[mudbutton]

hi guys im not flash with computer and i think i posted this in the wrong place and it may be in outer space.
first off im not mudbutton, im his dad. im in portland vic and he and vitara is in coffs harbour.
here is the problem, driving to work and loses power, making bad noise and sfter 1 k stops, water temp is not reading? lifts bonnet, a bit of steam around head/ exhaurst manifold. radiator cap not real hot but no water visible, put water in and starts hissing and gurggles. gets lift to work and after, fills up with water and tries to start.. engine harder to turn over then normal and water comming from exhaurst. but oil is ok, no water. any one able to advise/ help? any cheap heads around coffs..lol thanks

[harvs]

Sounds like the head gasket between a water jacket and cylinder has blown out, hence sucking the water in. If you haven't cooked it, it may be as simple as pulling the head off, having the gasket surface machined and chucking it back together. Just as long as the heads not cracked. Could be a whole lot easier and cheaper than getting another head...

[mudbutton]

thanks harvs, would there be a tech on this forum on head removal? on tech articles mabe. he will be able to access computer tomorrow and suss out this info.

[mudbutton]

i suppose mech will have to look at it to see if cooked?

[skyman]

Yeah if you don't have any experience with heads i would have a mech look at it after it is removed. There are a couple of possibilities.

One is that a crack has developed allowing water to seep into the combustions chambers. It can be a very small hairline crack and hard to see. The second is that thread itself has slightly warped or twisted due to the excessive heat. If it is warped, then a new head gasket will not be enough to seal the gap when it is torqued down.

What they do with a warped head is take the flat surface and have it milled down enough to make it come flat again.

If you pull the head yourself be careful and try not to disturb the gasket when you pull it off. That way you can look at the gasket and see where it has blown out, look in the cylinders and see which ones look like they have been steam cleaned, that will tell you where the water is ending up too.

Head removal and install is a cake walk on the 1.3/1.6 engines. You don't even have to remove the intake and exhaust manifolds to get it out of the engine bay.

If you download the FSM(Field Service Manual I think it stands for)? for your engine it will have a step by step that shows you how to install and remove the head. Here's a link, download the one that fits for your rig.

http://www.suzukiinfo.com/sierra/

[harvs]

^^^ FSM = Factory Service Manual, i.e. made by the manufacture not someone like Haynes.

You want to get a engining/head reconditioner look at the head, not a mechanic. Typically a mechanic in Oz wont have the precision tools required to measure things up properly.

I had the gasket surface on a head machined a while back and it cost about $100 and they did it while I waited.

[mudbutton]

thanks fellas, great help by all

[gumwall123]

probrably got a cracked head or crook head gasket