I had the go pro idea ages ago for these mechanic videos. I'm glad someone is finally doing it.

The go-pro worked a treat, love the content

The British ChrisFix.

Honestly your videos are the brilliant to watch, always look forward to them. You're a legend!

Nice job! Those Irwin bolt removers are probably the most indispensable tool for any mechanic, I've lost count of how many times they've saved me from rounded bolt misery.

Can't beat a nice long savage garage video

There is definitely a niche on KZfaq for people like you working on ordinary cars. Really enjoy these involved vids.

Love the go-pro view James. Thanks for taking the time & effort to use both cameras & also edit it all !! Def went above & beyond with this vid ! Well done fella 👍🏼

Please do more astra things! Like draining the coolent and how to changed wheel bearings etc. This video is incredible!

I'll keep saying it, getting withdrawal symptoms, just watching your old videos. Need you back , KZfaq just not the same .

Excellent video, well presented and made the job look so easy. Thank you too for the tool tips it was greatly appreciated. And yes, the go pro made a lot of difference.

Tough work this time of year. Well done

15:16 what every guy says when the painter's are in 🤣🤣

POV is always best when guys are working on stuff, I dont like POV when theyre driving so much. Cool vid mate.

I would advise anyone who is going to rebuild a cylinder head or do a head gasket to run a compression test first. The reason being it’s not worth finding half way through the job that the engine is fuc*ed. The test will show compression levels. Any cylinders with low compression you can pour engine oil down the plug hole and re run the test. This will tell you whether the top end or bottom end has the compression leak. If it’s bottom end the engines finished because the rings are fooked. If it’s top end then full rebuild or a new/used head is required. It’s easy enough to see what’s happening where you can’t acutally see into.

The go pro footage is brilliant, as well as everything else, I love your content, been following you since your first corsa c project, I also own a corsa c and you have inspired me to have a try on the head gasket and timing chain myself, I just need to pluck up the courage now, Thank you so much James! Keep up all the fantastic hard work that you do ❤️

Mate. The GoPro POV is brilliant. Loving the content I get really excited when you upload a video big big fan. Keep it up.

Same engine in the wife's Zafira, Just replaced the exhaust manifold last month as the cat was goosed... I was lucky, all the nuts took pity on me and didn't put up a fight :-) Looking forward to part 2 :-)👍

This is the first video of yours that I've watched and I really enjoyed it. Nice to show the real side of being a driveway mechanic. Informative and kept me entertained throughout. Thanks. Liked and subscribed as a result. 👍

Subscribed mate. Excellent video and the emphasis on eye protection with humor was a good way of conveying how important it is to use personal protective equipment. Keep it up

OMG, you make it look easy! Should have paid attention too when you said "you need a T40 torx" up until today I didn't have any torx. lol

had this exact issue on my z18xe turned out to be the oil control ring on piston 1 (pretty common) before you rebuild it put some petrol in each cylinder and check cylinder one does not drain away, mines was drained to the sump in bout 5 mins the rest held the fuel for a few hours, its not ideal and a bit back street mechanic but only easy way to check once you have the head off, an oil change when its rebuilt is a lot better than rebuilding everything to have the same issue, great video though looking foward to more keep it up.

Enjoyed your post well done. Could not help thinking what a pain cars now are re DIY. Back in mists of time I had the head off my Mk1 GT cortina several times and full strip and rebuild and rebore once at back of our house.Cars may be better but oh how i miss those simple times when with a torque wrench and socket set you could do almost anything.

My missus has a 1.5 Astra H with similar mileage, the Z16XEP has a habit of burning oil due to failed piston rings but also the channels in the intake manifold get clogged so would definitely benefit from cleaning as it’ll come up with a running lean fault code

Great video, awesome driveway fix which many mechanics would not attempt! A little tip grab some bungee cords from the local pound store to wrap around pipes,wiring fuel rails etc to hook out of the way. I’ve had that sealy wrench in my amazon basket for weeks & I wasn’t sure if it would be any good but after watching this it’s on its way 👍

Good work. Its neat to have a story behind all of the cars I thought the footage came out well. Putty about the missed rusted bolts.

I really miss this channel!

Honestly the exhaust sounded kinda cool chuffing away.

Thank you for the time showing .greetings from Rotterdam

Someone marked up my DOHC’s like yours, despite it being really clear that the timing is set by the two notches pointing to each other! Also, the engine doesn’t need supporting when you remove the engine mount from the timing belt end of the engine. The main engine mounts are front and back at the bottom, assuming it’s same as the Zafira.

