Hi guys, many thanks to all of those who have helped with the head gasket job I am currently working on. I have a quick question. It appears as though my coolant leak was coming from the valley pan and not the actual head gaskets. As I have yet to remove the heads, should I proceed or just replace the valley gasket and be on my way? I realize leaving them in is just confirming I will have to do this again later, but that could be another year -- or longer. I am all for not touching something that isn't leaking. Any comments are appreciated.

 

If you don't have any codes for misfires just replace the intake gasket, make sure the intake is torqued to spec. if you have misfire codes, I would pull the heads and do a valve job.

 

Thanks for the help. I had misfire codes on cylinders 1 and 6 a couple weeks ago. I changed plugs and wires and they seemed to go away, although the truck still had a bit of a rough idle. After posting the last message I thought about it (asking "What would DiscoMike do?") and then proceeded to remove the passenger head. Big mistake -- bolt #7 is now impossible to remove. I got a little too quick and rounded it off. I had prepared for this and purchased the harbor freight extractor -- It is not working. What are my options? If I apply the slightest amount of torque the socket comes right off. HELP PLEASE!!!

 

Well the last lower bolt on the drivers side is a bitch...this sounds a little hard core but take a long piece of round stock, I use aluminium and pound in the firewall above the bolt head about a half inch, then you can get a 5/8 shallow chrome socket on it an a 1/2 breaker bar, this is how I have done hundreds of them...as for the right side head, those are the easier one to get off, make sure to use a new 6 point socket 1/2 drive and a very long breaker bar.

 

Hello Willrok13, I'm in the middle of this head gasket change. I was lucky; instead of rounding off the head of the bolt I cracked my socket so I picked up a set of short impact sockets. I have the craftsman set of bolt extractors haven't ever had a problem with them. May be worth a try. I have read several methods of head bolt torque procedures that differ from the RAVE manual. My heads will be back tomorrow, I need to make up my mind which one to use; anyone out there have an opinion on the best way to do it ??? Setting a finale torque sounds better than the 90 Deg turn method in RAVE. I should check with Disco Mike. Good luck to all.

 

The best way to torque head bolts is use new ones first of all, oil them down torque them to 15lbs, mark the head of the bolt and do 90 degree turn and then another 90, they are stretch bolts, this is the way it's done. What do you say Disco Mike?... opinions are like ********...

 

That is the way listed by Rover. That being said, I have been told by a Rover engineer that because of the difficulity in doing exact 90 degree rotations that they preferred a better, more accurate and consistant way. First lightly lube the new head bolts with "head bolt thread lubricant, then do the first setting to 25 pound, the second to 55 to 60 pound and the final setting to 78 or 79 pounds, this will give a much more even and accurate torquing.

 

I just completed my own head gasket replacement on my 2004 Disco II SE with 94K on it. I followed Disco Mike's recommendation on using the torque method on tightening the head bolts beacuse I feel that it is a far more accurate way to evenly tighten the head bolts. Only time will tell, but I don't want to have to do that job again in the near future. JF

 

That was the mentality behind my decision to proceed with removing the heads even though the valley pan was the source of the leak. I just got back from Sears where I picked up a few options for trying to get the rounded head bolt off. I'll let you know how it turns out. If all else fails, are there any foreseeable issues with welding a socket onto the bolt head? That is option "C" for me at the moment...

 

Finally got the heads off today, the Craftsman hammer tool helped a ton. Thanks for all the help.