Today I got very hot and sweaty. One minor problem that can occur on a V8 with top hat liners and ARP stud kit, is head gasket leaks. Not the usual sort of head gasket leak but oil and/or coolant leaks. Engine runs fine but it can leak from the block to head joint. The fire rings are firmly clamped between the top of the liners and the heads but the rest of the gasket isn't and with the 65 ft/lb torque for the studs, it will eventually start to leak. Not a huge leak, not enough to drop on the floor but enough to put spots on my back bumper and tailgate. Bear in mind that my engine was bolted together 158,000 miles ago so it isn't something likely to happen at any moment. The LH head was leaking coolant at the rear coolant passage at a rate of about half a litre every 500 miles but it was dripping onto the front propshaft UJ and being thrown around everywhere. The RH head was leaking oil (half a litre every 2-3000 miles) which was dripping onto the starter motor. Lots of current, potential of sparks and a covering of oil could have meant it fired up in a different way to how I would like.
So, I started it last night when it was a bit cooler and got it down to the heads in about 3 hours. Continued this morning and initially It was quite pleasant but by mid morning it was getting a bit warm. I was working outside with the nose of the car facing West so I had the sun on my back a lot of the time. I turned the ignition on at one point (with the fuel pump relay pulled as the fuel pipes were disconnected) and the HEVAC said the external temperature was 32 degrees C. My AC testing thermometer sitting on the fusebox lid didn't agree and was reading 48.3C and it felt like it! Anyway, heads came off, cleaned them up, cleaned up the top of the block and, despite having to keep going into the house for another pint of water to offset the amount I was losing in sweat, had it all bolted back together and fired up by around 5pm. Had I thought about it I could have left it for a few hours so I would have been finishing it off this evening when it was cooler but I had already arranged to go out at around 6pm so had it finished, tools all put away and into the shower by 5:15. Shouldn't need to touch the engine for another 150,000 or so now.
Peterborough, Cambs
- '93 Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE, sold
- '97 Range Rover 4.0SE, in Oxford Blue with a sort of grey/blue leather interior sold as two is plenty.....
- '96 4.6HSE Ascot - now sold
- '98 4.0SE in Rioja Red
'98 Ex-Greater Manchester Police motorway patrol car, Range Rover P38 4.0, in Chawton white - the everyday car
All running perfectly on LPG
- Proud to be a member of the YCHJCYA2PDTHFH club.