Hello
I've Looking in various places but still very confused -having started to regularly use coolant out of the bottle my discovery was looked over by an engine specialist and reported back headgasket -so this was stripped and on inspection appeared ok -I was then highlighted that a liner had some corrision around the top edge -its now suggested that this should be changed and anything else as the bottom end as it is stripped -I feel currently that nothing has been proven and dont understand some corrosion around the top of the liner would make any difference or explain anything or am i missing the point
Can anyone help please

The block is alloy and they bore it out to press fit a liner. In the early days of the rover v8, the block moulds were new and the liners were thick as they were 3.5s. As the moulds got older the water jackets moved. As the engine size increased the liners got thinner. So when they bored out the later blocks sometimes they broke through the jacket but it was ok because when the liners were pressed in they sealed it up water and gas tight. But sometimes through the constant heating and cooling (often overheating!) the liners loosened and slipped downwards breaking the seal. The consequence being that water could be drawn into the combustion chamber through the gap between the block and the head gasket and the combustion gases could get into the water system. The obvious symptoms are losing water but you can't see where from and/or pumped up water hoses.

All this happened to me on my D2, I changed the head gaskets once and it still blew a gasket properly a few thousand miles later. Without wishing to be the prophet of doom it is highly likely this will happen to you at some point in the future. You may be able to stave it off with a quality block sealer though.

If you are going to the trouble of fixing it, DO NOT just fix your current block, get a remanufactured short block with top hat liners, they do not drop.

Best of luck.

Oh, and welcome to the forum - tons of knowledge here.

Bit of a follow up I've purchased a brand new short engine from Turner Engineering which looks fantastic with top hat liners -I hope this has sorted the problem its only a pity that the garage carrying out the work have been horrible and so slow also getting involved in other jobs and quiet rude and unhelpful on all levels

Good decision. Shame about the service though.

Get em to throw all the bits in the back of the car, tow it elsewhere and get it finished with a smile.

Or lump it.

It's your motah.

I felt a bit over a barrel once it was all in bits i'm hoping i wont the same experience with the bill its been two weeks since the engine came out and i've even been told off for calling in regularly (every two days) 'i'm stopping them from working'. I Know a really spot on mechanic but he said he would prefer it went somewhere else as he had lots on work in. Next time i've have a big job to do i'll just hang on.
Thanks for the support.

They know that you won't just walk away as your car is undriveable, so they just fob you off as they do quickie jobs for cashflow. Done it myself years ago when I ran a garage, feel bad about it now.

Now waiting for Manifold to downpipe gaskets from Land Rover -nightmare .
They are coming from Holland 4 day turn around.
Hope to have it on the road Tuesday

Finally finished.
I can totally recommend fitting a Turner Manufactured Engine Turner Engineering - Remanufacturer of Land Rover Engines and supplier of Land Rover engine parts to their design if you can stand the hit on the wallet.
Thanks for the help above.

Just out of interest and to help folks understand whay goes wrong with these latter blocks I thought I would post a few pic's.
The reason the liners move is that during manufacture they machine the block and leave a lip at the bottom of the bore to seat the liner then press the liner in and deck the block, only they didn't always remove all the swarf from the lip so the liner sat on the swarf and once it fell out then the liner could potentially move.
Also as Marknewlands says as the moulds got older the water jackets moved and after boring some of the blocks were very thin and could develop a crack, usually next to a bolt hole and most of the ones I have done seem to be No. 6 or 8 cylinders but I have seen others.
The top hat repair is a good fix also the new blocks that RPI sell have the problems sorted.