Head gasket repair

SimonE · Mon Feb 27, 2017 8:04 pm

At risk of appearing a philistine

Socket and bar on crankshaft bolt - remove plugs, press starter and bolt undone

With respect to head gasket replacement - you need to know where it has failed (usually evident once removed) and more important why?

I would also be replacing the through bolts on a car of your age

- they have been through rather a lot of heat cycles since new

peter2704 · Mon Feb 27, 2017 8:32 pm

yep hopefully who ever does the fix will be able to tell the cause.Looking at fitting a prt to reduce the chance of it occurring again ,but need some pics or diagrams of where it is sited on the elise with a vvc in it and recirculation pump.will get thermostat out while head of ,its easier this way

Mon Feb 27, 2017 9:07 pm

I went with latest blue PAYEN gasket apparently the MLS gasket is dependendant on liner heights, plus i`ve heard the MLS gaskets can weap coolant externally.
My head gasket hadn`t gone and liner heights were fine, within standard tolerance. I was changing head for a ported head. But if your doing head gasket you def want to be taking sump off and swapping out the oil ladder rail for the modified one (freelander). If you didnt know the head bolts dont screw into the block like most engines, they screw into the oil ladder around the crank, the old one is weak and therefore the stretch bolts loosen over time. Plus you need new stretch bolts..

SimonE · Mon Feb 27, 2017 9:40 pm

If you were rebuilding the k ladder rail replacement would perhaps be worth consideration but personally having covered over 200k miles with K engines with orig ladder rails I consider the perceived advantages are rather overstated - to replace the ladder rail for hg replacement would imho be overkill

Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:45 pm

SimonE wrote:At risk of appearing a philistine

Socket and bar on crankshaft bolt - remove plugs, press starter and bolt undone

With respect to head gasket replacement - you need to know where it has failed (usually evident once removed) and more important why?

I would also be replacing the through bolts on a car of your age - they have been through rather a lot of heat cycles since new

It is imperative the bolts are replaced, Nothing to do with age, They are STRETCH bolts, Once Torqued up they cannot be retorqued without risk of snapping. I personally wouldnt advise cranking the starter against the crank bolt. You`ll end up burning the starter out. The main motor leads inside these starters are aluminium and burn out for fun. I replaced thousands of them when I was working for Rover..

Dennis · Mon Feb 27, 2017 11:04 pm

I was going to replace my ladder when I had mine done last time but Dave at seriously lotus said it was a waste in his opinion

New Stretch bolts are a given

Tue Feb 28, 2017 9:50 am

Steve&Janey wrote:
SimonE wrote:At risk of appearing a philistine

Socket and bar on crankshaft bolt - remove plugs, press starter and bolt undone

With respect to head gasket replacement - you need to know where it has failed (usually evident once removed) and more important why?

I would also be replacing the through bolts on a car of your age - they have been through rather a lot of heat cycles since new
It is imperative the bolts are replaced, Nothing to do with age, They are STRETCH bolts, Once Torqued up they cannot be retorqued without risk of snapping. I personally wouldnt advise cranking the starter against the crank bolt. You`ll end up burning the starter out. The main motor leads inside these starters are aluminium and burn out for fun. I replaced thousands of them when I was working for Rover..

I've used Simon's technique on five or six occasions, when doing engine rebuilds and HGF repairs in the cumulative 240k miles on K-series engines in the past decade - I've never had a single starter issue.

I've always replaced the bolts when rebuilding - I class them as a consumable. However, they can be re-used if they are within a measured tolerance. The Rover manuals state that.

Tue Feb 28, 2017 10:49 pm

well in the knowledge I have of K series starters, 20 years auto electrician, cranking against its will is a no no.. !
S2 you can lock the flwheel easily from the back of bell the housing,

peter2704 · Thu Mar 02, 2017 3:29 pm

well its booked in for repair ,will as them to remove the stat innards and then fit a prt later , thats when i sus how the pipe it up.Does anyone know or have a diagram for the 111vvc with prt