Eeekkk help please

[Jasonking]

Just started little mini for first time after head gasket replacement, coolant seems to be piddling out of corner of head just behind heater valve? What have I done wrong?

[Peter Laidler]

Immediate thought if you are happy with the gasket and your work is have you torqued the head down correctly and squarely.

Others will come on board hopefully. There's always a fair bit about modern head gaskets on the forum.......

[1071bob]

https://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38801

[Spider]

Most Head Gaskets have a dry heat sensitive sealant applied to them, as manufactured.

If after fitting, you fill it with coolant, almost certainly, it will leak as the coolants have markedly less surface tension and thinner viscosity than plain water, so they tend to 'wick' out along the normal machining that's done when heads and blocks are resurfaced.

Most Head Gasket Manufacturers do recommend filling the cooling system with plain water after fitting a new head gasket, for at least the first heat cycle, though, I prefer to leave it longer since if there's a leak somewhere (say water pump), there's no waste of coolant draining it out again and the headache of disposing of it.

For reference, here's ACL's advice;-

[Jasonking]

Am pretty confident of my work and have torqued down head properly and all square, gasket is by Victor Reinz/Mahle from Mini Spares, figured German made would be excellent quality? Will drain down coolant tomorrow and refill with de-min water.