Freelander 1 1.8 Various Questions

Hey all, I have some questions if anyone could answer I’d appreciate it.

My car is a 2004 1.8 with a rover 75 turbo engine that’s been rebuilt, however I continually have my coolant pressuring and even blew a hose off. I did the usual new cap and all of that, eventually did a block test and when the engines very hot it fails and turns yellow. When the engine was rebuilt 500miles ago everything was inspected, I’m assuming a small crack in a liner or head is to blame as all looked good originally. Also is passed all leak down tests.

My plan is to swap the conrod and pistons into a known good NA k series (which I hav), but that means I need to also need to cut in a return oil line which I have reservations about.

1. Am I missing a potential problem that doesn’t require me to rip out the engine and start swapping all the parts over?

2. Can I remove just the engine without taking out the IRD and gearbox? Is there physically enough room?

3. I have a Kmaps ECU, after recently changing the HG on this engine I haven’t been able to start the car, I had it running for a while then suddenly cut out and wouldn’t run. I have confirmed that crank and cam work correctly, TPS and MAP given good enough readings. I don’t seem to have spark but can understand why I don’t, everything looks fine to me. Is there something I’m missing?

DanielG said:

My plan is to swap the conrod and pistons into a known good NA k series (which I hav), but that means I need to also need to cut in a return oil line which I have reservations about

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If you think it's a liner issue, then why not just replace them?
4 liners and a set of piston rings are all that's needed.
The block can't cause pressurisation, as there's no access to the combustion chamber via the block.

Nodge68 said:

If you think it's a liner issue, then why not just replace them?
4 liners and a set of piston rings are all that's needed.
The block can't cause pressurisation, as there's no access to the combustion chamber via the block.

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It could also be a crack head although it wasn’t seen my myself or the machinist when he skimmed, but it wasn’t pressure tested.

Do you think the only think it could be is liners?

DanielG said:

It could also be a crack head although it wasn’t seen my myself or the machinist when he skimmed, but it wasn’t pressure tested.

Do you think the only think it could be is liners?

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If the engine has ever been run with low coolant, then the liners can crack.
However if the head has exceeded 120°C, then it'll be soft and scrap anyway.
When the head is off, see if the fire rings have made marks in the head face. If so then that's the issue, and a replacement head is needed.

Nodge68 said:

If the engine has ever been run with low coolant, then the liners can crack.
However if the head has exceeded 120°C, then it'll be soft and scrap anyway.
When the head is off, see if the fire rings have made marks in the head face. If so then that's the issue, and a replacement head is needed.

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There didn’t seem to be ring marks but there were marks from the what looked like rivets from the gasket. I assume this is what you mean.

DanielG said:

There didn’t seem to be ring marks but there were marks from the what looked like rivets from the gasket. I assume this is what you mean.

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If the head is soft, the the gasket fire rings make indentations in the head face.
The rivets your talking about are there to limit how compressed the gasket gets, when the bolts are torqued up.
Did you use the latest 10.9 bolts?

Yea I used the latest bolts, the rivets dented the block, I don’t remember them denting they head.

DanielG said:

Yea I used the latest bolts, the rivets dented the block, I don’t remember them denting they head.

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That doesn't sound right. The rivets should limit gasket compression, not damage the block. Is it possible the head gasket was faulty?

Doubt it, I bought is from DMGRS as a bw750 gasket.

DanielG said:

Doubt it, I bought is from DMGRS as a bw750 gasket.

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It should be ok then, although I did think the BW750 was out of production now.

I ordered “2x K Series Head OEM-Q Gasket (Elastomer) - BW750 / LVB000320”

Can you post some pictures of the points of interest?

Nodge68 said:

Can you post some pictures of the points of interest?

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Do you mean the gasket it self or the cylinder head and block?

DanielG said:

Do you mean the gasket it self or the cylinder head and block?

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The more the better. A picture tells a thousand words.

Perfect I will do that when I next take the head off, any ideas on my other questions?

Can I remove the engine with IRD and Gearbox in situ?

Any idea on my non starting, I can’t seem to get a spark, can hear the pump pump kick in, MAP and TPS are reading correct, and I’ve swapped the cam sensors over for a known good one. I’m assuming it’s crank sensor but it was working fine before the last HG change and all of a sudden isn’t happy. any ideas? Anything I’ve overlooked?

So heads off, I timed it with a 15min break it took me 1hour 45 minutes to get the head off, not to shabby.

Upon inspection the head is fine, there is no indent just the usual gasket marks. The head is flat, as I am unable to get a 0.005mm shin under a straight edge.

Liners are relatively level but I did notice that the liner height is 0.007 inch. I believe spec is 0.002-0.004. Therefore the liners never needed the shims I fitting .

Reckon the liners being 0.003 bigger is my pressurising issue?

Also I finally tracked down the source of the none starting issue to a corroded connector under the intake manifold.

DanielG said:

Reckon the liners being 0.003 bigger is my pressurising issue?

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Could be. I expect the adjacent liner to the high one isn't sealing correctly. You can check the gasket fire ring thickness, if you have a micrometer.

Nodge68 said:

Could be. I expect the adjacent liner to the high one isn't sealing correctly. You can check the gasket fire ring thickness, if you have a micrometer.

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They’re all 0.003 bigger, they’re equal just higher then they should be.

DanielG said:

They’re all 0.003 bigger, they’re equal just higher then they should be.

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Of all liners are 0.007", then that's 0.003" over the maximum specification, which will compress the gasket fire rings more than they're designed to be compressed. This will flatten the fire rings, making them liable to fail prematurely.

Symptoms:
Extreme pressuring of the coolant.
Fails block tester


What I’ve done:
Leak down test, passes happily.
3 HG changes (MLS and Elastomer)
Latest one I had the head skimmed and pressure tested(passes).
New Liners(all roughly 5 thou protruding I assumed it would drop slightly under pressure)
New reservoir and cap
New radiator and hoses
New Turbo


Last rebuild everything looked absolutely perfect, no signs of detonation, slight wear on big end bearings due to stuff in the oil, but nothing major. Liner height is good. Heads flat. Blocks pretty flat.


Yet the moment it gets hot (30minutes of idle) it fails block test ****ing coolant out the top of the res.
I’ve spent so much time and money on this engine, countless times taking it in and out, yet it still fails.
I’m just stumped, I have no idea what’s wrong with it.

Have you go any suggestions?