Okay, so I am doing my head gasket as everyone probably knows by me venting on here. I am doing it after 28k miles, and the head gaskets had been leaking the entire time IMO.

When disassembling I found that the mechanics had knocked the rings out of the Rocker Cover gaskets into the top of the Cylinder heads. I found two and two were missing, and I never found them in an oil change, and have done all the oil changes myself.

When I first had the LR back from the shop upon startup the second day codes went off like crazy. I had it towed back, and the shop told me that the springs had broken, and indeed they had. I still have one, so I ordered up new springs from Turner.

Second thing, on one piston in each side of the block there is a dent/gash on top of the piston head where something had gone through it.

My hypothesis is this. When they installed the new short block they dropped the rings into the cylinder head. Two of them made their way in to the combustion chamber and caused the piston to slap the ring against the valves on both sides, snapping the springs and denting the piston heads.

They then proceeded to take out the cylinder heads to install the new springs. They then reused the hardware causing the immediate leaking, and short lifespan of the head gaskets. It is possible that they only redid the Passenger side which was the one that was leaking profusely and in poor poor shape.

My question is can a valve cover ring get to the combustion chamber from the top of the cylinder head? Or did they happen to drop them down the lower intake manifold? That is also very possible.

I wish I had known more then, I would have been at that shop inspecting the work. They lied to me repeatedly about bad parts, or manufacture by Turner.

I really recommend Fel-Pro's Rocker cover gaskets. They are more expensive, yes, but hold their shape very well, and are much much easier to install.