Hi everyone!

Was travelling on the M6 yesterday and suddenly had a loss of power, and the temp gauge was sky high so turned the engine off and pulled onto the hard shoulder. About a seconds worth of white steam/smoke came out and then all was clear.

Got towed home by the AA and haven't had the engine on since it failed me.

I've got a mate who can do the gasket for me for next to nothing, all i gotta do is get the parts required off of ebay or wherever.

I've ordered the new mls gasket and new bolts of ebay for £50 which i didn't think was bad tbh. Any idea what else i might need, or what would be worth replacing at least?

With me saving quite a bit on labour costs i wouldn't mind spending another
£100 say on smaller parts just if advised to, just to get a bit more life/longetivity out of the engine.

Also, was just wondered what the likelihood of having to get it skimmed would be seeing as i pulled over pretty much straight away?

I'll have to get some new oil as well... any recommendations? price doesnt matter just want the best really.

Cheers guys.

I think skimming worth doing - my MG 1.8 K series wasn't bad - but had it skimmed anyway, new gasket and pressure tested. Was well over 20K on when I told it without further problems.
Sound like you've caught it early so hopefully no damage done. My MG (rear engine) was smoking for a while so didn't notice it before after pulling over - no water at all left just oil burning off. Was fine however.

There are some upgraded gaskets and parts - other should be able to recommend these for you.

I'm glad you say there was no water left but it was still okay... i've checked my expansion tank today and that's empty, also pulled the dipstick out and mayo all the way up it!

Just wondering if the radiator will be okay now? I'd expect there to be a bit of gunk in the radiator, whats the drill with these? Do you just stick a pressure washer down it?

With mileage at 66K i'm not surprised it's gone to be honest, and it's better it going now than later as i'm seeing relatives in the isle of wight in feb, wouldnt want to miss my ferry!

While my friends doing the work is there anything else you guys would recommend? maybe new water pump or thermostat? I haven't got the modified thermostat either, how much roughly would it be for the parts to convert it to a remote thermostat?

I had my 1.8 rebuilt in Sept 08' but did not catch it in time ended up throwing a bearing out, apparantly the hgf prob before was not done correctly , a loud knocking noise came so had to have engine out bearings plus main bearings a con rod plus crank reground new set rings... new belts as they all had to come off recon head valve seals changed, water pump, head bolts,new type gasket the guy who did mine races MGZR's k series engine.... so he has to push his engine and swears not to fail.....timing belt kit..thermostat, and inlet manifold replaced as can be damaged causing the coolant leak..mine already showed it was leaking which was a bad start when i bought it... I had only had it 5 days and 132.4 miles...lol very bad intro to freelander life,,.... I have run it in but found i had to still top up with water during running in time to time... had to change expantion tank as has very slight cracks...... and 1200 miles later had the oiul changed at 1000 miles well found some sludge in the expantion tank the other day this could still be the remisant oil that still had lined the inside of the water pipes..... im hoping anyways..... cleaned out expantion tank to check condition in a few days... hope info some help

ok, so far i've ordered the modified head gasket (mls) with the steel dowels and new bolts, and i've also ordered the modified oil rail.

Anything else anyone can think of that might be worth replacing? Either to try and stop it happening again, or to add a teeny bit of performance while i've got the head off.

Found a site today, QED or something... it was like an alladins cave of stuff for the K series like camshafts, stronger liners etc. Could quite easily spend a lot of money on there if i had it in my bank! For small budget performance enhancements what would you guys recommend doing?

don't forget the modified thermost housing. moves the stat from the rear of the engine to an inline stat located at the front.

also consider an EWP.