I've pumped the tool by itself, will keep an eye on it. Finished reassembling, started up and seems to be running okay. No leaks so far. It did start to overheat after about 10 minutes, but I was expecting that because I haven't refilled the...

20 minutes later and it's holding at around 14 psi. Maybe a very small variance from where it was at the start

Personally I'd give it 20 min.. if it holds good for that long then it's ok. In my opinion

Found a leak, water pump hose clamp. Tightened and pressurised to 14 psi again, fingers crossed.

Nearly 3 hours later, the pressure is down to 6 psi. Seems I've got some more digging to do

I've reassembled everything that's in the cooling circuit and pressurised to 15 psi. First attempt sent water everywhere because I didn't tighten a hose clamp properly. I've left it to dry and set the pressure at 15psi again, how long should the...

It has mostly gone well. New gasket is on and manifold is in place, with 11 out of 12 bolts in. The last bolt (5 in the tightening diagram, one before the left rear) is cross threaded, so it's become a pain. I didn't force it any further, it's a...

Thor instructions below... 18NM for a Thor engine. 17 for a GEMS.

Cheers, I'll have a go at that. And it's 17NM for the seal clamp bolts, right?

I put it just around the coolant ports. But I run a bead around the port, all the way along the back and front of the valley (right over the 4 "V" shaped notches mentioned in RAVE) and then around the other port in one continuous bead. Rubber...

Remind me before I fit this new valley gasket: 1. Do I need to use RTV around the intake ports or just the coolant ports 2. Do I need any RTV on the rubber seals Thanks

The rover is to replace my currentlyeased car, because I don't do much driving these days. So happy to invest a little to solidify it.

I'm currently using ARP studs on mine, one of my long term goals with this is to get the block redone with flanged liners, so I think I might reassemble for now (after fitting the new valley gasket) and then take it to a specialist soon...

+1 on both sides of the gasket. A continous bead with no gaps.

Thanks both. I'll have a go when the gasket arrives. I've got the red sealant stuff too so looks like the right stuff. Still concerned about the discovery of gunk on my oil cap - debating whether or not I should take the heads off and inspect...

Possibly, I've order a new gasket anyway. I got the Reinz one over the OEM one, hopefully that was the best choice. How thick should you apply the sealant around the ports?

Intake manifold is off. Aside from some messy work with the sealant, does this look like the culprit of a leak?

Update: Stripped down a bunch so far, seems to be a nice pool accumulating on the valley gasket: After work I'll pressurise the system again and pinpoint the leak hopefully. But... While I was tearing down, I took off the oil filler cap+neck...

BTW, for the coolant pressure test, I have two of those no-name kits, and found the documentation on what car each is for to be wrong. As said above try several caps until you find one that seals properly.

Not a huge amount of work, but it would take me a few days as I'll be at work during the day, so only have an hour or two each evening (weather dependant). Can I reuse the valley/intake gasket if I scrape off the existing sealant?

I used some red RTV sealant around those ports, perhaps I made a bad job of it. Only one way to find out how suppose! 🔧 Can the intake manifold + fuel rail be removed without taking off the alternator/ps pump? That would save me a lot of time

Update: Found the right cap and pressurised to about 14 psi. Leak quickly started dripping from around the rear of the engine. Stuck the endoscope down and saw this: That looks like the culprit. Looks like coolant is leaking out of the bolt...

I'll have a look now. I did get this picture of the rear valley gasket seal, it does look a bit wet there although is hard to tell with this tiny endoscope. It seems that signs are pointing to it being the source though. If it is - is there a...

Pressure tester arrived today. Not sure if I'm doing this properly - I've sxrewed the test cap on and tried pumping some pressure in, but the air escapes straight away before any pressure is built. It looks like a simple device - screw on...

I’ve ordered one of those boroscope cameras that connects to my phone. Was looking underneath again today - any idea what this is/was? Looks like it’s melted.

I suppose the only way I’ll find out is to start stripping again - just when I thought it was all going smoothly! Might start with the upper manifold and see if I can feel behind the engine to get an idea.

Just had another look, drip seems to stop when the engine is off, but starts again when engine is running and getting up to temp/pressure. Coolant level looks good in overflow. Didn't have this problem before today - possible that refitting the...

Update: I checked the coolant level and topped it up today, but noticed quite a considerable drip coming from the back side of the engine, near the gearbox: Any idea where that could be coming from? The hoses on the cabin inlet/outlet are dry...

Coming from one of the wheel arches so think it might be brakes/suspension, but I'll save that for another thread :)

Took it for a quick spin to Tesco. Never had so much anxiety in my life! Eyes spent more time on the temp gauge then they did on the road. Temp looked to be sitting nicely in the middle when I arrived home: First run in a few months and...