Hey All,

So I took out the engine on the weekend. I was thinking about dropping it off at the machanics to get them to look over it and see if anything needs looking at whilst its out. My Mate said that I should just pull the head and have a look myself.

I can pull the head easily enough but I am not sure what to look for when it is pulled. What to check and how to check it. This might be a silly question but you all should be used to them from me . Peering into the engine is like peering into war and peace written in Russian to me so wanted to know what you think I should check and how you would go about it.

P.S
The reason I feel I should is that the last time I drove it ( April) it was 40 degree's and it over heated like a mother on the 2 hour drive to its current resting place. It has never over heated before and it worried me a bit. All was good and then going up a biggish hill at 110 on the freeway it went from normal temps to HOT!! in the space of about 200 metres...

David

I think a compression test will tell you more than pulling the head

Also maybe you should take advantage of the engine being out (more space to work with) and flush the cooling system thoroughly and inspect the water pump.

Other than that unless you know of things that need doing it's probably not worth 'inspecting' things.

A compression check would be a good start, drain the coolant and check the colour and interesting particles that come out of it, if you take the head off check for a lip formed at the top of the bore where the comp rings reach TDC, check and see if the comp rings are all there, damage to the piston crowns, check the piston crowns and head chambers for wet or dry and sooty or if exceptionally/quite clean free of soot and or wettness, check for oil leaks, loose timing chain, flexible bypass hose, and this list can go for days.......

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