I am looking at an HG on a 2001 Disco II and I just don't have the ability to learn to do it myself at this time. I have a quote from an indie Land Rover specialist, and when asking him whether he would use aftermarket stretch bolts or ARP studs, he replied that his preference was to use standard non-stretch head bolts - should I run?

 

Standard torque to yield are fine and so are the ARP Studs, all comes down to personnel preference to me

 

I just finished a head gasket job last week and used the bolts from Rovers North. Seem good? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ No issues putting them in.

 

Non stretch head bolts doesn’t sound good, these are not standard. Stretch bolts or ARP studs.

 

I do not like the studs, see my discussion here: https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...92/#post786998

 

Factory stretch bolts that come in the kit are fine.

If he follows the original torque specs Buick used, non stretch bolts would probably be ok... Not ideal IMO except that they could be reused. That is what these motors would have come from the factory with when Buick used them though.

 

I'd probably find a different mechanic if he's uncomfortable using the stretch bolts. I think a lot of recurring issues are from improperly installed stretch bolts..

 

@whowa004 this is what I'm asking - is this a red flag that this indie doesn't know what he's doing? All this place does is LR /RR, but I thought it was odd. The owner didn't say he's uncomfortable using stretch bolts - he believes that stretch bolts are the *cause* of many HG failures due to the repeated expansion/contraction.

My only personal experience with stretch bolts was on a wheel hub (I think), it certainly wasn't on something given to regular expansion. Is this shop going to totally botch my HG job?

And for extra points: will a bad HG not necessarily result in a misfire? I've got combustion in the coolant and assume that a cylinder is burning coolant, but the OBD doesn't show a misfire.

Ugh...

I'm about to move to TX, and if only I had gotten another month /1500 miles out of it I would have been in a position to learn to do it myself and I would be a lot more comfortable...

 

Depending on the severity of the leak you can easily get a month more out of it. But without knowing the severity of the failure or where it's hard to say.

 

Not this time - I guess it's the blow-past, but the temp will hit 235+ within a few miles - and that's with the heat on full blast. i'm guessing there might be a clog.