I got the car today, and it's absolutely beautiful

Unfortunately after driving it around for about 15 minutes it was appearant that there's a problem here. I'm getting quite a bit of white smoke out of the tailpipe (interestingly only on the driver side) and to me it smelled like burning oil. I'm no mechanic, but I am a google ninja so after a few minutes of searching it sounds like I have a coolant leak into the engine and either a bad head gasket or a cracked head. I'll take the former, thank you. :|

So, what is the next step? Is there any way to determine whether it's the gasket or the head without taking the heads off? Does anyone know what I can expect this to cost me in either case? Is this a DYI job for someone who's not a mechanic, but can follow directions pretty well?

Thanks!
Jason

 

HEy I'm really sorry to hear what happened, don't be down as of yet, try this before spending thousands for a head gasket fix. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3suQy44G_B0

This stuff is amazing it worked on my friends Chevy Impala that had a blown head gasket. Still to this day its holding up.

Good Luck,

 

Thats sad to hear, the previous owner probably overheated it. Take it to the dealer and have them do a $100 diagnosis on it and see what they can find. It may not be the head. If it is, no point in getting rid of the car as it will be worth nothing like that. See if you can find another engine with less miles on it.

Your friends impala probably only had a bad Lower Intake manifold gasket, not the head. Sure that will work for the intake manifold, and it may work for the head too for about a day. No way that crap will stand up to those kind of pressures.

 

Thanks Jag79, it's disappointing but hopefully won't end up being a huge deal.

As for the product you mention, I saw that in another post when I was searching, and it looks like I can get the product for about $80 from their website. I'm just concerned about putting chemical fixes into a complex engine and expecting it to be smart enough to fix what's broken without 'fixing' what isn't broken. Though if the repair is really thousands of dollars I'd be willing to give this a shot! Has your friend had any other issues with the engine since he(she) used that stuff?

 

Hey I was a non-believer also trust me. But then again seeing is believing right . It won't hurt to try though.

 

WOW, does a blown head gasket equal needing a new engine with these cars?

My other vehicle is a Land Rover & putting new gaskets in is a $400 job with a good indy shop here. I figured it would be more with a Jag, but Jeez.

I just went from "Oh Well" to "Oh F&*k". Someone tell me I'm over reacting.

 

Hi Jason, my friends 87' impala had the blown head gasket a few years back, and still has that car and drives it now and then without any hiccups. No over heating or what not. IT was definitely the head gasket that was blown not the intake manifold. It's a gamble really, its not like you have the S/C S type so I dont see an issue with the pressure being overly high. IF the cost of fixing it, is out of your budget, then give it a try. Look up the reviews from other users of that product online to get a better feel for it.

Good Luck. I'm sure someone on here can suggest other alternatives for the fix.

 

No it doesnt require a new engine, but to have that done at a good shop will probably be around the $1500-$2000 mark. Who knows what the bottom end of the motor looks like? I guess you could say the same about a used engine though. I would just fix it, and run synthetic oil in it for a long time to clean it out.

 

Well, some research into Steel Seal led me to find out that all these 'sealers' are is sodium silicate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_...omotive_repair ) and it does actually work when the compound is brought up to the correct temperature of 210-220 degrees f. That must by why the sellers of Steel Seal say to run the engine at 1000 rpms for 1hr. Based on what I've read it doesn't look to be dangerous to other parts of the system, and there is actually some credibility behind the claims. I'm just going to order some up from a local pharmacy for about $20 and follow the procedures outlined on the Steal Seal website. At worst this should allow for a temporary fix & I can budget for a real repair 6 months from now. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I'm kinda curious and confused. You bought this today and it did this 15 minutes after picking it up. Was this bought from a dealership or a private sale? I'm not sure why you arent going back to who you bought it from and demanding your money back. Sounds like some fraud if you ask me. I would be documenting everything and taking lots of pics.


To answer your original questions. It is a pretty in depth DIY. You have to remove the heads which means the timing chain has to come off, exhaust manifolds, and various other pretty indepth things. To reessemble you have to reset the timing and put all the timing components back together correctly. I'm not sure if the Jag V8 is interference or not but if it is and you mess it up by a few teeth you will smash the valves into the pistons when you reessemble. This is if you didnt warp the heads. If you warped them you are gonna have to get them resurfaced so you will have to find a shop to machine them flat again. Not sure how indepth that is with aluminum heads. I know with the older style heads its not that bad.
To see if its your head gasket check you oil for bubbles or coolant. If its bubbly on the dipstick it has been contaminated with coolant. An oil change would probably help you see it even better. You can also check your coolant for oil. If your head gasket is leaking it will mix these 2 things. So one is gonna go into the other.

 

Take it step by step, and try to be optimistic. If you need a mechanic, maybe your Land Rover mechanic already knows this engine. L/R uses a version of the Jag 4.0 in some of their high line models.

 

Hi Guys, I have used that and K seal, Both work FAST and are still working in the cars...
Doesnt stop up anything else either...


rs

 

Thanks for the info Vance, with all that in mind I'm not inclined to try this one myself. I've done some simple repairs on my Land Rover, but that engine seems to be much more simplistic than this one. But I will do some of those checks you mentioned to get a better idea of what the problem is.

Regarding your first question, I bought the vehicle on eBay from a Mercedes Benz dealership in Nashville, and had it shipped here to Atlanta. To be fair I think I got a great price on the car at $7,400 so I wasn't expecting it to be perfect, but at the same time I asked my contact there about problems & he stated that they only found that the battery & brakes needed to be replaced. It's pretty hard to believe that their shop didn't notice this issue when they took the car on a trade-in, right? I think I'll be giving them a call tomorrow.

 

No Problem. Thanks for fixing my confusion. I wasnt sure I had read that right and was just making sure I had. If the heads aren't warped and it didnt cause too much damage from overheating (ie who knows how long the problem has been there and how long they were driving it) it might not be too bad to get the head gasket replaced. The only problem is you wont know till someone rips it apart. By then you may as well just have them fix it since they have already ripped it open. Too bad you aren't closer I'd tackle that. I would definitly do the checks before ruling it the head gasket. Then if it isnt you can slowly start eliminating potential causes. Do you have access to a scanner to see if there are any stored codes? Maybe data log?

 

Since it was bought on eBay and you paid thru paypal right? You might be covered by Paypal if I'm not mistaken. There maybe still a way out of it, don't do anything until you find that out first if you are covered and can make a claim.

 

If it appears that they knowingly sold you a car with such a defect I would rain hell down on them. I'd threaten them with complaints to the BBB, Paypal, E-Bay feedback, social media, and so on. Often times it's easier to give you $2k to just go away. Keep us posted.

 

I understand that it is an interference engine.

 

Is this the silver one? I almost bought that car before I bought mine...Wish you luck, changing a head gasket on the jag is the same as changing on any v8 the repair cost shoud be the same.

 

Couldn't agree more- don't touch the car and do NOT put any 'miracles in bottle' in the engine! It's too late to issue the standard warnings about buying cars sight unseen, but at least there's opportunities open to you having bought the car from a dealer on eBay vs. some guy off the street. Any repairs that you attempt at this point will give the seller an excuse to deny any compensation or refund.

I wouldn't consider a car with a blown head gasket @ $7400 a 'good price'- what else is wrong with it? Why did it sell so cheap? There's almost always a story behind the story.

 

Yep, that's the one. Cosmetically it's near perfect inside and out, other than a small scrape on the front bumper. Obviously the engine is another story.