Porous block or just head gasket failure?

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J

jackthehat

New Member
Posts
2
Hi,

My mother owns an X plate Holland & Holland Range Rover 4.6. Nice motor but it's started using water. A local garage is hinting at replacing the engine for £4000 because they think it may be the victim of a porous block syndrome. I've done a bit of research on Google and see that this fault does occur on some Range Rovers. But I was under the impression that it was mainly older vehicles (1997 and before) that were affected.

Anyway, do you experts know the easiest way to check to see if it's just the head gasket/s that have gone or whether it could indeed be a new engine requirement? The coolant is bubbling in the expansion tank which (according to some other websites) suggests head gasket failure. Would a compression test and a sniff test diagnose which of the two problems it could be?

Any help would really be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Jamie.
 
Hi Jamie,

unfortunatly there is no easy way out of this one. The only way you will know is by presure testing the block and to do this you need to remove the heads.

Once the heads have been removed you can couple up the collent system pipes to close the circuit. then bolt four blanking plates over the head faces on the block. Fill the coolents system and usings a presure test kit fitted to the expansion bottle, put about 60 - 80 psi of pressure into the system. you will need to leave it for a day or so in order to get a clear result.

when you check it dont worry if the pressure has droped thats because you cant get the system to be 100% tight. what you need to look for is moisture seeping around the cylinder liner joint on the block face.

Sorry that there is know easy way out but I have just done this on my 4.0 litre. The qoute you have been given for 4k is about right but is this for a new engine or to have the block remachined and have top hat linners fitted. Bare in mind that if it is for a new engine you could still get the same fault happen again as Land Rover replacment engines have not had any modifications to rectify the fault.

Bryan
 
Just to show Im not a hit and run poster, I have recently sorted an engine for my dads S plated 4.6. We had a recon engine from dudley engine centre they were very good on price, thought they may be worth a call! Good luck.
 
oi seal ****, i just looked on your website, if this k **** is so good how come yer website is like an online version of motorworld, sellin all sorts of crap, even two bob jap import mini moto's, if yer product was that good you would be too busy making, packing and posting it to be farting around selling other peoples tat. if yer website is fer yer k seal **** then thats all yer should be selling on it, or is the other stuff there to support yer income as yer try to peeddle yer egg white on gullible clowns
 
Hi P38 Owner,

Thanks for your help. I was hoping there would be an easy test that wouldn't involve a lot of work. The latest news is that the vehicle has been into the garage and the mechanic took the top off the coolant reservoir with the engine running. The bubbling was still there so he disconnected the plugs on one side of the V8 and the bubbling stopped. Anyway, he's going to replace the head gasket on that side for £150 to see if that cures it. With a bit of luck all will be well.

Personally I think it's an utter disgrace that LR can sell a car for 70 grand that isn't capable of notching up 100,000 miles without an engine rebuild. I mean, just how long have Rover been making V8's? My 2.9 V6 Granada has 185,000 on the clock and still purrs like a pussycat without ever having had a head gasket change in her life.

Anyway, the geezer says he can (deep breath required) swap the 4.6 for a 2.5 diesel unit. Personally I wouldn't dream of it as the car's value would plummet. Surely that's a massive task as the auto box gear ratios would be different let alone the ECU and all the rest of it. That's without trying to maintain the climate control and God knows what else. If it were my car I would patch it up and get shot of it ASAP. Our local LR dealer offered 6 grand for it (without knowing about any engine problems). Who are they trying to fool???

By the way, I tried a bottle of that miracle cure... it gave me diahorrea so I gave it up.
 
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