Head bolt re-torque

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WLJayne said:
Scathing doesn't even begin to describe that :eek:! Nothing untrue, sadly. BUt then all cars are **** in one way or the others. Honda's are relaible but have all the personality of a wet carrot for the most part. You simply can't have it all.

I've decided to stick with it - buying a Disco is a risky stragtegy and at this point better the devil I know. I'm going to try retorquing the bolts and if that doesn't work then I'll out a new engine in. But I think I need to start diverting more funds into my rainy day account.
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twas written by a septic and we all believe/respect what they write :rolleyes:
 
Freelaner said:
twas written by a septic and we all believe/respect what they write :rolleyes:
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Septic? Sorry mate you lost me there is that slang?

Didn't agree with the ride and handling, mine's lovely, just a bit loud. I'm pretty sure if you could build a K series engine properly with all the new bits from new it wouldn't blow unless your coolant leaked. But they're all fooked now and the damage has been done.
 
WLJayne said:
Septic? Sorry mate you lost me there is that slang?

Didn't agree with the ride and handling, mine's lovely, just a bit loud. I'm pretty sure if you could build a K series engine properly with all the new bits from new it wouldn't blow unless your coolant leaked. But they're all fooked now and the damage has been done.
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septic tank = yank= american

and a very unhappy one as well probly cos the fick fooker dunt know his arse from his elbow and wrecked his rover.

partly due to bad design, i grant you, but also due to being a fick merkin twot anorl.

bile posted to attract controversy.

i look after mine and know the pitfalls, i aint trying to make into summat it int and pretend it can do better. i'm just merely making it work for me on a daily basis, the alternative is it will cost me more than i can afford and that wouldn't be a joking matter.
 
Fair enough mate, I just wish mine did a little give as well as take. Maybe I'm just this close to it being relaible - hey at least it start every time now and I'm usually on top of the airlocks before it gets serious and me IRD int fooked. That's got to count for something,
 
it does count for a great deal and now you is expecting the worse you will be more prepared/able to counteract any unpleasantness :)

i do this on a daily basis and works for me, keep checking it but enjoy driving it anorl
 
Try tweaking the head bolts. If that works...fine.
If not, chuck in a bottle of K-seal. If that works...fine.
If not, bin it and fit a replacement engine. No way would I even vaguely consider ****ing about with liners, especially if I had no real evidence they were the cause of the fault.
 
dave21478 said:
Try tweaking the head bolts. If that works...fine.
If not, chuck in a bottle of K-seal. If that works...fine.
If not, bin it and fit a replacement engine. No way would I even vaguely consider ****ing about with liners, especially if I had no real evidence they were the cause of the fault.
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Yes, that's a sound strategy :).

DD3 said:
Fook. Not good and tbh just confirms my decision to change car - and just to bore again with, my FL has been/is pretty good:(

So, re Will's dilema, is it impossible to buy a new Freelander engine at all, regardless of cost??
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If you're not getting on with the car then no one would blame you mate :). That review is pretty harsh but you can't escape the statistics. Hippo's just need constant awareness, that's my conclusion.

I doubt you could buy a new Freelander engine, the best you could do is rebuild a low milage no HGF one from a rover and hopefully that would do it.
 
There are a couple of things i'm struggling to work out? :( You said the head bolts didn't feel tight when you put them in? But if you torque them to the correct initial setting of 15Ftlb or 20Nm then that's all that's needed. Don't forget that a torque wrench is something like 18" long so 15Ftlb will feel loose to say the least ;) As you know the head bolts are really long stretch bolts so require angular tightening in stages after the initial "starter" torque is applied. In my experience the 2nd and 3rd stage are incorrect!! I feel that 180° then another 180° is to much to quick. I always apply the angular torque in 4 stages of 90° each. This gives a much more progressive increase in clamping load on the gasket. Before you blame your coolant loss on failed HG you need to make sure that every other option is covered first. It would be prudent to do a pressure leak down test to help pinpoint where the coolant is going. It could be as simple as a tiny pin hole at a hose joint. This could both account for the loss and the air if the hole is on the suction side of you ewp? The ewp it's self would cause water flow pressure peaks as the pump speed is'nt as progressive as the engine driven pump. If the pump suddenly spins up there will be a big reduction in pressure before the pump which could suck in are through a joint that is'nt 100% sealed. What i'm saying is check everything very carefully before pointing at the HG ;)
If the HG has failed again then it's best to swap the engine as I did with my V6!! You never know the history of a second hand engine, especially if it's suffered a failure in the hands of a previous owner.
If you go down the engine swap route then why not do your turbo conversion at the same time by using a Rover 75 turbo unit ;)
 
