Houston We Have A Problem

[d2dave]

Pulled spark plugs from sons car and this is what I found.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/ (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/440/fmig.jpg/)

Not good

[460cixy]

Not unusual for a falcon. If you do the head gasket use the steel shim gasket not the composite type there fitted to au falcons

[Roverlord off road spares]

Pulled spark plugs from sons car and this is what I found.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4847/fmig.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/440/fmig.jpg/)

Not good
At Least on a Ford it's an easier job if that makes you a little happier.
But no, it doesn't look good :(

[steveG]

For the last 15 years I've had older Falcon 6cyl's on LPG for my daily drive. XF, ED, and currently an EL.

All have done a head gasket around the 220-250K mark. Reco'd head, new hoses and radiator and no further issues. XF transmission finally died somewhere over 500K, and I pensioned the ED off at around 480K when my work colleague offered me his well maintained EL wagon for tradein price.

Whack a reco'd head, radiator and hoses on it and forget about it.

FWIW - I fitted an engine watchdog to the EL when doing the head as I had O/S relo's visiting that were going to borrow it for a couple of weeks to travel around while they were visiting.
Thankfully, as it saved the engine about 6 months later when the brand new thermostat failed mostly closed in January peak hour traffic. Managed to keep it under control with heater/fan on flat out but would certainly have cooked it if I hadn't had the warning.
IMO for $150 its damn cheap insurance...

Steve

[BigJon]

Not unusual for a falcon. If you do the head gasket use the steel shim gasket not the composite type there fitted to au falcons

But do make sure you use the AU headbolts, which don't break like EF-EL ones.

[SuperMono]

How does it convert water to fuel?

Is that part of the $25 eBay 'get 100mpg' black magic the oil companies don't want you to know bolt on parts?

:)

[d2dave]

Not unusual for a falcon. If you do the head gasket use the steel shim gasket not the composite type there fitted to au falcons

You are right about being not unusual to a point. In our family we have owned quite a few E series falcons and all have had head gasket problems, but this is the first one that has blown water jacket to a cyl. All of them, and I am talking about five, have all leaked externally.

When I came across the first I was amazed, as during my 35 years of swinging spanners I had never seen this. Most cars that I have done heads on, and I reckon it would be over 100 plus prior to the E series Ford, have either blown between two cyl not causing water issues, or blown water jacket to cyl

And yes they now get the multilayer steel gasket used for the AU .As for the head bolts, I use what the machine shop that does the head supplies me and I have never had issues.