Hello to everyone come listen to my story so you can learn from my mistake...big sigh.

My bargain cat had a few issues but drives so nice and smooth but wanted it to be 100% (failed more later)

issues
1. reservior tank blowing out and hot coolant coming out
2. oil leak at back of engine by fire wall which dripped onto exhaust manifold = smelly cat
3.abs light on dash
4. boot lid paint totally knackered



also

so had an issue with my cat...decided to tackle a new head gasket every thing went fairly smoothly but snapped several headbolts when undoing them. Not knowing the history of the car I think someone went in and over tightened creating an issue (sigh) bolts drilled out broken bolts and new bolts ready to use so no big deal.

Also replaced the thermostat and the overflow tank cap.

Head checked all seemed ok nice and flat no leaking valves no sign of any damage took of rear triangle(not actually a triangle) plate and replaced gasket there just in case
checked block and cylinders all seemed ok (arrrrg pain to come)


Also had abs light on dash so went through check list checking every sensor all good found a cheap abs unit on ebay ($50 nz dollars plus postage $20)

For any one else with this issue replacement very easy undoing the old unit straight forward and after i bled the brakes...result light gone.

also repainted the boot lid was badly faded and clear coat knackered came up ok could have been better but my very first go at painting a car will do much better next time steep learning curve for me using spray and clear coat. video shows car work in reverse just to be different.

back on road runs great looks ok interior is immaculate just the headliner will need to be replaced.

now for the pain....

issue 1 better but not resolved arrrg
issue 2 not resolved still have some oil leaking onto manifold where from? cant locate where it is actually coming from( all cam seals replaced including spark plug seals and all new washers for cam bolts and tightened down )

car is not over heating. runs really well but on a decent trip the water reservior builds up pressure and blows water out of bottom water hose connecting to it. i cant find any leaks in system.
Compression test shows all same plus or minus only 5 psi and no leak down over time that i can locate.
no sign of oil in water
no sigh of water in oil (in engine)

suspect cracked head....arrrrg but symptoms are they a failed headgasket job? (maybe i stuffed up some where my mistake was?)

any suggestions of what it could be appreciated....
if anyone else is suffering from this issue with the coolant bursting out one last thing...this issue doesnt happen all the time but more often than not.


more drinking required....much more....looking now at another cat purchase and using this as a parts donor seems a real shame as runs really well looks good but how far to keep going...more drink...i think.
big thanks to past posts showing full pictures and details on head gasket replacement job i found here huge help.

 

choco, dont drink too much!
where are you in NZ?
there are some good mechanics around who may be able to point you at known problems.

 

Hiya, thanks for suggestion plenty of mechanics in auckland where i am but they see a jag and start thinking dollars big dollars which just annoys me considering how cheap these cars are to buy in comparison to what they actually are.