Keep using the headcam, allows viewers to really keep engaged. Great content.

Yay! Go pro! Also, my MK4 Astra's 1.4 petrol engine just blew it's head gasket as well. I noticed the early signs and suspected the gasket but my Uncle told me that my coolant could have been evaporating through a loose coolant line so I kept running her until one day the engine started to run very roughly and I got an error code for one cylinder misfire, the engine didn't over heat and I managed to get home to find out that the gasket blew and there was a little bit of coolant in my oil which made it look like watery chocolate milk or milky tea. I'm hoping that my cylinder head is not warped and needs too much shaving since the gasket blew gradually and the engine didn't overheat, the night it started to misfire was just the straw that broke the Astra's boot. *Edit: I'm really excited to see you set those cams back into place. Please consider joining the Facebook group "VauxAddicts".

If thats the 1.6 engine it has an issue where it pushes oil out through the breather on the rocker cover, vauxhall never admitted to it, but I have seen it myself. When you take the manifold off at the back of the engine if its full of oil it might not be worth fixing it at all.

This job would be hard work for a professional mechanic in a fully equipped workshop. You managed it outside on a hardstand while filming it, that's an achievement in itself. Plaudits.

Brilliant video.. Really great to be with you in gopro extracting bolts, tugging, zooming on parts.

Texas fan back to say Great vid! glad to see your back at the mechanic aspect of your content! Always greatly informative. Keep up the awesome work! Although I'm done successfully working on my mini thanks to you, I'm constantly working on my jeep wj because you often motivate me tremendously to have fun doing it!

I've done my MKll Zephyr head gasket a few times but it is no were as involved as that so I hope you can remember were every thing goes, I admire you.

As the mk5 Astra has no temp gauge (its hidden in the infotainment menu) its possible that it has been overheating for some time hence the gasket problem. Check the block as well as the head for straightness as they are known to warp, its a common problem.

GoPro was a nice touch. Really made the difference mate. 👍

you dont need to worry about timing when dismantling the engine. only when you reassemble. sometimes it a good idea to put your own convenient markings but this had already been done. also good idea to drain the oil and water before you start.

Always tricky tying to get all the content with good angles and not drag it out too much...but still a good video...keep them coming 😀

Enjoyed that and good see a Vauxhall on channel again 👍 can't wait for part 2

The information in this video is priceless. Just found your channel as I’m looking at buying a friends Astra with a blown head gasket. Mainly because I want something to wrench on again. Think I’m gonna stick around here for a while though. Subbed!

Great video James,same z16xep engine in my astra g sport 04 plate which the Astra g is what brought me here originally, those rocker gaskets are bad for letting oil into cylinders when they get old,not saying that’s your problem as there’s clearly water in cylinder before the haters comment back to me,also Seen a few comments on how bad the 1.6 and 1.8 xe engines are for head gasket failure, I’ve got an 04 astra g z16xep with 160k on and to my knowledge never had a head gasket and 100k of its miles have been done from me and family in last 14 years uses no coolant and very minimal oil and never skips a beat same with my z18xer vectra with 155k both cars regularly serviced and kept upto so I think many people are wrong on this front,maybe it’s a general lack of maintenance,anyway keep up the good work James

The GoPro will be a great addition to your already excellent videos.

The word you were looking for on the cam sprocket is 'keyway.' 👍 You're welcome! Ha ha. Great video. Keep doing what you do. Ignore the negative comments.

Mate your a class you tuber on cars no messing straight into it , my misses had the same car it was burning oil for fun these engines seem to do it , and the manifold cracked in half , I went to change it and the same thing the blots were bad I was waiting see if you ran into it 😂 I sold the car in the end broken like it I gave in

Great video James, I always enjoy them. Good camera work mate.

Good job hope it turns out ok, the name of the key way on the sprocket is a Woodruff Key....

Well done. very impressive.. you must be a professional mechanic...

Good video. The Go Pro was good. Thanks for doing it :)

Your the best youtuber ever by the way I have a fiesta ztec s 1.6 panther black

I really enjoyed the POV, it brings more quality and enjoyability!

Lovely Jubbly, nice in depth video, you haven't been doing them so much of late.

