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I have a sneaky suspicion that a head gasket has gone on my +8 as there is the usual mayonnaise in the rocker cap and catch tank breather. The car also blows out excess water from the headed tank..................but its not running cool and its performing really well.........strange.
Question: Firstly how do I establish if its gone and secondly which bank and third how long does it take to change one?

Any advice out there ????????

Rob Toon
"Toony"

Do a compression test on all 8 cylinders

carry out a "sniff test" the check for CO in the cooling system

check for oil in the header tank

if all the above are ok and the cars runnng fine, it may just be condesation in the header tank

Rob Toon wrote:I have a sneaky suspicion that a head gasket has gone on my +8 as there is the usual mayonnaise in the rocker cap and catch tank breather. The car also blows out excess water from the headed tank..................but its not running cool and its performing really well.........strange. Question: Firstly how do I establish if its gone and secondly which bank and third how long does it take to change one?
Rob Toon
"Toony"

There are easy chemical tests you do. Halfords probably sells a kit for it cheaply. You can also do the compression test as suggested. You can also check the level of your oil or coolant. However, an emulsion of oil and water is a classic sign of a bad head gasket. Engine heating will not be noticeable in all conditions. There will be a continual loss of coolant..but you will not notice that on short trips. It is also likely that you would not notice a loss of power. Nonetheless, you cannot run with a gasket issue.

How long to do a head gasket job depends on the type of fuelling system, the year of the engine, whether you change one or both gaskets (advisable) and your choice of how important the performance versus reliability is. That will vary the time from 1-4 hours. Expect to buy head bolts, valve cover gaskets and heads gaskets.

If you'd like, I can walk you through it.

Lorne