Hi

As posted in another thread I'm working on my son-in-laws Magna. Assuming I'll need new head gaskets does anyone have a source for good priced gaskets either as stand alone items or as part of a larger kit. This is a 24valve, 3.0 TE Magna. Engine is a 6G72 I believe.

Does anyone know if the 12 valve 3.0 litre head gaskets fit? I already have 1 of those. (Can't remember which side). If it does then I will only need one more gasket.

Thanks

Its interesting that this seller is claiming this kit will fit 6G72 and 6G74 engines even though they have bores of 91.1 and 93mm respectively. ( I though all 6G74 engines were 3.5 litre)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MITSUBISHI-TRITON-PAJERO-MAGNA-6G74-or-6G72-24V-SOHS-Head-Gasket-Set-RRP-500/190875385777?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%2 6asc%3D20140106155344%26meid%3D8a75baa3d9f7406580e f03dd657bf61d%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26 sd%3D191241790976&rt=nc

If the above seller is correct then doesnt that mean that this set will also fit even though the seller says they won't...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mitsubishi-Magna-Verada-OEM-6G74-Head-Gaskets-PAIR-/261874671301?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item3cf8f25ec5

I get all my head gaskets from Mitsubishi.

I get all my head gaskets from Mitsubishi.

I was hoping to avoid that particular source.

For anyone who is interested. The Magna gaskets turned out to be solid metal, as MadMagna said elsewhere. (They are nothing like the fibre gaskets in the old Pajero). Mine were actually double thickness. In other words, a layer of 2 metal gaskets for each bank of cylinders. Dunno if this is the normal set-up or if they are reusable. Perhaps someone else will know. Anyway, its unlikely I will be buying new gaskets now.

For anyone who is interested. The Magna gaskets turned out to be solid metal, as MadMagna said elsewhere. (They are nothing like the fibre gaskets in the old Pajero). Mine were actually double thickness. In other words, a layer of 2 metal gaskets for each bank of cylinders. Dunno if this is the normal set-up or if they are reusable. Perhaps someone else will know. Anyway, its unlikely I will be buying new gaskets now.

I've reused them without any drama.

Were they made out of copper? I've worked on big engines that had copper head gaskets, they would work harden so to reuse the gaskets we would anneal them to make them soft again.

Were they made out of copper? I've worked on big engines that had copper head gaskets, they would work harden so to reuse the gaskets we would anneal them to make them soft again.

They are a silver color. It looks like stainless steel to me.

So what are you planning to do? Just slap it all together and hope it somehow is fixed?
To be honest, stripping down an engine without making some sort of commitment to spending some money on the way, is pretty much a waste of time!
Unless you are just pulling it apart to see what is in there out of pure curiosity without any serious intent to get it back on the road, you may as well have saved time and junked the car while it was still intact.

To be honest I thought I'd open it up, find a big crack or corrosion, and that would be the end of it. Junked car!

The overheating problem happened virtually overnight. And once it started it began to overheat quickly. Ultimately the car became unusable. Some may disagree but I felt I had to find out if the heads were OK or not before we wasted money on other cooling system items and stuff like new tyres that are also due and that damn welch plug behind the flywheel. I haven't found a crack in the heads yet but I havent looked real hard either. If I can't find the crack myself then I have a problem. How much do I spend trying to find it?

Time spent on this doesn't bother me. I could put this back together in a day anyway. And I actually enjoy doing it when I'm in the mood.

PS. Did you read my post about the corrosion in the block? Only 5 mm of metal between the water and the cylinder. (Its in my Head Removal Advice thread. Post #34). Got any comments on that?

One other symptom I havent mentioned. With the thermostat pulled out, and the car idling over, bubbles were immediately and constantly appearing in the radiator. This was while the car was virtually still cold. To my way of thinking thats another sign of a head or head gasket problem.

PS. Did you read my post about the corrosion in the block? Only 5 mm of metal between the water and the cylinder. (Its in my Head Removal Advice thread. Post #34). Got any comments on that?


I did comment on that.
Standard procedure at this stage is to have both heads crack/pressure tested, valves reground, heads surfaced, block resurfaced, and reassembled with new head gaskets - but only if you are serious about getting the car running again.

Anything else is a waste of time. You are currently stuck between "I don't know what is wrong with it" and "I don't want to spend any money on it." Kind of snookered there!

Seeing you are adverse to spending any money on it, just put the engine bits in the boot and call the local wreckers to come and pick the car up.

I did comment on that.
Standard procedure at this stage is to have both heads crack/pressure tested, valves reground, heads surfaced, block resurfaced, and reassembled with new head gaskets - but only if you are serious about getting the car running again.

Anything else is a waste of time. You are currently stuck between "I don't know what is wrong with it" and "I don't want to spend any money on it." Kind of snookered there!

Seeing you are adverse to spending any money on it, just put the engine bits in the boot and call the local wreckers to come and pick the car up.

I'm not sure if you understood my comment. The corrosion I spoke of is on the BLOCK, not the head. You dont think thats too much of a concern?

I totally understand.

You have detected a coolant leak past the head/head gasket/block interface at that point.
When the engine is running the coolant is pressurised by combustion in that number 3 cylinder.

Normally one would pull the block out of the car and have both heads and block faces resurfaced. Then freshen up the engine with new gaskets, rings, bearings and head work like valve/seat recut and new valve stem seals.
Last time I did this on a Mitsu engine (4 cylinder) it cost me 2 weeks wages but included a crank grind, rebore and new pistons/rings.

