Hi,
I just bought my first Land Rover. It's a '95, it has a V8 engine, and it's not working. The clock has 160,000 miles on it. The previous owner said it was overheating. He replaced the thermostat, but it didn't fix it. He did a pressure test on the cylinders on one side of the engine and said the compression wasn't any good.

That's the only history I know of of this vehicle. So, I thought perhaps it needed a new head gasket. I'm going to attempt the repair myself, perhaps take my heads to a shop to get them machined.

So my question is, what else do I need to do while I've got the engine apart? I don't really want to have to do this more than once if I can. Also any comments on my above analysis would be great.

Thanks,
Roger

 

try to check the compression and note what all the cylinders are so we can help you further. Look things over good to see if you can spot any leaks that may have been there when it last ran....I'm a little leary on telling you to attempt to start the engine untill we have more info . Head gaskets are a "usuall "repair on these things so it's likely that may be needed. If it did overheat....plan on at least a new water pump and fan clutch......but we need to check for damage to the cylinders & heads before that to make sure that what you have is repairable. Let us know how you make out.

 

at 160K i would think that the head gaskets would have been done already. if you plan on doing repairs yourself make sure to check out hte gasket kit from atlantic british and get the RAVE manual its the workshop manual for your truck avaialble for free online. just do a search on this forum

 

YOU'RE SCREWED! Just kidding. But seriously...maybe it has run out of coolant or oil, or both. Well...that's probably not the answer either. The answer probably is...YOU'RE SCREWED! Just kidding again. I have a Land Rover Defender with a Disco engine in her (but not a V8!). I've heard that the V8 are aluminium and very suceptible to heat damage, which is a concern! Mine's the 300TDi.

Anyway, hope you get it sorted bro (yep...he's my real brother, in real life!

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Since the previous owner already stripped half the engine out, I figured I'd take off the heads and have a look. I don't see any evidence of a gasket leak. Is it normally visible?

One thing I noticed is that two or three of the head bolts were completely loose. How is that possible? Most of them took quite a bit of force to break loose, but two or three on one head took absolutely no force, I bet I could almost have loosened them with my fingers.

There's a lot of grimy stuff under the rocker cover that looks like metal grindings in oil. But it's not metal grindings, it's more brittle than that. Is this anything to be worried about?

Thanks,
Roger

 

If you don't know how bad he overheated it then after you take off the heads take your 2 thumbs and place them on the opposite sides of the piston. See if it moves back and forth. if it doesn't rock back and forth you're good.

When these pistons overheat badly, they expand then shrink. Sometimes the shrinkage leaves too much clearance and when the engine is cold your gonna hear like a slight knocking noise until it heats up.

At 160,000 miles i would do the whole motor just for peace of mind. I saw a set of new pistons and rings on ebay for 300 bucks. You should consider it, especially if you are gonna do the labor yourself, it will cost you peanuts.

 

I just went out to the garage and checked. One piston on each side of the engine has a visible amount of play. The rest seem to be OK.

One strange thing I have noticed is one of the pistons seems to have a flat side on it. You can kind of see in this picture.
http://g5i.net/pictures/IMG_1482.JPG

Any idea what that's about?

Thanks,
Roger

 

That piston is busted man, you have to change it and re-sleeve that cylinder. Also check to see if the cylinder is out of round, you might have to bore it and get a thicker sleeve to make up the difference.

 

Could this be the reason for the overheating?

 

No, That is the damage of the overheating. Pistons are made of aluminum, when they get extremely hot, they expand and they are moving very fast. That is why the break up the walls and cause mayhem. Pull one out and look at the skirts, i bet they are scorched.