a retorque?    It let go on Saturday night with plumes of white 
smoke out the exhaust, the unmistakable smell of coolant and bubbles in the 
radiator.  No overheating during any of this.   Started to puff on the way home 
and got progressively worse as I drove until it started bellowing, as luck 
would have it, pulling into my parking lot.

TIA for any experience with this.

- -Peter
------------------------

    My 84 Spider race car did exactly the same thing.  I heard a pop, and got 
antifreeze on the windshield.  Steam was coming out the rear of the car.  I 
shut it off expecting to find an exploded heater hose.  When we pushed it onto 
the trailer about a quart of antifreeze ran out of the exhaust pipe.  That 
told me the head gasket was gone.  Antifreeze in two of the cylinders further 
confirmed that.
    I later drained the cooling system, pulled the spark plugs out and blew 
the antifreeze out by spinning the engine on the starter.  I put a bunch of 
Marvel Mystery Oil down each hole, turned the engine slowly, then blew the oil 
out by spinning the engine on the starter again.  It smoked a lot when I got it 
started.  It also missed really bad.  So I pulled the head.

    I did torque my head cold and again hot after the first warm up.  I do 
not think I retorqued it again cold after the racing equivalent of 500 miles.  
After checking everything, I have concluded that the liner projection is 
reasonable and the head is flat.  Thus, I think I just failed to torque the head 
again.  I do not think you can torque the head too often.  Be sure to back each 
head nut off, apply oil and torque each in turn.
    You can try to retorque the head.  If it does the same thing, the gasket 
is gone.  The metal on top of the gasket that surrounds the cylinders was 
deformed into both the two front cylinders.  I suspect the pop was the metal 
letting go and subsequent running of the car further deformed the metal rings.
    I bought a genuine Alfa Romeo head gasket which has a better ring 
surrounding the cylinders.  It appears better quality than the aftermarket gasket I 
used before.

Ciao,
Russ Neely
Oklahoma City
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