Hi

With the weekend here I had more time to look more closely at the problem. Unfortunately, my best guess from listening closely, is that it's the head gasket.

So I've a big job ahead of me!

 

It is a big job, but very doable. Just take your time and keep all the gasket mating surfaces clean. It can easily be done in a day or two, even taking your time. As long as you're comfortable doing the job, I say go for it. Make sure to check the head and block for damage or warpage before reassembling it!
Good luck!

 

A large yet simple job. It it take a day to take apart and a little less to reinstall. Most of your down time will be waiting on the machine shop

 

Hi

I have been looking at youtube videos and I have a pdf of the workshop manual. I should add that I'm 4 months short of 70 and will have to do the repair in my driveway.

I have worked on cars most of my life, though none as complex as this one, and I do have a lot of tools including an analyser.

Looking at the task ahead, I have a few questions -

1. Is it really necessary to remove the steering pump in order to remove the right hand (viewed from rear) cylinder head? Is it because it fits to the inlet manifold?

2. The car has secondary air to the exhaust manifolds. Any tips on removing these bearing in mind it's solid plumbing that goes right across the engine?

Thanks

Geoff

 

I haven't done a set of head gaskets in a Rover in a while now. If I remember right, the pump has to come off because the bracket is bolted to the head and the block. It's not hard to get off of there.
The SAI stuff isn't as bad as it looks. The pipes all disconnect and come off pretty easily. Be careful of the SAI valves attached to the head. A lot of the time, when you try to turn the fitting on the pipe, the whole pipe turns. There is a place where you can fit another wrench on the pipe itself to hold it while you turn out the fitting. Make sure you don't let those twist too much, they'll take a little abuse, but they can crack if you're not careful.
I think, one of the worst parts of the job is getting the bolts out of the coil brackets at the back of the intake manifold. There's not much room back there and it's hard to see what you're doing, if you can at all. Beyond that, disassembly is pretty straightforward.
The only problem I ever had with reassembly was the head bolt at the rear of the driver side head. There's a little 'hump' that sticks out of the firewall, right over where you need to get the torque wrench.

 

You can do it.

Took me two weeks in a parking lot at work - but I got it done.

Worked out well.

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


I did our D1 too

http://jeffreyfall.com/landrover

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

It crosses my mind that, seeing as I would have half the engine apart already, it might be worth hauling the other head off and checking its gasket and general condition.

Also, is it OK to remove the exhaust manifolds from the heads and just tie them to stop them dropping rather than removing them completely from the car?

Thoughts?

 

Most people recommend doing both. It's not a bad idea and not much more money for the peace of mind knowing that you won't have to do the same job again if or when the other side goes bad. All you need is another head gasket, exhaust gasket set and head bolts. (and possibly the cost of getting two heads planed instead of one)

 

I mentioned that my 03 parts car had the same sound. Took the engine apart this weekend and here you go....



I've done three head gasket jobs in my driveway--the first having had zero mechanical experience--and I think anyone can manage it with some tools. I got all the the tools I needed at Harbor Freight, super cheap, for the first couple of jobs.

The only odd tools I needed and that weren't already in a normal toolbox were a large wrench to take the front fan off, a set of impact sockets (they are rough and grab the head bots better, and a 5/8ths works best), and some socket extensions and bends to get the rearmost bolts. You also need a torque wrench, some sort of cheater bar/extension, and a mix of six sided and star metric sockets.

I am almost 50. I need help with the bolt tightening because, with extensions, you need four hands to keep the socket from stripping the head bolts. I aplaud you for doing it at almost seventy. I doubt I could.

 

I can agree with Charlie_V about torquing down the head bolts. The initial torque down isn't bad, it's the angles you have to do after. Those can be difficult!
If you have any doubts, get some help. There's no sense hurting yourself when you can go get someone younger and let them hurt themselves. LOL