cylinder delete to stop FE loss from head gasket?

[modmonster]

i have a head gasket failure! oil leaking from one cylinder at the gasket, +tiny oil bubbles, and bubbles in the water bottle. FE down from 55mpg(imp) to 40mpg(imp) but still drivable. my garage said to keep driving it till it blows completely and then fix it cos it will cost the same anyway. to change the head gasket will cost half the value of the car and the same as an engine swap.

the FE loss really pisses me off. i am thinking about by-passing the cylinder where the diesel fuel is not reaching the right compression. i will take out the injector and glowplug and redirect the fuel to the return pipe. i know it will run really rough and eventually shake the engine off its mounts. what do you think?

i have just ordered a compression tester to check its just the one cylinder.

[Frank Lee]

The bad vibes will drive you nuts within minutes. Either ignore it for a while like the garage says, or fix it now. Get/beg/borrow some tools and do it yourself- the cost is mostly labor when you hire it out- the gasket and some anti-freeze shouldn't be very much.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by modmonster

to change the head gasket will cost half the value of the car and the same as an engine swap.

If you go with an engine swap, then maybe you could pay a little extra and fit the Lupo/A2's 1.2TDI in there? Oooo, and maybe mate it to a 6speed gearbox? That would raise the car's value by a factor of 5, but reduce some weight. Aaah, imagine the fuel consumption.
OK, I'll stop now.

[Arragonis]

A 20% drop in FE with fuel costs going up over here would direct me towards fixing it rather than living with it, also you will be adding to any other potential damage.

Weigh the cost of changing the gasket vs the cost of changing the car. If you can spanner yourself (and I feel jelous if you can) then as Frank taps the main cost is parts and time.

[ConnClark]

Originally Posted by modmonster

my garage said to keep driving it till it blows completely and then fix it cos it will cost the same anyway.

To keep on driving a car with a failed or failing headgasket is a very bad idea. It can make the repair much much much more expensive by scarring the block which will require redecking the block or more extensive redecking. It may also warp your head as well. The worst thing that can happen is that your gasket will start leaking oil or water into another cylinder and hydro lock it (on a diesel this doesn't take much).

I personally would never go back to a garage that gave this advice.

[Diesel_Dave]

With all due repect, anyone who tells you to drive a car with a blown heat gasket is a complete idiot! The FE loss is the least of your worries. I could write a whole page on all the bad things that can happen. Just for starters, a blown head gasket can allow coolant to leak into the oil. That can make your oil corrosive, which will trash EVERYTHING! Even if you're going to swapthe engine you should at least save it for parts.

And the cylinder delete is a REALLY bad idea. For one thing, that would be an extremely involved process (more involved than replacing a head gasket). Secondly, that wouldn't even fix your problem--you're still going to have oil and/or coolant going places it shouldn't.

I'm not sure what tools/time/talents you have, but I'm with Frank Lee on this one. I'm not sure what type of engine you have, but it is mostly just takes a lot of time. It's mostly a matter of whatever parts you have to remove it get the head off. Depending on your engine, it could be a matter of just the valve cover and the fuel lines. The gasket itself should be pretty cheap.

[JasonG]

^ Beat me to it.

STOP driving it now. The head and block are already being etched by the hot combustion gasses going through the gap in the gasket.
The oil is being contaminated as the bubbles show.
Here many chain auto part stores will rent you a torque wrench free, with a deposit, when you buy parts from them.
Do the timing belt while you have it off too.
This is really just a Saturday project.

[trooper Tdiesel]

dealing with a engine that has oil in the water and water in the oil is no fun at all.

i had a big truck diesel blow its oil cooler, it was a all out night mare to clean up.

the thought of paying a shop to do the 15/20 some odd hours of work i did, at some out-rages $150/200 an hour rate is a sickning thought.

the other problem was dealing with the nasty hazmat mix of water and oil, it was like 30/40 gal of that JUNK
it was a mid size 10L truck engine packed full of the trash


part that really bugs me is the truck had a in frame less than 5,000 miles earlier and they did'ent change the cooler on a 300,000 truck