The vauxhall timing tool is metal and fits exactly spot on for z16/18 a16/18 engines

Does the oil in the cylinder not suggest the piston rings are shot? I thought head gasket failure would just result in water getting into the cylinder from the water passages

Awesome video! You can also use a paint marker and mark the sprocket and timing belt before you remove. If u use a new belt you can use old belt and put mark's in the same spot by matching up the belts .

great work as always, somethings may not need explaining but we know if you dont youll get the what and why crowd asking the same thing every time

Good job bro... The GoPro was perfect... Big Hug...

Great detail mate. Never a fun task but nicely done👍

I like this first person format

Keep doing the go-pro POV I'm inspired to do my Z14XEP (for the 3rd time). Need to sort the wet footwell out too. LAZY

Awesome video, thanks so much for uploading! :)

Love the intro and also the POV with the GOPRO grate video. I love watching the videos keep them up

I used to own this car and its cool to see the engine stripped down like this. No wonder getting a belt replaced costs so damn much, its buried in there.

That's workin really well using both cameras !!😀

I like the new intro :3 good job mate

Really enjoyed this one, gopro was awesome. Cheers buddy.

Good video and the extra camera helps a lot. The engine doesn’t look like it’s had many oil changes tho.

James your fantastic and very nice man as well. Thanks david in stirling. You learn me so much id take a car to you any day your a great mechanic. Thanks david.keep vidz coming james your doing fantastic. Ta david

Go Pro made me sea sick sadly as your heads jerks about. Better as was imo. Great channel though.

Excellent video! Go pro very well implemented, I think it's worth the time. Great to see you getting your hands dirty.

Good idea to change the belt why your at it.

The go pro gives us a great view, love it!!.

I just bought my Opel H 2005 1,4 16v and had to do a headgasket job,my mechanic told me i should get rid of it cause on the 1,4 motor the headgasket is a big flaw.But talking with alot of other people everyone praises that engine and the 1,6 from the H series

Great video to take in. Very informative. Unfortunately my wife's 2009 Astra SXI is loosing coolant but no obvious leaks and have a milky white oil filler cap , the signs that the Head gasket is on its way out

Why were you even considering not draining the coolant? If the head gasket is bad and both the coolant and the oil have been going down, then they've been having a party and absolutely should both be changed.

You must drain the coolant next time it's just wrong not to

Always like learning new things and you always give a good detail of what your doing and what can go wrong with also good advice on how to get around it, the go pro footage was great and also the whole video thanks for another great video keep up the good work and definitely use the go pro again bud

Why did you not think piston ring was bad if oil in the cylinder?

I personally love the GoPro footage. Please do more!

Great POV filming we need it more highly agree with you for doing more videos with it 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

this is the fist video i've seen of yours in a while, you've put on a bit of timber lol

Loving the go-pro view

I have a 2014 Corsa D and I have the same oil/water mixture issue with the valve cover which I'm starting to think has to do with the gasket there because it usually turns brick solid pretty quickly from factory when it should be just a shoft rubber gasket, that can cause seams for moisture to leak through. The engine doesn't leak any coolant or oil though. I wonder if this is a common issue with these type of engines. Just be very careful when timing the valve gears since its an "interference" type of engine and will destroy the valves (and pistons) if not done properly (happend to me once).

Yes thanks I've got a 1.6 Astra (First Car) this will be proper handy come time to do the timing belt. Thanks, love ur vids man

Nice one mate great videos and commitment. Just doing a head gasket and timing chains on my Range Rover diesel and agree with you not an easy job especially first time doing one. Keep going mate.

Oil on plugs is normally the rocker cover gasket centre rings worn If bad enough it will cause blue smoke from exhaust and misfire

Nice work James 👍👍,, you should probably blur out number plates on your videos,, just a thought

Great video. Obviously head mounted GoPro is the way to go.

Nice work mate 😊

Great vid. I wish I'd had a mate like you when I was younger!

Mate this video is on point. Great footage and explanations. Top man 👍🏼

They do a 4ah version of the battery for the sealey 12v range now. Available on amazon and the tool seems to have abit more grunt with the additional battery capacity

That’s your piston rings bro, doubt it was head gasket but fingers crossed

Thank you so much for this tutorial! Exactly the problem I have!

I love the engine videos, its why I subbed in the first place

Where had this boy loved the videos

Hi James not wanting to tell you how to do things but if I was you you check all four valves seats number one will be a lot of contamination around the valve seats which could cause you a lot of issues when you rebuild it

That was a brilliant video James 👍 I’ve just found some milkshake in the misses 1.4 when I was inspecting it as it was losing coolant, never done a head gasket before any advice for a first timer? I’ll definitely be watching the rebuild vid. 👍