To Proceed to Head Gaskets or Not?
 

Reference my 99 Disco I...

From folks who have ACTUALLY DONE IT THEMSELVES ONLY (please)...

Is it worth it to go all the way and swap in new head gaskets if I'm already at the point of intake manifold gaskets?

The manual makes it out to be easy as pie and it sure seems simple enough. Almost TOO simple though....like a TRAP!!

My HG's are NOT leaking best I can tell. But there's 180k on this baby. Intake gaskets looked original and worn the FK out, while rocker cover gaskets were upgraded at some point to the new rubber style.

If manifold gaskets are original then the HG's gotta be too, right? There's no work around on that I can see?? Could HG's last 180K in our trucks?

I've seen time and time again that as you restore full pressures to a system the next weakest points seem to fail and I sure as HELL do NOT want to go thru all the time, effort, and MONEY to have to turn around and re-do it all again.

Opinions please....

TY in advance!!

W 180k they most likely aren't original. Consensus is they go out at about 80-100k. They are technically a wear item. Keep in mind you will need to have the heads checked to be sure they are perfectly straight. Then there is the question of valve seals etc...then you could easily do the timing cover and the oil pump..hell then the timing chain....You'd be 3/4 away from a cam swap...See the problem? The head gaskets on these trucks aren't that hard. Most guys do them in a weekend. I did a set in a week just a couple hours a day after work. I also cleaned everything. Fixed extra stuff.

I call this a case of the "might as wells". I suffer greatly from this disease. "I'm already doing this so i might as well do this"... I am guilty of turning a simple brake job into pads rotors and bearings.

It just depends on what you want to do. Depends on your budget. How much down time can the truck have? Is it a keeper indefinitely? If so are you going to think about doing an engine rebuild at any point? If so just leave them and get parts together for that big project.

I have to agree with shiftonthefly as how far do you want to go. Personally I have done over 50 head gasket replacements w/o getting crazy (including my own D2) with good results.It's all a matter of how far do you want to go.

I think I'll second that. I'm gonna hold off and stop at the intake manifold gaskets and seals.

I don't see any current issues with them anyways. No leaks I can see.

Probably stop here as far as the "engine" is concerned and start saving for the inevitable new block I'm gonna end up putting in her down the line....
I will never sell this truck.
Love er too much.

that is the inevitable question where do you stop

I decided to replace my head gaskets because I had a massive coolant leak at the back of the engine and a misfire on cylinder 8. After disassembling everything I found my head gaskets were fine but on the way down I founf