Block & Head Photos

Having removed the right hand head today I have uploaded some photos of the head, gasket and block - just wondered if someone could give me their thoughts on the condition of them. The head gasket isnt broken and looked like new!

Many thanks in advance!

the liners look ok, i wouldnt think they have gone. the pistons look a bit sooty or oily, can't tell from the piccys.

what was the problem?

i would check the deck of the block and see what that tells you.

The initial problem was loss of water coolant, overheating after 15mins of driving which all lead to a burst water pipe. Following the burst water pipe, it was very difficult to start and sounded like it was only running on 7 cylinders

with the exception of the first piccy i would say there has been no water in the cylinders, even the first piccy doesnt look as though its had water in. it just looks cleaner than the rest

does the corresponding head look the same? can tell on piccys.

gavbriggs said:

with the exception of the first piccy i would say there has been no water in the cylinders, even the first piccy doesnt look as though its had water in. it just looks cleaner than the rest

does the corresponding head look the same? can tell on piccys.

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Yeah the head looks pretty much the same, again a bit oily and sooty but nothing that seems out of place. One thing I did notice is that the head bolts were very loose, I would say that they were slightly tighter than finger tight! I never noticed any water leaking throught the gasket and given the condition of the gasket I dont think this has happened - but Land Rover gave torques for a reason and to not tighten them to that cant have helped.

Maybe I will find a different story when I take the other head off.

a jamaican mechanic at the place i do my cars (uncles garage) tightened my heads back on, he didn't use a torque wrench and to be honest he knows these and similar v8's inside and out.

they are tight tho, and you certainly wouldnt want em just over finger tight!

That sounds bad (finger tight bolts). You may find sods laws is dealing its cards here and all your answers are in the other bank of cylinders.

Pistons look sooty, but not too bad. Liners and block face not too bad either.
Sevre water ingress will make the piston crown look as though it's had a good session in a dishwasher and got the Diamond Standard. This would also show up on the offending spark plug.
Slack head bolts definately don't help matters either.

All the spark plugs looked just sooty and pretty knackered! I was told that the heads had been dont just before I bought it (about 3000 miles ago) but as there was no receipt I took it with a pinch of salt. Having seen the head gasket maybe they were telling the truth!

Hope the other head doesnt look as good as then I will be at a complete loss at to why its overheating and sounds like its not running on all cylinders.

Ill post some photos tomorrow night once I get the left hand head off.

I've taken the heads to Turner Engineering in Surrey this morning (really helpful guys if anyones looking for a head skimmed or engine). They had a quick look over them and from what he could see the head gaskets were fine and the heads dont looked to have been leaking, however when he measured the head up he found that the last person to skim the head had done it to a greater depth on the radiator end than on the coil end - not by much but it still wasnt straight.

They are going to put it through their "washing machine" and get back to me once all the heads are cleaned up.

Although its looking like I may need a new block I'm still forever hopeful it wont. :scratching_chin:

In Picture two on the left side of the piston, there is a portion where there is no oil, this corresponds very nicley to the discoloration on the head.............
The same on picture 3, only not so noticible.

rewmer said:

In Picture two on the left side of the piston, there is a portion where there is no oil, this corresponds very nicley to the discoloration on the head.............
The same on picture 3, only not so noticible.

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Thanks for that rewmer; for fear of sounding stupid - what does that mean in terms of engine problems?

AlexxLush said:

he found that the last person to skim the head had done it to a greater depth on the radiator end than on the coil end - not by much but it still wasnt straight.

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Not to sound negative but when's the last time you went to an expert of any sort, in any field and they didn't say "ah well the last fella to have a go has bollixed it but maybe i can still fix it."?

AlexxLush said:

Thanks for that rewmer; for fear of sounding stupid - what does that mean in terms of engine problems?

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To me it looks like signs of a blown gasket. It just looks odd that the discoloration is in identical places on the piston and block face.