Bought the car in mid October. Next day realised the heater matrix leaked and the cooling system was pressurising. Probably both problems are linked. So I diagnosed a head gasket leak. I bought head gasket, head bolts, injector seals, valve hydraulics, inlet+exhaust gaskets, oil, coolant, air filter, fuel filter, water pump, idler and belt. Probably some other stuff too.
I removed the head and dropped it to a decent local engineer (W.S. Bates). They had the coolant passages welded because of corrosion eating towards cylinder sealing ring and then skimmed it. The block/piston crowns/cylinder bores looked fantastic. I rebuilt everything very careful and to the book (Haynes manual on hand). Car ran great for 1500 to 2000miles but is now pressurising the cooling system again. There is also evidence of oil in the coolant. If I drive the car like a grandad (55to 60mph on motorway returning 64mpg) then the problem is vastly reduced, but if I drive normally then the coolant reservoir is empty when I get to my destination. The car has a blacksmoke remap.
So Im not sure why the new gasket+weld+skim didn't fix the problem premanently. Im imagining the block sealing surface could be warped or there are fissures in the head. Im not sure if the head was pressure tested or not, but Bates's are reputable so I can only imagine they did test it.
Im at a loss as to what to do next and this car has eaten loads of my time. Any suggestions with a fix or what to do?
