Blown head gasket

So we sat in Newhaven for a couple of nights putting up with the ferry arriving at 05:00 and the sand barge at 4 to 5 am. Very disturbed sleep, only a place to go in an emergency!!

On the Saturday preparing to leave I checked the water and oil to find that the oil looked like whipped cream. Blown head gasket.

What to do?

I found that Halfords sold a head gasket sealer called ‘Wundaweld’. This is for sealing head gaskets etc. Deciding that doing the job in Newhaven was a No No I decided to try this magic substance.

I flushed out the water system while Mo went to Halfords and purchased the Wundaweld and a couple of gallons of oil and then following the instructions I changed the oil, re filled the system with clean water, and applied the Wundaweld.

We ran the engine for 3 hours at the pontoon and all seemed well so we set off at 03:00 heading back to Emsworth.

The promised light wind didn’t come so we motored with me checking the water and dipping the oil every 15 miniutes to start with and then every half an hour all the way back to Chichester.

The marina made sure our space was clear and we arrived in the evening.

I pressure tested the cylinders which all seemed OK and so the top of the engine came to pieces and the camshaft bearings looked like new so the head went to Banda Engineering in Portsmouth for a complete overhaul. This included a thorough clean, a pressure test, skimming the face, valves ground in and camshaft re fitted and re shimmed. All for a very reasonable price.

While doing the job I decided to replace all the hoses and other rubber parts and re paint things.

All that took two weeks and the only thing holding up the re assembly is that wonderful ‘Evri’ have managed to misplace the paint which I am still waiting for before starting the re build.