Suzuki Jimny Head Gasket

pol-zeath

I will be very grateful if someone could give me some advice.
A week before Christmas the head gasket on my Jimny went. I had it replaced £500 at my local garage who have always done work on my cars. I get the Jimny back after 5 days and the heater and temp guage doesn't work the thermostat had gone so I take it back and they can't fix it straight away due to New Year etc but can do it the next week not sure if this is relevant but I was told it would be ok to still drive the car which I did for about two weeks.

When I took it to have a new thermostat I also told them it was still losing a small amount of water/coolant from the raidiator and I had to keep topping it up. They still could not find any leaks but checked the water and oil and did a flush plus new thermostat and I was told it was working fine and it was.

Last week I checked the coolant, the expansion bottle was empty and I had to put about 1pt in the radiator, I have been checking and refilling the coolant in the expansion bottle and radiator daily since then. Today I checked my oil via the dipstick it was foamy so I removed the cap on the oil tank and in the cap it was foamy and light beige in colour.
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Does it sound like the Head Gasket has gone again? Where do I stand with the Garage? It does say on my receipt, work guarenteed for 12 months. Just need a bit of information before I see them tomorrow morning.

This is so inconvenient I have a 20 mile commute to work buses are infrequent and It takes them ages to do any repairs.
Thank you for reading

pol-zeath

I would just like to add the temp guage is sitting on normal and no warning engine management lights have come on.

Retrogamer

It sounds like the repair wasn't done correctly, or there is more damage than than originally thought.

It would be worth asking the garage if the cylinder head was skimmed and pressure tested before they refitted it.

Depending on what caused the problem blocks and / or heads can crack.

What caused the original head gasket to fail?

pol-zeath

I am not sure why it failed originally apparently it is rare for head gaskets to go on Jimnys. I was just driving it funny smell temp gauge went up. When they replaced the Head Gasket they told me it had been sent off to be skimmed. They have always been a Garage I trusted.

I have since read and I did speak to them recently that perhaps the pressure cap on the raidator wasn't working properly hence the loss of water/coolant but they assured me it was,

forgotmyname

If your losing water then its either leaking externally, Radiator, pipework etc or internally. Gasket or cracked head/block.

They can put dyes in the water to see where its going. If your garage cannot do that then you need to go elsewhere.

pol-zeath

They checked the radiator & pipes etc each time I have taken it back there were no leaks to be found, thats why I thought about the pressure cap on the radiator but they said it was working fine, but the oil leak is new and I only noticed that when filling up with coolant last week.is this a sign the head gasket has gone again? If so might I be covered by the warrenty? I really can't afford to replace it twice in 6 weeks,

Also why hasn't the warning light come on or the temp gauge gone up? Sorry to ask so many questions but I don't really have a clue.

forgotmyname

Depends where the oil is leaking from. It maybe the cam cover gasket not quite done up right or maybe over tightened.

Temp gauge has not gone up yet because there is still enough water in the engine to keep it down. Or the gauge is cooked.

If the temperature ever goes above normal then stop and get it checked. Dont topup a hot engine with cold water either.

I dont trust temperature gauges. Maybe its a Ford thing. But a couple of guys have had engines overheat and one even seized solid with the gauges reading normal.
Sister bought a Fiesta and it was so hot i could smell it. Yet the gauge on that read normal. But when i put the code reader on it it showed something like 113 degrees. Well over boiling point.

After an hour it was still about 80 degrees and the temperature shot up rapidly when restarted.

Hintza

Cracked block?

pol-zeath

Would that make my oil foamy or is that definatley a blown head gasket do you think?

pol-zeath

Hintza wrote: »

Cracked block?

What's a cracked block? is that to do with the head gasket and is it repairable? cheaply? I have had my Jimny nearly 2 years and love it no problems really until recently.

Hintza

If it is a cracked block it is a new engine.

But before you get to that:

Was the head skimmed before fitting the gasket? If not that is more likely the problem.