But seeing you are trying to solve the overheating problem with zero or minimal cost, this won't happen.

Hence my comment:
"just put the engine bits in the boot and call the local wreckers to come and pick the car up."

Problem solved!

I totally understand.

You have detected a coolant leak past the head/head gasket/block interface at that point.
When the engine is running the coolant is pressurised by combustion in that number 3 cylinder.

Normally one would pull the block out of the car and have both heads and block faces resurfaced. Then freshen up the engine with new gaskets, rings, bearings and head work like valve/seat recut and new valve stem seals.
Last time I did this on a Mitsu engine (4 cylinder) it cost me 2 weeks wages but included a crank grind, rebore and new pistons/rings.

But seeing you are trying to solve the overheating problem with zero or minimal cost, this won't happen.

Hence my comment:
"just put the engine bits in the boot and call the local wreckers to come and pick the car up."

Problem solved!

The block looks straight. No heat marks. But I was just wondering if you thought that, with only 5mm of meat left on the cylinder wall, there is significant life left in the block anyway? I'm prepared to spend something on the head but not if the block is just about at the end of its life anyway.

As you have plenty of time on your hands and like tinkering with cars why not head to a self-serve wrecking yard and pull out a 2nd hand engine from a wreck? My local one charges $178 as is or $231 with warranty for any engine in the yard. Would be cheaper than getting heads done and also have a higher chance of fixing the problem.

Thanks for your interest. We decided to put the TE back together and get rid of it. I went over the heads with a magnifying glass but couldn't find anything wrong. Admittedly finding a crack that way was probably a long shot but that was about as far we were prepared to go. Dunno what the cost of getting them professionally tested would cost but I'm guessing you wouldn't get much change out of $400. I dont have an engine lift so replacing the engine isn't really possible. Anyway I dont want all that hassle just to discover we have a another dud, guaranteed or not. Along the way I noticed a few other things that would need doing too.. top engine mount for example. And it needs a couple of tyres too so all up to keep this thing fully roadworthy was going to get a a bit excessive.

I went to this trouble initially because I had hoped it might just have been head gaskets. That would have been a cheap fix. But i know now that head gasket are pretty reliable in these things. They are solid metal and apparently rarely fail, unlike the fibre/composite gaskets in the Pajero. Pity I didnt know that before I started but I probably would have looked anyway.

So, the heads and timing belt are back on now. Tomorrow I'll do the rest. If it still runs OK after my screwing around we MIGHT put in another radiator and see if it makes any difference although I was pretty sure the old one was OK til it finally split.

Assuming we do scrap the TE I wouldnt mind keeping the auto tranny. My own Magna TF wagon has 370,000 kms on the clock but its in good nick apart from the tranny which for the last couple of years has been making big clunks when I put it into reverse. I wonder if I could get a wrecker to take the TE but give me back the tranny.

I totally understand.

You have detected a coolant leak past the head/head gasket/block interface at that point.
When the engine is running the coolant is pressurised by combustion in that number 3 cylinder.

Just to clarify. No I didnt detect a coolant leak at that point on the block, but I did notice the metal between the cylinder and the waterway was getting pretty thin. (Only about 5 mm). How much longer that would have lasted is anyone's guess. Might have got another 50,000 ks out of it.... thats a lifetime for a 'second car'.

What is the obsession with that 5 mm?
It's due to casting variances in the manufacture of the block.
It would have been 5 mm when the block was brand new, it would be 5 mm if the engine did another 200,000 km.
(Assuming you used a decent coolant)

I'd be more concerned with how FLAT the block and head are at that point, you know, using a flat edge and a bright light to see if there is a bit of a dip at that point.

Anyhow, I'm glad you are getting rid of this.

<Further negative comments deleted.>

What is the obsession with that 5 mm?
It's due to casting variances in the manufacture of the block.
It would have been 5 mm when the block was brand new, it would be 5 mm if the engine did another 200,000 km.
(Assuming you used a decent coolant)

I'd be more concerned with how FLAT the block and head are at that point, you know, using a flat edge and a bright light to see if there is a bit of a dip at that point.

Anyhow, I'm glad you are getting rid of this.

<Further negative comments deleted.>

lol @ obsession with 5mm
good one madmax, i was thinking the same thing as i was reading through this.
i'm not trying to be rude 'alchemysa' but madmax is right. when engine cylinders get rebored they only go .25 or .50 mm over. and in bad cases if the bore is scratched by foreign matter and i mean scratched, they will go over 1mm. most engines can go more than that up to 2mm in extreme cases or to increase displacement as much as they can after stroker cranks. my yz dirt bike can go 2mm overbore before a resleeve is needed and thats watercooled also.
as for the magnifying glass looking for cracks, you're kidding yourself. you wont see the hairline cracks that cause overheating. this is why they pressure/crack test and not eye test.
no matter how you go about it, you WILL need to spend $$ - whether its on your head/s and/or radiator (get that pressure tested before you buy another) or on another vehicle. you need to make that decision. almost all responses to your dilemma have been correct but you insist on worrying about unrelated things... eg - this 5mm gap and block corrosion etc 1 thing at a time...
find the leak before deciding to junk the car and ask for the trans back...pressure testing is not overhauling so i cant see a decent engine shop charging you $400 or anywhere near that. same goes for the radiator test. i wish you luck and hope it doesnt end up costly.
just out of interest...did you have the cooling system pressure tested while the engine was still in the car and not taken apart? or the radiator cap for that matter? most shops would do it for free if you rock up there and ask. takes a couple of minutes and usually finds the problem...