4.6hse V8 1998 head gasket chuffing how long is labour?

Hi, anyone know what the labour is recommended at i.e. how many hours for doing one side only on a p38 1998 4.6 Range rover on LPG/petrol?
Its chuffing like a machine gun at mo.

was loosing water for a while, about a litre a month, but a chemical test never showed any exhaust fumes in water, a pressure test showed a small leak.
We were assuming it was this porous block symptom we have heard about?

I wonder if this gasket being fixed will stop the water leak or could it still be the porous block problem??
no sign of water in oil clotted cream type, ran well when just loosing a bit of water.


cannot afford to do both sides and all the head set so just having mechanic take apart and if head ok just doing one side, any advice?
would this be trick for a mechanic and how long in the so called book to do one side, not including any other gaskets or skimming head (unless needed)
Not very mechanically minded so be basic on answers please.
Thanks everyone
Golfprouk

Have you tried the magic coolant additive solution? Worked for me on a 3.9 Disco engine. At £10 or whatever it is, it has to be worth a shot first!

Just follow the instructions on the bottle very carefully.

Matt

I might have,whats it called? is it like a light blue green colour?
Cant remeber the name but you can only get it from garages not motor factors. is that the one?

Supposed to stop water leaks in the system right.
golfprouk

Well, there are two different products, one which stops leaks in the cooling system to the air (e.g. holes in the radiator) and a different product which stops leaks in the coolant system within the engine (head gasket etc. etc.) The second type of product requires you to remove all of the coolant in the system and flush through with water a couple of times - you have to add it to plain water because it is incompatible with coolant. Then you have to flush it out several times before re-filling with coolant. I can't remember what it is called (there are several brands) I bought mine from my local auto spares shop.

It doesn't work in every case, but I've heard some good stories, and it worked perfectly for me in a Disco with a knackered head gasket.

Matt.

Its called Cargo seal up

Before you go throwing money away on HG replacement, are you 100% sure that it is HGF?

Whats the water temp guage doing? taking ages to get some temp into it, then all of a sudden going off the scale? Have you checked the temp sender unit? Thermostat? Water pump?

But from what you said about it loosing coolent for some time, I suspect that terminal damage has occured.

Dom at TVR Power is doing CosCast 4.5 blocks for £995 + VAT if thats any use to you.

Disco Moneypit said:

Before you go throwing money away on HG replacement, are you 100% sure that it is HGF?

Whats the water temp guage doing? taking ages to get some temp into it, then all of a sudden going off the scale? Have you checked the temp sender unit? Thermostat? Water pump?

But from what you said about it loosing coolent for some time, I suspect that terminal damage has occured.

Dom at TVR Power is doing CosCast 4.5 blocks for £995 + VAT if thats any use to you.

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Thats interesting on the TVR Power thing... how much difference is there between the TVR 4.5 v8 & 5.0 v8 engines seen in Griffs / Chimera's??

the head gasket is a very easy job! i can strip and rebuild in a day, i'm not a mechanic either!! thats for two of em aswell!


i would say six hours start to finnish for a mechanic in the know!

i would get em both done if its HG as the other one is probably on the way! also when hg is off check for any liners that have moved down a fraction, this is slipped liner and mine has this issue! the liners should be flush with the block!

you will need new stretch bolts for the head too and preferably get them skimmed, this may take a day or two, also if yr doing it yrself, squeeze the lifters in a vice, carefully, and this will get rid of any tappet noise that may be present(obviously only noise caused by the lifters )

you can get the head gasket kit off ebay for around 40 quid with valley gasket and other bits and bobs!
hth

Vinny73 said:

Thats interesting on the TVR Power thing... how much difference is there between the TVR 4.5 v8 & 5.0 v8 engines seen in Griffs / Chimera's??

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No differance at all between the blocks of the TVR 4.5 and the Land Rover 4.6. The TVRs used a slightly higher lift cam and slightly better flowing heads.