V6 Head gasket sellection?

[Salad-Dodger]

Hi all.
I see that DMGRS are offering a choice of head gaskets for the V6, one of which they have had made for the engines that may have suffered liner sinkage.
Has anyone used these gaskets on engines that have no liner sinkage?
I'm going to do a head gasket change on a 2.5 and I don't want to wait till I get it apart before I order the gaskets.
Also, I've done a few of these in the past and there's always coolant left in the block after the drain-down. Is there a drain-down plug somewhere on the block that I can undo?
Many thanks. Steve

[rrobson]

I'm sure Matt will say the same thing but order both and send the one you didn't need back??

I'm not aware of a plug, but that's not to say there isn't one.

[Salad-Dodger]

Thanks for that rrobson. I suppose I ought to have thought of that one!
I've had my unit out of my car a couple of times but I cant remember seeing a low positioned drain plug. Its a real pain when you pull a head off and coolant spills in all the wrong places.
Its using a bit of coolant but nothing in the oil or under the cap. I just need it to last another year and then its on to something a bit more recent and hopefully will be more reliable.

[chris75]

If my memory serves me right , there is a drain plug on the front face of the block opposite the radiator , or on the side of the left hand bank to put it another way . It is a hex-headed bolt . I used it when I removed my inlet manifolds :}

[rrobson]

Are you sure it's hgf? Have you discounted a leaking thermostat or water pump?

[Mgaz]

How do you know if you have a head gasket issue on the v6?

You say there is No sign of oil in the water or water in the oil?

Are there any other symptoms to look out for?

If you are loosing coolent, are you sure it's not leaking from a hose or radiator or something? I've read about people having a leak between the V?

[rrobson]

Sniff test on the coolant is about the only way to detect it, otherwise it's quite difficult. I've been unfortunate enough to have had hgf on a v6 and other than loosing coolant there was no evidence. Diagnosed due to overheating and eventually evidence on the hg itself.
The other indication was to quite literally smell the coolant. If it smells of petrol then that could be a sign

[Salad-Dodger]

This could be a long one! 55 190+ V6
This is indeed a difficult thing to spot. Head gasket failure on a V6 is not a common thing.
The symptoms are, of course, coolant loss, and a few other things that come on in a progression, over time.
I can tell you that there are no leaks from anywhere. I'm well versed with the V6 and its taken quite some time to decide to change the gaskets.

The last thing I've changed was the thermostat. The one before it was quite new as well. That was changed when the 90 deg elbow blew a hole on the bend while (thankfully) just round the corner from where I live.

Back to the problem.
When started from cold with the cap off, the pass channel in the neck of the expansion tank is passing coolant to the tank.
The engine comes up to temp on the drive. 100 degrees and the fan comes on and cools it back to 95 when the fan goes off. (quite normal)
If the car is driven it behaves itself all the time its moving. After a drive, park and turn it off and it passes coolant through the (new) cap.
Its worth noting that even when its up to temp that there's a fair amount of steam coming out of the exhaust.
When its first started, it runs on five cylinders and clears to six as it gets going. Plugs are only six months old.
I run about now with the temp display on the IPK and have done so for quite some time now. When climbing long hills the temp will climb quite quickly. That is usual but it does climb very quickly!
The standard oil cooler has be replaced with a front mounted cooler behind the coolant rad as the coolant pipework failed some years ago.
The other day I topped up the tank to the correct level and just left it running on the drive for about half an hour. I then let it cool down before removing the cap to find that the coolant level had gone altogether with out any coolant passing by the cap seal. (curious)

I've been driving this car now for five years and I long for a car than doesn't have this undying urge to part with its coolant!

[Mgaz]

Out of curiosity, what is the usual time it takes for a healthy kv6 to reach the half way marker when it's just ticking over, this time of year?

[Salad-Dodger]

Hi. I’ve not really looked at that but I’ll tell you when it’s running as it should do.
There’s a lot to check out on a v6 before a diagnosis is met but I’ll get there if it stops raining!

[DMGRS]

Sorry to join the party late - but you are of course welcome to return whichever parts you don't use. :)

I'd check out other options first - HGF does happen on the V6, but it's very rare.

[Salad-Dodger]

Hi Matt. Thanks for the info. As usual, a joy to deal with.
I agree. The V6 doesn't suffer from head gasket failure on a regular basis but this engine has been a bit warm in the past when I had a water pump seal fail a couple of years ago on the motorway. Its been running well, but since that time, it has used coolant and in the last six months its started to use a bit more than it did a couple of years ago.

Its got to the point where I check the level every time I use the car which is driving me mad. As soon as the bad weather passes I'm going to have a long look at everything before I decide to pull the heads. In particular the inlet gaskets as I don't have the engine light. The last time I had a head gasket let go on a V6 (a long time ago) the light was on and when I cranked it over without the plugs in a small jet of coolant came out of a plug hole. Not to mention the smell from the exhaust.
I'll report back with my findings soon.