I did the head gaskets in 2009. Outside of the gasket on cylinder 6 had let go and you could reach down and feel pressure coming out between the block and head. I had the heads machined and a valve job done and I reinstalled them. That was 13 years and over 70k miles ago.

Well I’ll be damned if the gasket hasn’t let go in the EXACT SAME SPOT. No over heating of course but I got out of the truck while it was running and heard the same sound I heard 13 years ago, like a tiny steam locomotive was under the hood. I heard is for 2 seconds and new instantly. Popped the hood I could feel pressure escaping at the same spot on cylinder 6. I didn’t run dexcool in it until about 2 years ago but flushed it every year but that doesn’t have anything to do with it because this area doesn’t come into contact with coolant.

Do you think I got my $ worth out of the last set? I don’t recall what kind I used. Is #6 cylinder a common blow out point on these things?

Not complaining about this and I am really glad I didn’t end up with an overheat leading to something way worse.

 

I don't think that's a bad run. 13 years, on a rover engine, you did better than most. That's the same area our 03 was leaking, shortly after purchase of course...lol.


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Common failure area, although I am surprised it happened with no overheat events. What thermostat are you running? One of the reasons I run 170's on my 00's is to reduce the expansion/contraction displacement from the hot/cold cycles.

 

I have run the 180 stat for as long as I can remember.

 

Factory or inline?

 

Factory.

 

Not going to lie...the 180° makes for a horrible ride to work...all winter.

 

Factory almost never runs at 180, hang more round 190 to 200 in reality. Not saying that was the cause of it but I've got free factories available to anybody at who wants them as spares

 

Uh, cool?