Hi to all, if anybody can give me some advice I would really appritiate it,

Ok so i have a 99 freelander and it wad white smoke from the exhaust and losing coolant and a little creaming of the oil...... So I decided to change the head gasket myself stripped it down cleaned it up and the head looked ok a little pitted by one set of valves but no to bad sanded it down checked for warping and there was none none on the block either, use a new multi layer gasket and it all looked good left coolant in it over night and it was fine, it also started fine the next day then I noticed I was still getting a little whit smoke thinking it may be water still sitting in the system I drove on but after a couple of days I checked the coolant again and the bottle was dry and it was still smoking I took it for a quick run the popped the bonnet and opened the filler cap to the water a little and the pressure was there and the coolant filled up again so I took the oil filler cap off and white smoke started puffing out of there stopped the engine and checked the dip stick no creaming not sure what to do next to solve this problem could my head be creaked do I need to look at a replacement one what's my next step can anybody advise me pls

I just wanna get this freelander working I have sunk a lot of money into it I have already shopped a recon ird front propshaft and vcu which I was going to change soon but now I'm at a loss for what to

Should have head skimmed

What did you sand? Not the gasket face surely!
Any pitting on the gasket face is bad. A skim to flatten the gasket face is always best. Did you check the liner hights? When fitting the MLS gasket liner hights are crucial. They must be all even and protrude 1 to 3 thou. If you have a variance in hights between liners, the MLS gasket just doesn't seem to work well. The original elastopolimer gasket is best to use in those situations.

Nodge68 said:

What did you sand? Not the gasket face surely!
Any pitting on the gasket face is bad. A skim to flatten the gasket face is always best. Did you check the liner hights? When fitting the MLS gasket liner hights are crucial. They must be all even and protrude 1 to 3 thou. If you have a variance in hights between liners, the MLS gasket just doesn't seem to work well. The original elastopolimer gasket is best to use in those situations.

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I used a very very fine sand paper to remove any trace of the old gasket I saw them do this on a you tube video and I checked the head with a straight edge and a 0.05 gauge and found no gaps, I checked along the head across it and all over it,
I thought the MLS gasket was harder wearing and longer lasting so I went for that

fanatic said:

Should have head skimmed

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I was under the impression that skimming was only required if the head had warped?

some recommend head skimming some do not I have had heads skimmed before but not on the freelander if you have checked to see if all was level then should be ok ,did you change the other gaskets on the head like the inlets .also did you use new head bolts as these must be used as the old one would have been stretched .

teddywood1 said:

some recommend head skimming some do not I have had heads skimmed before but not on the freelander if you have checked to see if all was level then should be ok ,did you change the other gaskets on the head like the inlets .also did you use new head bolts as these must be used as the old one would have been stretched .

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Yeah brought the hole kit new bolt, new inlet gasket, new exhaust gasket I followed the book to the letter. Could anything else be giving me these problems and I changed the gasket for not? Like I said the oil on the dip stick is clean... I'm just not sure what my next step is? I have chucked a lot of money at it now when do I stop? Is it time to scrap it????????

Mad1 said:

I was under the impression that skimming was only required if the head had warped?

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Not at all. Skimming the head ensures a perfectly flat surface for the gasket to seal against. In reality a standard elastopolimer gasket will seal well enough on a less than perfect finish, this is why they are used on the production line.
If A MLS gasket is to be used, the surface preparation has to be to a very high standard. It must be flat and the surface finishing should be smooth. Sometimes the facing cutter can snag a swarf and make a visible series of lines. If an elasto gasket is used, this finish is acceptable. This kind of finish won't seal with the MLS gasket.
Also if the head has visible fire ring marketing, no gasket will seal long so the head would need facing (skimming) anyway.
Personally I'd get the head off, get the face faced off and rebuild the engine with an elasto gasket and new head bolts correctly torqued. After checking the liners patrude the correct amount.

teddywood1 said:

did you use new head bolts as these must be used as the old one would have been stretched .

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Not strictly true on the K Series. As long as the bolts are within the correct length then Rover say they may be reused.
I'm with you on changing them though. I can't see the point in spending good money on having the head faced and fitting a nice new gasket, for the whole lot be potentially ruined by old bolts.

Well thanks for the advice guys, I took it for a ride today and found out that the water was disappearing due to a air lock after purging that it seemed to steady out and not lose lvl, and the white smoke seems to have disappeared for now, the water has traces of oil in it but I think it from the rad as I never flushed the water system after the replace hg I will check the oil levels when the engine cools but fingers crossed all seems to be ok, now on with the rest of the list of jobs that need doing, all going well I think the FL will be a nice motor if no more little surprises pop up and thanks again guys

Nodge68 said:

Not strictly true on the K Series. As long as the bolts are within the correct length then Rover say they may be reused.
I'm with you on changing them though. I can't see the point in spending good money on having the head faced and fitting a nice new gasket, for the whole lot be potentially ruined by old bolts.

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I agree I wouldn't redo a head without new bolts