I recently had a leak and went to a indy shop to find out what it was and they told me there was a bunch of things wrong. One of them was that the head gasket was leaking in the rear. Being that I have not owned this vehicle very long and the quote from the indy shop I decided to do it my self and save money while also knowing more about my truck. I purchased the HG Kit from AB as well as the head bolts, spark plugs and wires, and 180 t-stat.

So, I have everything off including the heads now and am currently in the process of taking them to a shop to get checked. I have a few questions about some things I encountered along the way that I would love some help with.

1. Overall how do my heads and block look based on the pictures and should I clean the carbon build up off on the block side?

2. One of the fuel injectors has this little piece around the top that was cracked and fell off when I removed them(see pictures). How do I fix this and I also have a bunch of o-rings in my HG kit for the fuel injectors whats the necessary steps for replacing those?

3. The indy shop said my engine mounts needed to be replaced. How do I tell if thats true(see pictures)?

4. Anything else I should know or do while its all apart?

 

While it's apart, go ahead and do the oil pump and timing chain. No better time to do it and it's cheap insurance down the road. Call up Lucky 8 llc and tell them what you need, they've got the best deal going by a long shot. I've got a write up for that you can find through my signature if you need it, but you seem pretty handy.

That piece that broke is the o-ring retainer. kind of an important piece. You'll likely break the whole set getting the o-rings off to replace them. This kit here comes with the retainers as well as new filters. Not sure if anyone sells just the retainers.

Those motor mounts look pretty good to me, but I remember there being a company a while back in the classifieds section selling solid ones. You can also replace with the factory rubber. Or leave them. I'm sure someone will come by to either verify or de-bunk this claim.

 

New member here, my son and I are going to be tackling the head gasket job on his '97 disco ourselves, so I appreciate following your progress...
I believe that his head gasket failure is in the either of the two middle cylinders on the passenger side (4.0 V8). No coolant has been consumed, exhaust is clean, but it sounds like a steam engine when it runs...

 

Is there a loss of power? Sounds very much like leaky exhaust gaskets. The gaskets on these discos almost never lose power in such a way that they lose compression, especially on the middle two cylinders, and I've never heard of one going that didn't leak coolant.

 

A few pointers, if I may. To check the motor mounts, put a jack under the oil pan, with a 2x4 between. slowly jack up the engine and see if the mounts separate. If it starts to pick up the front end of the truck, chances are they are fine.
Be sure and use the copper head gasket spray on the head gaskets(can pick up so some at any auto parts house).
Make sure the coil is completely bolted down, loose coil will cause problems.
Also a good idea to use a thread cleaner on the head bolt holes in the block,(not a tap, but a thread cleaner)
The ARP website, has some good info, even if you are not using studs.

 

make sure you tell the machine shop you only want the heads flat, your not looking to take.10 off them.
i don't see any steam cleaned pistons so that a good sign.
you AB gasket kit should come with new o-rings for the injectors.
motor mounts check blacklisted engineering

 

The machine shop that I called said I probably just need the heads cleaned and milled. Is the milling a process that is different from getting them flat or the same? Have a feeler gauge but not a machinist straight edge and couldn't find a cheap one so I could check the levels myself. my assumption is that the shop would clean them, measure for level accuracy of the heads and then make necessary resurfacing to make them level. Not well versed on this aspect of the job.

 

milling is the way to make them flat again, the particular problem with rover heads is they do not have a ton of material that can be removed.
So it is important that they only take what is needed, other wise you end up having to shimming every.

 

Here is my picture set from doing head gaskets in Boulder Colorado in April in a parking lot in 2012.

Seems like a lifetime ago now.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/76579732@N07/

 

HELP!!!

I feel like the biggest F up ever. I just dropped the Valley Gasket bolt into the back of the engine and it fell all the way down in. Am I screwed or where did this bolt go to and is there any possible way to get it out?