For the SW boys.

[Silent Knight]

Ok well it seems that we have a BHG on our hands now.

Soooo now I need to know a couple of things from you SW boys that's been there and done that to make my life easier if possible. I haven't really done much with SWs except change oil/gearbox oil and rip out bits and pieces.

How easy is it to change the HG in place? Meaning leave the engine in and do it the job right there and then?

Anyone that can provide guidance as to the procedure and also all the torque specs etc will be greatly loved by me as like I said this will be my first time doing this sort of thing on a 3S in an SW20.

Now hopefully the head is still ok and will work if we just get it cleaned/skimmed and slap it back on with a new HG and studs but just in case does anyone know of another head lying around anywhere that we might be able to grab if need be when the time comes?

It's a 1990 SW20 N/A.

Once again thanks in advance.

Hanré

[Akane]

this this a SW20T? I have done the HG once and timing belt 3 times.

If you could undo the driver's side hook then this will be possible, I have not tried without the hook removed but I imagine it would be easier to take out the engine.

What I done is:

1) Remove exhaust manifold + turbo + dp in one piece.

2) remove thottle body.

3) Remove sparkplugs / leads / HT lead / water pipes and dizzy and all the ling long ching chong billy bong things that's attatched to the head, remove sensors if you're scared of damaging them.

4) put jack on sump to stop engine falling

4.5) Probably have to remove the aircon tensioner, and remove the aircon compressor and cable tie it to the rail brace.

5) remove bolts from front/back engine mount

6) remove timing belt by removing the tensioner, this is where the "hook" I said comes into the picture, it's crazy. You'll need to jack the engine up a bit to get the t-belt off, then lower the engine to get the crank pully off. This is the whole crap bit about doing headgasket, the whole "change the timing belt while doing headgasket" thing. I mean ofcourse you can do a bit of dodgey and skip this whole thing if you not looking at replacing your timing belt but you'll still have to screw around with the tensioner when you put everything back together.

7) remove the cam over

With a Torx socket, remove the headbolts

9) remove head+intake manifold in one piece, make note to remove the dangly ding dong shit behind intake manifold, heaps of TVIS crap down there and T-VSV

do all your new HG stuff, you should be able to do this without explination

reverse all of above.

[RomanV]

Argh, sucks to hear.

I've got all of the torque settings at home, I'll have a look tonight.

I've got a few PDF manuals for various 3S's at home, which will probably spell everything out for you. I can put them on a CD for you if you like.

[Silent Knight]

I've got a few PDF manuals for various 3S's at home, which will probably spell everything out for you. I can put them on a CD for you if you like.

That would be appreciated thanks dude.

oH and Akane thanks for that but if you read my post properly...

It's a 1990 SW20 N/A.

I imagine it would all be the same anyway just without all of the turbo crap.

Muchos Gracias.

[Akane]

Sorry dude I'm at work and I'm risking my job by posting this (this is how much I love you darling!)

But yeah, should be pretty much the same, maybe even a bit easier without all the turbo bewst crap

[fivebob]

It can be done in place but if you're planning on doing any other work like the cambelt then it might be quicker and easier to remove the engine first. I'd also add to Akanes list that the first thing you should do is to drain the coolant fron the block, makes things much less messy.

And more importantly

8) With a Torx socket, remove the headbolts

How many times do I have to repeat this...Do not, repeat Do not use a Torx driver on the head bolts

It's the worst possible tool to use, if you don't have the correct 12pt spline tool, also called a double hex or triple square, then an allen key is far better than the torx bit. See this post for the reasons why using a Torx bit is not the right tool for the job.

[Malcolm]

sheesh I remember getting shit on mr2oc for suggesting the use of an allen key type socket. Get arps

Ps - how sure are you about it being a BHG? Many other problems can exhibit similar symptoms in an MR2, and they don't blow very often in the NAs

[Silent Knight]

The coolant has a thick muggy brown substance all through it.

When taking radiator cap of it's like mud coming out with it...when you rub your fingers inside the radiator filler hole you can pull slush and shit out.

There's also allot of rust in there.
Engine is on and stays on constantly.

What else could it possibly be?

[Malcolm]

maybe someone poured oil into the wrong hole? No you're right, sounds like BHG (or worse, but probably not)

[RomanV]

The coolant has a thick muggy brown substance all through it.

When taking radiator cap of it's like mud coming out with it...when you rub your fingers inside the radiator filler hole you can pull slush and sh*t out.

There's also allot of rust in there.
Engine is on and stays on constantly.

What else could it possibly be?

Haha!
you know, that's EXACTLY what my coolant lines were like....
Yet no BHG. (AFAIK?)

When my motor was out, I stuck a hose end on one of the coolant lines, and cranked it up... it spewed out horrible brown water for about 10 minutes.
Which (IMO) was a symptom of not running enough anti freeze in the coolant.
I had a leak in one of the coolant lines for ages, but I just kept on topping it up with water.... So it eventually got rather diluted, and rusty looking.
But I ended up changing the coolant lines, and getting the radiator flushed regardless.

Yet, as far as I'm aware, no BHG.(There werent any other signs of it on the head, were there Allfours?)

I'd try flushing the coolant out first, before you go to the effort of changing the BHG.... These motors blow bearings, not head gaskets.

[Silent Knight]

Well that sounds rather promising.

I have not seen the car/engine yet myself to check everything out as it is up in KeriKeri at the moment.

I guess it would save me allot of hassles trying to sort that out first. I'll get Tori to get the whole water system flushed and new pipes put in to see whether that is actually the problem.

I'll get her to also check for other signs of BHG to see whether we might be in luck!!

[RomanV]

Isnt there some sort of test that you can do with a special kind of paper or something that you dip in your coolant, to check if there is a certain chemical present that only occurs when you have a BHG?

I'm sure I remember hearing about something like that, perhaps it would be worth checking out.

But either way, it doesnt sound like a BHG to me, (unless there are other symptoms too) just a high KMs SW20.
Doesnt it have a relatively fresh engine in it now anyway?
Remember that they've got 14 odd litres of coolant in there, there's a lot of volume for crap to accumulate in there over time.
I say get the coolant system flushed as best you can, then go from there.

[Akane]

Yeah use a 12 point SST, not the Torx socket like fivebob said.

I missed out the coolent drain, sorry! :O