Rockers, intake off should i do head gasket

Rockers, intake off should i do head gasket

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Chimp871

Original Poster:

837 posts

116 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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Following from an earlier post about my coolant leak. The leak led me the valley gasket but to my untrained eye it doesn't look damaged,which leads me to think the coolant leak could be the head gasket. I'm going to change water pump seal, thermostat and gasket, rocker and valley gasket anyway.

Rockers and intake is off at the moment, just how hard is a head gasket change on these rover v8's (450 1998), does preload need adjusting or just straight switch?

Any recommendations who can blast intakes?

Cheers

BeastMaster

443 posts

186 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Hiya - if it was me I would carry on and get the heads off as a lot of the work has been already done and for peace of mind would now go a bit further.

Exhaust manifolds off could present a problem with a stuck bolt, or snapping one when removing but the heads would be coming off anyway. The only scary bit for me was the stretch bolts which released with a hell of a crack. Had the heads refurbished by a specialist at around £300.00 and came back like new, he cleaned the intake manifold and checked the porting at the same time.

The heads only required a cleaning skim, used the same head gasket type and assembled components in exact positions and found preload to be ok. Again only scary thing about reassembly was the stretch head bolts which require a huge torque to bring them around to the correct setting using a very long breaker bar.

As you have not found the water leak, IMHO having the heads off would be the way to go, and while there can check for any liner issues giving complete knowledge that the top end is solid once back on the road.

Andy

Chimp871

Original Poster:

837 posts

116 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
quotequote all
BeastMaster said:
used the same head gasket type and assembled components in exact positions and found preload to be ok.
Andy
Thanks BM. Out of interest when head was skimmed did you know by how much, were you able to lift rocker stands up to counter? I believe you can buy shims to fit under rocker pedestals to keep compression in tact.

Can you advise who did your head/intake work?

Alexdaredevils

5,697 posts

178 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Maybe a camshaft, but leave the heads alone unless they need pulling off

BeastMaster

443 posts

186 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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Chimp871 said:
Thanks BM. Out of interest when head was skimmed did you know by how much, were you able to lift rocker stands up to counter? I believe you can buy shims to fit under rocker pedestals to keep compression in tact.

Can you advise who did your head/intake work?
Hiya,

Have you found the water leak problem yet ?

Sorry for the delay but have been looking for the company details who did my heads for me last year, they were local in Bristol but very backwater.


They only did a clean up skim as the head faces were flat, so this did not impact the compression or pre load - mine suffered from a damaged valve stem due to a rocker pad failure.

I would look for someone local, quite common work to do just need to find someone who knows these engines.

Chimp871

Original Poster:

837 posts

116 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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Ive not accurately found the water leak, I'm going with the cheaper options first like valley gasket, water pump seal, new thermostate and seal.

Theres just no obvious signs. But i definitely heaard air leaking from around the manifold intake, gasket though (I'm no expert) looked okayish.

Bloody frustrating these slow leaks!

If i had the time I'd do a top end rebuild, but don't so hemce leaving the heads for now.

Pupp

12,205 posts

271 months

Thursday 11th February 2016
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Hate to suggest it but don't overlook the possibility of a porous casting...

Chimp871

Original Poster:

837 posts

116 months

Friday 12th February 2016
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I'm not wanting to go there right now. Heads starting to spin with the list of posible reasons but a leak down may do tomorrow frown