leaving / storing a car with headgasket problems?

[Chris-White]

Im going away until june and will be laving my car with a suspected busted head gasket  (using water, pressurised coolant system, white smoke). Are there any precautions i should take?  a mate said to spray wd40 ino the plug holes to drive out asny water that can cause problems when leaving it over time?
Cheers.

[Ben Lessani]

Do a search, a posted an 800 odd word guide on what to do when parking your car long term.

[DarnPB]

I would drain the coolant for a start, remove the sparkplugs and spray a corrosion inhibitor into the bores. TBH, if you have the time, take the head off, then store it. Then you know you will not have trapped water where it shouldn't be, causing more damage than there already is. Removing the head from a Golf should not take more than a couple of hours.

[nige_s]

If you don't drain the water, I'd at least remove the coolant cap as that will release the pressure within the system and help reduce seepage into the bores

[Diamond Hell]

Do a search, a posted an 800 odd word guide on what to do when parking your car long term.

And still failed to put any anti-freeze in your own car. 

As already said, take the sparkplugs out, take off the cap from the water, or even better drain the coolant down, then spin the motor over for a few seconds, which will oil the bores and gob out any water, then hose a bit of WD-40 down the bores.

[nige_s]

Remember to replace the plugs afterwards as the WD with just evaporate after a few days and the residual film isn't that long lasting.

[danny_p]

id pour engine oil down them

[DarnPB]

id pour engine oil down them

Good idea that!

[rubjonny]

as above though if it was me and i suspected the head gasket was leaking water into the cylinders I'd whip the head off, dry out the cylinders and give the walls & mounting face a damn good coating in grease.  if there is any moisture still in the bores its not going to do them any good.  plus once the head is off you can check if theres anything more serious wrong, and think about sourcing parts. Rather than coming back to do it and find say you have a cracked head, then you're running around like a headless chicken trying to source another one asap.

[clipperjay]

Well we left a car with head problems and the coliant turned to mayo! then cleaning it all out was a nightmare so I would suggest lowering the pressure, but nothing is going to stop water and oil from flowing soon as you start the engine mate?