Photos of HGs I pulled out, unknown age, not original to the vehicle, but oem. Note the numerous cracks, corrosion (composite gaskets), and the burn through that made an external leak.

 

More pix

Point is that it would not have been long before any one of these became a problem. Also good point that if one gasket leaks, the other can't be far behind in the race to failure.

 

it look like with LR head gaskets is not a matter of will you have to replace head gaskets, it's when will you.

And that was the good gasket?

 

i'd like to see an average of mileage versus hg replacements. it seems to be a pretty big variance.

 

Can't say for mine, the heads were replaced on the truck before it passed to me. I believe it is very fortunate for a D1 to pass 200K with original gaskets. D2 seem to fail much sooner. Maybe because the heat gauge hides small problems and long term slow overheating that you would otherwise have taken care of.

 

Wow Buzz,When I saw the title I thought your new ones were leaking!

 

No, just post mortem, too much NCIS I guess. Aluminum engine, steel gasket, Dexcool, a little electrolysis, wonder if they just corrode themselves into oblivion.

 

Another point - if you look at how cracked these things are, it is no wonder that radiator stopz leakz (any brand) may have a chance of working on a tiny crack. But there are so many that eventually one of the others will get you. Just a matter of time. So stopz leakz floating in the coolant jug on a Rover you are thinking about buying.......

 

Buzz, am I right, that the corrosion, deterioration, etc. on the elongated openings on gasket are on coolant passage openings? If so, I wonder how much influence the Dexcool had on those areas? When I first saw the new at the time composite head gaskets, compared to the earlier all steel ones, I thought that the composite gaskets were far better, superior, than the early older steel ones, but now with time, I am beginning to change my mind a bit: I didn't think much of the earlier all steel ones; now I don't think much of the newer composite type either. Perhaps it is better to go with the very expensive high performance head gaskets, not OEM, that seal much better than original gaskets, and have several layers of steel, along with the composite materials.

 

Exposed metal, of many kinds, can be subject to electrolysis. We sandwich it between insulators, and it is almost like a battery or capacitor.

Not sure what kind of high performance head gaskets are made for this old engine. I went with Victor Rentz, and they do make good stuff and are part of a big corporation. But some things just didn't line up.

My point with these photos was to draw attention to the multitude of cracks (this was an offical LR gasket, replaced in the last 20-50K miles by previous owner (heads were different color from engine). So now my truck at 185K has had at least 3 head gaskets (factory, PO, and PBO (present broke owner)).

If you have a tiny crack that stopz leakz might cure, there are plenty of others just waiting for a chance to show their ugly face.

And the elongated passage is the main coolant from block to head, not a lot of meat in the gasket at that point, which is why many leaks are out the rear of the head.