BM Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 I think that the head gasket will need changing soon on my K Series. There is (at the moment) and occassional small amount of coolant escaping down the block at the front on the exhaust side. Guess it's best to deal with the problem now rather than wait until it gets really expensive. From a quick search it looks like the Land Rover Multi Layer Steel head gasket is the one to go for? Does anyone have its part number. Also, are any other gaskets or parts required at the same time. If so what are they? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Before you take the head off... It's not the little gasket at the fuel rail that leaks? - Me fool Meant the WATER RAIL of course!!!! /r Edited by - RJ on 14 Jan 2007 08:06:42 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normans_Ghost Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 BM, if you do change the head gasket renew oil and coolant as well. And while you're about it change the filter. But as Regin says it's probaly the top rial gasket. Norman Verona, 1989 BDR 220bhp, Reg: B16BDR, Mem No 2166, the full story here You and your seven toThe French Blatting Company Limited Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CageyH Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Is it not the water rail leaking? If you do change the gasket, get some steel dowels and either the gasget you mentioned, or the Mike Satur one. Agree with Norman on the rest. Only dead fish go with the flow.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozz Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 See here here Bozz McLaren Orange and Black 1.6SS 6 Speed here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Englishmaninwales Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 There is (at the moment) and occassional small amount of coolant escaping down the block at the front on the exhaust side. The coolant leaks from the head/coolant rail joint and runs forward along the cylinder head/block joint and appears at the front of the engine (and downwards as in Angus' photos). The cause is the water rail fixings being too long and bottom out in their holes. Shorten the bolts and fit a new gasket with Hylomar. Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 'Must be quicker'....see above! 😬 Must admit I hadn't realised that it was because the bolts can bottom out - ours is leaking again, so I'll shorten ours a bit aswell. Once you change the gasket (later rover ones are a bit like foam, where as early ones were paper) clean the engine block with some water so that you can see if it still leaks. When we saw the coolant marks on the block we thought 'oh no, head gasket' but of course, normally if the head gasket goes it is between cyclinder bores, so even with hole in it, coolant doesn't actually 'seep' out from under the head anyway, but rather into the cyclinder bores. Don't panic just yet! www.mycaterham.com here Videos here 98,000 miles -1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry21p Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 I discovered a problem when I had my water rail off - which I think is not dissimilar in age to yours, angus - the older water rails have a smaller flange at the back and as a result appear to be more prone to these kind of leaks as well. Problems I discovered with mine were: 1. Bolts not nipping up tight enough (too long?) 2. The front bolt holding the water rail in position was putting the whole rail under tension and as a result forcing open the face between the head and the water rail, allowing it to leak/blow out under pressure. Spacer helped out here. 3. The flange on the water rail to head "face" wasn't flat. I took a known straight edge to it and it was bowed. An hour's work with a belt sander/sandpaper/ a file has the face nice and flat again and it stopped seeping once nipped up properly. Once these were sorted, there were no more leaks from the back of the rail, not even after a heavy trackday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 Thanks everyone. I will check it out later today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slipper man Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 If you do need to change the gasket, go to a Land Rover dealer and get them to provide you with the pick list for that job. They can just run it off the computer and it will tell you all the bits you will need You have to ensure there aren't any non engine bits that are only needed for replaceing the bits of a Freeelander that you have to remove to get at the engine, but from memory I didn't have any of those. They can suppy all the bits as a kit. Don't worry about the steel dowels - when I did my wife's Freelander 3 years ago the steel dowels were included Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Day Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Get the water rail gasket from Caterham. Made from the same material as the cam cover/sump gasket, not paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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