I'm starting my headgasket job tomorrow (97 D1), and I was assembling and reviewing RAVE instructions I had a few questions:

1) The first step says to drain the coolant, then remove intake manifold. But the instructions for that say to depressurise the fuel system (remove fuel pump relay and run engine until stall), disconnect battery, then drain coolant. Am I correct in thinking the first thing to do is depressurise the fuel system then drain coolant?

2) The instructions for removing the plenum call for removing the throttle lever assembly. It seems like there are a lot of steps (and small parts) involved in doing that. I want to make sure I don't take apart any more that necessary, so I wanted to make sure I'm reading that right?

3) The instructions for removing the air compressor talk about capturing the refrigerant and pulling off low/high pressure hoses and o-rings. I thought I've read somewhere that you actually can just unbolt the compressor and set it aside without detaching hoses and losing refrigerant?

 

you can depressurize the fuel system at the fuel rail fitting that looks like a tire valve (passenger side of rail ) It wont matter which you do first coolant or fuel.

when I did mine ...I removed the plenum assy...leave the throttle parts attached to it just un -hook the cables and un -plug the wiring connectors.

as far as the air conditioning ....just unbolt the compressor and leave the lines on it ..use a wire or piece of rope to tie it out of the way as much as possible...that way you shouldnt need to have the system recharged, or "capture" anything .

good luck keep us posted on how it goes !

 

Yeah no need to remove throttle from plenum, or AC. In fact you can remove the whole intake as one piece, unless you want to clean each one individually.

I drain the coolant into jugs using a hand pump with the hose stuck down to the bottom of the radiator. You'll still get some coolant everywhere when you remove the lower hose, but not nearly as much.

 

Thanks for the answers! I'm going to try and take good pics and document things to share with everyone.

 

just make sure you bag and label hardware as you take it to bits so you arent scratching your head when you put it back together. Mine went back together a month and a half later so if i hadnt bagged and labeled everything there would have been a lot of head scratching going on..

 

Buy a large box of gallon size storage ziplock baggies and Sharpie to write on the baggies with.

Also certain bolts have to go back into certain holes due to differences in lengths, such as water pump if you are pulling that.

Make sure you know what grades of locktite to use where and where not to use adhesives as well. Eric had a good story about that as well.

I like to replace any fastener that does not look absolutely pristine whenever possible. Others such as head gasket that are one time use only require replacement. And there is a wide variety of suppliers and price ranges out there so readup on what cheap stuff to avoid. You want high quality head bolts so you do not have to go back in because you chose cheaper ones for example.

There are some places to cut costs others to ensure qualituy over purchase price. Benefit from the misfortunes of others that have gone before you.

Good Luck.

 

Ok, I'm in the middle of tear down. Should the fuel rail be taken off the intake manifold? The RAVE says it doesn't have to be, but for cleaning purposes (of the intake) should it be?

 

leave it there for now...you can decide later...it doesn't need to come apart......you can clean it later if need be.

 

Well I've got the heads off and they are heading to the machine shop today. Here are a couple of pics (lots more later). One of the tappets came out of its sleeve when pulling out a push rod. I slid it back in, but wondered if this is an issue - did this mess anything up?

I've got a couple of cleaning questions I'd like to throw out:

1) Is it safe to use carb cleaner to clean off the surfaces of the block and tops of cylinders?

2) Should I avoid getting any cleaner on the exposed tappets and maybe cover them over with something?

3) Are the pushrods the same at each end (can they be flipped)? Mine are caked with junk and need cleaning and I wondered if I should keep the ends straight?

 

We're starting down this same road on a 99 Discovery II. We're new to Land Rover - any recommendations for a reliable parts dealer? We've been looking at EuroPartsDirect.com and RoverParts.com, but haven't bought anything from either online store.

Good luck!