Possible head gasket failure?

[TomE]

Interesting, I didn't realise Plans had experience with the Elan?

Yes, although they mainly do Elise, Exige, VX220, Noble, NSX etc John at Plans is ex Bell & Covill and did all the Elan and Esprit service training at the factory plus many years working on them.

When my wishbones came up as an MOT advisory last spring, he gave the whole car a detailed inspection and test drive before recommending what else needed to be done on links, ball joints etc. They did a good job on the wishbones/TCAs and suspension changes and have the kit to do full geo setups. Lot cheaper labour rate than B&C (£50 vs £85 an hour) and they source parts via B&C with no further markup. Very diligent work - wouldn't let me take the car because the toe-in on one wheel wouldn't adjust within tolerance by 1mm, until they'd found the cause and fixed it.

They do tend to prioritise their racecar customers ahead of regular punters (makes sense I guess), so sometimes need the car longer than say B&C or Lakeside. But you do get to do a shakedown test drive on the Top Gear track

Thanks all for the running in advice. Feeling really nervous about what horrors are going to appear now they've opened it up - getting the debrief tomorrow morning

[addict]

Tom, sorry to hear of your problems but it does sound like a HGF and a Block test will soon confirm.

I had the same and only when i was on track would it show it's ugly head other times the temp didn't move on a normal drive. Thats why i've said that they'll be others out there who won't even realise there HG is failing and could even be years before they notice


Hope you get it sorted soon

mine drove perfectly to the ring
overheated after doing the ring once
then was fine for the 550miles home strange init

[roy666]

Hi Guys - thought I would jump on the end of this topic thread rather than start a new one. Just checking levels after a 350 mile trip down to Devon in my S2 and thought the coolant expansion tank was looking a bit dark. Found a oily residue on the top surface of the tank..as pic shows! Engine running really well, engine temp gauge in its ususal postion, oil pressure ok, no horrible sludge on the top of the oil dip stick, nor inside the cam cover, and oil level good. So whats the verdict?... I'm thinking (worse case) CHG leak from the oil to the water gallery somewhere. And another CHG change... ?? Mike

[Rambo]

Yuk Doesn't look good to me Mike. What's it like under the oil filler cap ?

Suggest you do a sniffer test and a compression test to rule out or verify HGF

[Rambo]

Another thing. When did you last change the coolant ? I have occasionally seen this sort of oily sludge build up when the coolant hasn't been changed for years and years, if ever. Some folks don't even think to add ethylene glycol and just use water which leads to long term corrosion problems

I change my coolant every 2 years and usually dilute to 40% concentration. The old coolant usually looks as fresh as the day it was put in which means the inhibitors are doing their work

PS I notice you had HGF in 2015 and also subsequent coolant problems and water pump failure a couple of years later. Something odd is going on

[roy666]

Thanks Guys..oil filler cap was fine. Yep, this one has been more problematical than my previous SE; had a CHG done in 2015, which I feel was caused by a water pump failure and then the rad started to leak.. so new rad fitted last year. So far no coolant issues until now. Well, it will only get worse... so CHG cometh I fear. Any recommendations for a good service dealer to do it?