A blown head gasket is usually a pretty big deal, and generally happens due to excessive overheating or other engine problems.

This one was a bit different - because the engine was leaking coolant from the join between the head and the block, but had no other blown head gasket symptoms!
There’s no real way to fix it without replacing the head gasket though, which is a fairly big job.

After removing the head and gasket, it was obvious why it was leaking. A small crack was letting water from the cooling passages out to the side of the engine:

The cylinder head was sent off for machining (to make sure the sealing surfaces are perfectly flat) and cleaning. In the mean time, the block was cleaned up. It’s important to remove all traces of the old head gasket, sealant, and corrosion. I also cleaned the carbon that was built up on the pistons.

While the engine was apart, all the rubber hoses (now 20 years old) were replaced with new silicone ones to ensure future reliability. The heater hoses are a common problem on the CA18 engine.

The water pump and timing belt were also replaced while it was apart, so there should be nothing much to do for another 100,000km or so.

This engine wasn’t starting, but made the usual click when the key was turned - so it looked like it could have a dead starter motor.

Before touching the starter motor though, I checked that the solenoid was actually giving it power. It turned out that it wasn’t, and replacing it is a pretty quick job. Fortunately I had a spare one with me

That fixed it, and the starter was working fine.

I took a quick video of it with my new high speed camera - so you can see how the starter gear engages with the flywheel in slow motion (1/10th speed)