Head Gasket Repair Diary

M0T · 2 Mar 2006 at 10:59

I know how interested I get by threads like these, so I thought I'd share my head gasket job with you all. Plus if I take a lot of pictures I'll know where everything goes when I put it back together

Aha, a very typical sight, and they say rovers don't have head gasket troubles. This car has been babied with regular servicing and has a full dealer history.

All of the stuff I have brought so far for this job. After moving out of my dads I have only just bothered with a socket set, lazy me!

The replacement gasket. Not the newest landrover design, but apparently the new version isn't as rosy as everyone first thought.

The first task, clearing out the garage.

More updates later

M0T · 2 Mar 2006 at 11:10

Well I noticed the problem at +134 miles (since last fill up of petrol)

Filled up with more coolant.

Was at empty by +200 miles (at this point I add that the oil was showing only light signs of water contamination and the car only does very short journeys plus the engine was running fine so I was looking for a leaky hose)

Filled up with more coolant

Empty by +210 miles

Diagnosed HGF. Hopefully it hasn't warped the head.

Ive never done one before so I'm taking it slow, following all the instructions and I don't mind if I'm still out there on sunday as long as the car works at the end of it.

M0T · 2 Mar 2006 at 11:32

You should not be skimming the head unless it needs it. Head skims remove the finish that is applied at the factory and you run the risk of making it porous.

Ill check it with my straight edge and my feeler gauges and only then will I decide if its worth getting it skimmed.

M0T · 2 Mar 2006 at 11:40

Its a vvc head, and the plastic dowels come with the gasket.

I'll be looking for play in the VVC mechanism whilst I have the head off, might have to replace them

M0T · 2 Mar 2006 at 12:04

The cambelts, water pump & tensioner were all changed about 500 miles ago when the water pump started leaking

M0T · 2 Mar 2006 at 14:43

Well I have been forced to stop with the work.

Unfortunatly the Cam locking tool and torx sockets I ordered have decided not to turn up today, I don't really want to run a bodge job so I am going to wait for them to come tomorrow.

I do have plenty of time after all.

M0T · 2 Mar 2006 at 18:50

Well heres where I got up to:

What a lovely colour that is!

M0T · 4 Mar 2006 at 13:52

ARGH!

I have phoned all the motorfactors in the yellow pages to try and get hold of an inlet manifold gasket, an exhaust manifold gasket and a rocker cover gasket (I knew someone who thought he had some but turned out he didn't which is why I didnt get them from a dealer).

About 3 places had the exhaust manifold gasket, no one had any of the other two. So I phoned up the last place and the bloke went through a very long winded process of asking me what I wanted, took about 5 minutes to find out that he had all 3 bits I needed. I asked him what time he closed and after all that time he told me 'Oh, we're closed today'.

ARGH!

M0T · 6 Mar 2006 at 21:35

Update:

Well today I cracked the head off the engine, made a slight balls up since I forgot to unplug the air intake temperature sensor and have ripped the wiring out of the connector.

Anyway heres the pics:

Woo enter the engine!

The head. Lardy bastid. According to my straight edge the heads perfect, thank god for that. I did not want to have to remove those VVC mechanisms for skimming.

Can you see where it failed yet... /Rolf Harris

M0T · 6 Mar 2006 at 21:53

Its not too difficult seeing as Im following the instructions however it is worth noting the following line:

"46. Using assistance remove cylinder head from cylinder block"

I manfully picked it up and I found out that with the inlet plenum etc it weighs about the same as my sister. I'll need some assistance to put the thing back on tomorrow so I'm phoning round all my friends

M0T · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:21

[TW]Fox said:
Head Gasket Diary

Monday:

Dear Diary, Today the head gasket went.

Tuesday:

Dear Diary, today I replaced it.

Wednesday:

Dear Diary, Today the head gasket went....

Don't be ridiculous fox!

I have absolutely no chance of replacing a head gasket in a day

Seems like the fault may be due to the plastic head dowels which have split. Now what eejit puts plastic in an engine?

M0T · 7 Mar 2006 at 09:53

Mickey_D said:
A fun little trick for getting all the mayo out of the block after you've got it all together :

1. After final assembly, fill the sump with three quarts of the cheapest oil you can buy. The 99p per quart stuff. Add one quart of automatic transmission fluid. Stick on an absolute dirt cheap oil filter.

2. Fire the engine up for about 2-3 minutes. Just enough to circulate the ATF around every nook and cranny of the engine. The ATF will suspend EVERY little bit of water in the engine in itself and trap it all in the oil filter.

3. Do a complete oil change using a repeat of step one and two. Verify at the end that there is no more mayo (or at the most only a hint) in the oil. If there's still quite a bit, do another change. Even 1cc of water will completely contaminate four quarts of the best oil on the market and make it useless to your engine.

4. When there's no more hint of mayo in what's coming out the sump plug, put your favorite oil and a good filter on and you're ready to go.

Thank You!

I had no idea how I was gonna clean all that crap out, my best plan was with a hose

Everybody cross every part of their bodies for me

I'm about to go and pick up the last of the stuff that I need and get to sorting this puppy out.

M0T · 7 Mar 2006 at 12:37

agw_01 said:
Best of luck Tom!

And what, you were going to stick a hose down the oil filler cap

Pretty much just wash the crap out, DIY bodge solution

M0T · 7 Mar 2006 at 14:49

Argh!

One of my Allen key bits snapped off in the cambelt tensioner, I tried everything to get it out but to no avail. I have just hand to cut the whole bleeding thing off!

M0T · 8 Mar 2006 at 22:38

HAVE IT!

IT RUNS!

M0T · 8 Mar 2006 at 23:55

I have coolant loss. It appears to be leaking from the waterpump area. Looks like the belt has to come off again

M0T · 9 Mar 2006 at 00:08

Liverpool-Lad said:
You did renew the cambelt, right?

We've covered this, 500 mile old cambelts do not need to be changed unless there is an obvious problem with them.

The water pump is only 500 miles old and should not be leaking either.

Well at least the car still runs

M0T · 9 Mar 2006 at 00:19

Liverpool-Lad said:
Cambelts should always be replaced as they are tensioned when fitted. Its up to you though.

And I tensioned mine when refitting it...It would have been impossible to fit the belt back without tensioning it properly.

M0T · 9 Mar 2006 at 00:28

Liverpool-Lad said:
But they should only be tensioned ONCE. Like I say, its up to you - but itd be a pity for the cambelt to let go after all your work for the sake of a tenner.

Who says that?

The rover workshop manual I have says its ok to re-use and retension the belt.

Edit: I clarify that according to the workshop manual it is ok to retension an existing belt if it has been completely removed from the engine, which it was.