Cooling System and Head Gaskets

[pauly45]

Hi,

I hope you forgive me for the loosly Morris related question here, but there is a link...honestly.

My other car is an Austin Healey Sprite fitted with a 1275 A+ Marina/Ital Engine. (the A-series was the tenuous link !!)
Today after a blast to work, I noticed a small pool of water under the car.
I decided to check the water level by un-doing the radiator cap to find it was very pressurised.
The car had been sitting unstarted for the entire day so the cooling system was cold when I un-did the cap.

I wondered if I had the start of a head gasket leak ?


This leads me to my other question.
Where supplies quality head gaskets for the 1275 A+ engine?
I mean the copper faced ones that were part of the Payen (I think) sets.
I have one which looks like a rubbish silver thing, but I'd really like a quality gasket.

Cheers for any help
Paul.

[aupickup]

esm at stonegate

[bmcecosse]

If it was pressurised when cold...does sound slightly ominous.. Although I would have expected the pressure to push the water back into whatever cylinder is leaking. When it's running - with cap off, are there any bubbles coming up?? Try your local Auotparts place - for a 1275 Mini obviously!

[pauly45]

Thanks for the replies.

I looked at ESM - they do have a good looking gasket, although it's not quite as I was originally looking for : its made from a black composite material and is not the same material as the older head gasket made with copper. I'll probably get one though.

I ran the car to see if there were any bubbles.
Initially there were none, but after a while (probably after the thermostat opened) many, very small bubbles were coming through.

If this link works, theres a video of what I saw here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbZsZgwY ... e=youtu.be

I can't work out if this is just the churn of the water pump, or a definite sign of small amounts of gas getting into the cooling.

Cheers for the help.
Paul.

[MarkyB]

I'd say a definite sign of small amounts of gas getting into the cooling.
Any idea if the head was re torqued after a heat cycle or two?

[pauly45]

It would have been, but it's getting on for at least 7 years since I did the engine. If not longer.
So it's probably done quite well on this gasket, but I only do about 1500 miles a year in it.

Paul.