Just got the XH back. It had done the head gasket (could only tell cause the oil was milky!) and had a timing chain rattle.

End result - cylinders 5 and 6 were full of water, chain tensioner had not been released (hence the chain rattle - no tension on it!), the chain had skipped about 4-5 teeth and taken the teeth with it, a backing plate from the chain had come off which meant once the cover was off the chain basically fell out! Once it was all back together, the timing was over 40 degrees advanced.

Not having done heaps of mechanical work, should this motor have been running at all? It didn't miss a beat and would still run without a problem on gas.

Built Ford Tough.

Mine ran with a blown head gasket, the night I found out about my old man having days to live.

Gave the Falcon a hiding, blew the gasket, lost all the water via steam out the exhaust, overheated, removed the overflow cap, and she ran home at normal temp.

lol I ran my old car for 3 days to work and back with a blown head gasket. Before I had ever experienced one. wondered why it sounded like a V8 but went like a 4cyl.

sorry to hear about ya dad

but that story on the car is a funny

I do like Aussie cars for being pretty reliable.

Falcon 6's are pretty good engines I reckon for the
low cost, yet they make nice torque, and can take a bit of punishment.

When mine was hot as, I thought it should suck in cold air in the cooling system, instead of circulating it's own heat; and it worked. Was able to drive it home still.