Chaps,

I fear this question might fall into the 'Bloody silly' category but, can we still get head gaskets for AEC engines?

As you can see from the picture below, 1013 has developed a bit of a dribble. It is almost certainly antifreeze. It might have developed this dribble quite a long time ago but jet-washing the engine space has made it visible. Ignorance is bliss, though it is not a sound engineering principle. There is no sign of oil emulsion in either water or sump, but we are thinking that we'd quite like to get the heads off, have a good look at the insides and see what state things are in. I'm assuming that taking the heads off requires new gaskets.



By the way, it has 'strip bearings' written on the block in white paint. Does that indicate that it has been to the engine shop and had a new set of bearings (amongst other things) at some stage?

Cheers,

H.

My bus number (if any): RM1013

Just about in line with that nice shiny jubilee clip around the exhaust manifold you should see stamped into the vertical face of the block 0.15 or 0.20 etc. This is how much the block has been skimmed in imperial measurements. You will need gaskets that are oversize (thickness) by that amount.

Do not expect that you are going to turn this around in a day, you will likely need to do more work than you first think. Gaskets are available but in short supply so you should not be putting off any related work while the heads are off.
If not attending to this straight away then keep the antifreeze strength up to help avoid corrosion damage to the heads and block. Make sure that the block is drained of coolant before taking the heads off, antifreeze in the sump creates acids which attack the bearings.

Having said the above I presume that you have eliminated the coolant elbow which joins the two cylinder heads as the source of the leak? These can be extremely difficult to remove requiring great care since replacements are not easy to find.

Rather than try taking the heads off, have you considered trying a couple of bottles of propriatary block sealant like Steel Seal? I tried this on a bus engine last year and that done the trick; a client has tried that on an RM engine that had a leaky liner seal and he hasn't reported further problems.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Thanks chaps,

This is all good stuff. I will certainly attempt the non-cylinder head removal options before breaking out the big socket set.

My bus number (if any): RM1013

We have used "K Seal" several times with success (so far) - totally different technology to the old Holts Rad Weld apparently - you would need the larger bottle for an RM.

My bus number (if any): RML2747

Both Rolls Royce Diesels and Bedford used to recommend adding a Barseal to the coolant on initial fill. I have used several different products over the years, Bars leaks, K seal, Silver Seal KV2000 etc; I haven't yet tried Irontite. On the whole I can't say I am impressed, they work as a short term measure, but are not so great longer term even when you follow the destructions to the letter. Some of the requirements are quite involved and time consuming. Later dismantling often reveals an unholy mess especially if the system had previously been full of debris and filthy water. In spite of their claims I cannot see how adding a ceramic compound to the system does not impair heat transfer when that chemical is used specifically for exactly that purpose.