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Nodge68 said:
There are a couple of things i'm struggling to work out? :( You said the head bolts didn't feel tight when you put them in? But if you torque them to the correct initial setting of 15Ftlb or 20Nm then that's all that's needed. Don't forget that a torque wrench is something like 18" long so 15Ftlb will feel loose to say the least ;) As you know the head bolts are really long stretch bolts so require angular tightening in stages after the initial "starter" torque is applied. In my experience the 2nd and 3rd stage are incorrect!! I feel that 180° then another 180° is to much to quick. I always apply the angular torque in 4 stages of 90° each. This gives a much more progressive increase in clamping load on the gasket. Before you blame your coolant loss on failed HG you need to make sure that every other option is covered first. It would be prudent to do a pressure leak down test to help pinpoint where the coolant is going. It could be as simple as a tiny pin hole at a hose joint. This could both account for the loss and the air if the hole is on the suction side of you ewp? The ewp it's self would cause water flow pressure peaks as the pump speed is'nt as progressive as the engine driven pump. If the pump suddenly spins up there will be a big reduction in pressure before the pump which could suck in are through a joint that is'nt 100% sealed. What i'm saying is check everything very carefully before pointing at the HG ;)
If the HG has failed again then it's best to swap the engine as I did with my V6!! You never know the history of a second hand engine, especially if it's suffered a failure in the hands of a previous owner.
If you go down the engine swap route then why not do your turbo conversion at the same time by using a Rover 75 turbo unit ;)
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A pinhole would not explain why the gas ingresses more rapudly during a hard drive - the pump speed is no longer tied to RPM so I doub't it's that. I think I've done my best to pinpoint any leaks, there are no antifreeze stains and I don't get any drop when the car isn't driven. If there is gas getting into the coolant and the level is dropping then what alternatives am I left with but head gasket? The gasket simply CANNOT have failed after 3k with no serious overheating, that just makes no sense. So I think it's a combination of low liners and not enough clamping pressure.

I could do the 1.8T conversion but that would cost a minimum of £800 ish as it needs to be mapped, whereas a normal K is about £250-300. I can't justify that right now.

At this point all I want to do is get it to a reliable working condition so that I can save for my Defender project.
 
It wouldn't do any harm to do a leak down test tho, it might pinpoint something. Better to test lots to find fault, then fix it, rather than keep replacing stuff till you get lucky?
 
WLJayne said:
A pinhole would not explain why the gas ingresses more rapudly during a hard drive - the pump speed is no longer tied to RPM so I doub't it's that. I think I've done my best to pinpoint any leaks, there are no antifreeze stains and I don't get any drop when the car isn't driven. If there is gas getting into the coolant and the level is dropping then what alternatives am I left with but head gasket? The gasket simply CANNOT have failed after 3k with no serious overheating, that just makes no sense. So I think it's a combination of low liners and not enough clamping pressure.

I could do the 1.8T conversion but that would cost a minimum of £800 ish as it needs to be mapped, whereas a normal K is about £250-300. I can't justify that right now.

At this point all I want to do is get it to a reliable working condition so that I can save for my Defender project.
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a head gasket can fail quickly if the head has been seriously overheated before,though this is difficult for people to under stand it seems,as well as modified cooling system and any other fault missed on rebuild ,like low liner height (though i thought you mentioned .1mm which is 4 thou more than id think was needed )its quite possible to get poor head gaskets ,pin holed or damaged sealing edge liners etc
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
It wouldn't do any harm to do a leak down test tho, it might pinpoint something. Better to test lots to find fault, then fix it, rather than keep replacing stuff till you get lucky?
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Yes I'll do this if I can :).

T series is an attractive idea but no one seems to have a really solid idea of how to mount it while maintaining the 4wd system. It would need alot of work and wouldn't be a drop in :(.
 
jamesmartin said:
a head gasket can fail quickly if the head has been seriously overheated before,though this is difficult for people to under stand it seems,as well as modified cooling system and any other fault missed on rebuild ,like low liner height (though i thought you mentioned .1mm which is 4 thou more than id think was needed )its quite possible to get poor head gaskets ,pin holed or damaged sealing edge liners etc
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As Jimbo says, and as I have stated many times, sequential HGF is a common occurance on K series, whether that is indemic (as I believe) or poor workmanship ( as James believes) is irrelevant. It happens, and all too often :(.
 
WLJayne said:
Yes I'll do this if I can :).

T series is an attractive idea but no one seems to have a really solid idea of how to mount it while maintaining the 4wd system. It would need alot of work and wouldn't be a drop in :(.
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I agree. It has been done a few times, but its a project if you have a lot if money to throw at it, as yu have found with the EWP. These things may be good, but are never simple.
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
As Jimbo says, and as I have stated many times, sequential HGF is a common occurance on K series, whether that is indemic (as I believe) or poor workmanship ( as James believes) is irrelevant. It happens, and all too often :(.
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Yes, so many bloody variables. If there IS a way to get a more reliable lump in there for not too much money then I'm open to ideas at this point.

I'm not going to spend any more money on this engine, if re-torquing doesn't solve it then I will weigh the costs of a complete engine transplant vs buying another car.
 
There comes a time when " enough is enough" in my case £6500 in 13 months. Good luck in whatever you decide. I am sure there will be lots on here to encourage/ slate you in whatever decision you make.
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
As Jimbo says, and as I have stated many times, sequential HGF is a common occurance on K series, whether that is indemic (as I believe) or poor workmanship ( as James believes) is irrelevant. It happens, and all too often :(.
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its not poor workmanship necessarily as there are many things you cant tell by looking or measuring especially with just a head off working in an engine bay
 
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