I'll tell you what they'll say.
"Bring the head back so we can recheck it."

 

HYou're proably right. I'd have them buy me a new headgasket and head bolts. How could a machine shop miss somethig like this? Unless something fell into the chamber

 

Threads merged. Thanks, BobRoy & Mikey.

Cheers,

Don

 

You say you can feel the air escaping. Are you able to look in the intake port and see if there is anything obstructing the intake valves? Otherwise it may need to come back off. Have you checked the other head with the head upside down, and put some solvent in it to see if that leaks down?

 

Did you check the valve lash/clearance? They might have done the valve repair properly but neglected to set the correct clearance???????

Feeler gauges are your friend.

bob

 

Bob, valve lash wouldn't matter. He had the cams off. The valves should be completely closed. I can only think of debris got between valve and seat, the valve is sticking and not closing, or they didn't get it lapped in properly.

 

The valve lap is literally one sweep once each way - just touched with very fine paste. It's so easy to do too much.

Did they re-use the valve? Did they replace the guide? Did they even test it? Take it back.

The cylinder head bolts are 2 use.Once when the factory set them, second when a head gasket fails, technician guideline is to centre punch the top of each bolt so they know it's 2nd round use. As they stretch I'd be inclined to buy new if you don't know how many times they've been torqued up.
I used to recommend calling at the local Land Rover dealer as the AJV8 in those cars is a Jaguar unit and shares the bolts, but at a fraction of the cost. Sadly in the UK at least their prices are now in-line with Jaguar.
Head gaskets, again up to you - if your surfaces are surgical clean on install, then reuse them.

 

Oh yea. I did read that about the cam being out....




NEVER MIND

bob

 

You'd be surprised what a head repair shop can miss. I had one give me bolts that were for a another brand of vehicle ( I had priced genuine ) because my team leader wanted to save the customer money. I was assured they would work, but was my mistake for not double checking. You'd think that a shop that specialises in a certain area, you wouldn't have to double check their work, but turns out you do. I put them in, and it felt like it was torqued properly, but after was all back together, it was running a bit rough. The bolts had a shoulder on it slightly bigger than the genuine ones near the top of the bolt, and didn't pass through the head freely. So I had to take the head back off, to find out the bolts supplied weren't going to work. The owner of the shop came by to inspect what the problem was, and basically shrugged his shoulders, looked at my team leader and said " he should have checked that before installing ". Sadly the dealership still uses him for cylinder head repairs, fortunately for me I'm not in that workshop anymore.

 

WOW JB! That guy was an ***! It's all in the name of "not my financial responsibility" from that cylinder head shop owner. At least there should've been a 50% responsibility from him but instead he totally ran you over.

 

This is why I stick with genuine. When I was still living in Texas, I didn't have this problem. When I came to NZ, they send a lot of rebuild work out the door to someone else. Had I been the team leader, this wouldn't have happened, luckily the manager at the time took care of me. This is the same workshop that left a crank pulley loose on a X308 engine rebuild job ( this was before I started working there ).


I later found out the wrong head bolt incident wasn't the first time it happened. This is why it's so important to know when to buy genuine and when you can go aftermarket. Also, no matter how reputable the company is, you still have to double check and even triple check work, specially with such a big job knowing what the consequences could be. At the end of the day we are all still human.

 

I decided to take the head off today before I would call the machine shop. That way I can tell them exactly what they did wrong and they can't make something up and tell me. Took me about 10 minutes to take the head back off and I really can't see much. I'll post a picture

 

That is the valve that was leaking air during the leak down test. The only thing I see is a tiny spec of that whitish yellowish grease. Might try taking that valve out and checking it out.

 

Looks like something fell into chamber. If you don't have a valve spring compressor put the cam back on and turn it until that valve opens up. Then remove the debris and look for damage on valve or seat. When that is O.K.
install a spark plug in that cylinder. Turn it upside down and put a fluid in that cylinder with the valves closed. Look for any leaks in the intake and exhaust ports. Cleaning solvent is what I use.

 

Definitely the machine shops doing. On this particular valve they just replaced the seat. Must've done it wrong. I have a video of my own little test that I did on it. https://youtu.be/5bPsfWUirUk

 

I took the valve out, found out they did a terrible lap job, on top of that there was still shaving left inside. I went ahead and check all the valves with a soap and water test and with the springs on they leaked air. All of them.

 

Talked to the machine shop, they said it was most likely their machine or the setup they had. They don't do jaguar engine heads very often and the valves are very very small compared to the valves normal engines have. They are willing to fix the heads and have me there to watch them do solvent and pressure tests on it and they are offering to replace all the seals I've used and anything else. I might try and get a little extra something out of them too, I spent a lot of time pulling my heads off and putting them.back on and then having to pull them back off. Keep in mind this is with the engine still in place. Just saying, have a 12 pack handy when trying to remove or put back the exhaust bolts. They give you one hell of a time.

 

I guess they don't work on VW 1.8 Turbo heads with 5 valves (3 intake, 2 exhaust) They have very small intake valves.

bob

 

Hey all I care is that I'm getting free engine heads out of it plus reimbursement. This shop screwed up and they know it and they are more than willing to pay for it.

 

Good news, they have some work to do!