Freelander K6 head woes

Hi all,
New to the forum and living in France, I've just bought a Freelander 1 with the 1.8L K6 engine (I know, I know, I must be an idiot) but it seemed fine when the nice man sold it to me. And yes, it now has head gasket problems. So the head is now off and I can see a mark on the head were gas is blowing into a waterway. There is a definite indentation (or wear) of a couple of thou on the head at this point so it will need to be skimmed. BUT it has already been skimmed once so my question is this : I have seen some suppliers offering "shims" to help seal the head gaskets, can these be used to allow further skimming of the head ? I've seen in the rave manual specs that the reface limit is 0.2mm (8 thou) so I'm thinking that a MLS gasket and a shim should add a couple of thou ?. Or should I take the risk of picking up a S/H head off ebay ??
Many thanks for your thoughts !

You can use a "head saver" shim to help seal a "soft" head, which I suspect yours is.
These saver shims do work, but can't be considered a permanent fix, more of a good temporary fix.

I personally avoid the MLS gasket as it's too fussy on mating surface specifications.

Oh the 1.8 is a K4, not a K6, which is another engine entirely.

Nodge68 said:

You can use a "head saver" shim to help seal a "soft" head, which I suspect yours is.
These saver shims do work, but can't be considered a permanent fix, more of a good temporary fix.

I personally avoid the MLS gasket as it's too fussy on mating surface specifications.

Oh the 1.8 is a K4, not a K6, which is another engine entirely.

Click to expand...

Many thanks. Yes, K4 ! Sorry 'bout that !
I'm surprised you don't like the MLS, all the "expert" resellers seem to recommend it unless there is a problem with liner height. -Do you know how I can measure the head to work out how much has already been skimmed off ?

Oh, and another question.. I was looking for a complete refurbished replacement head and a lot are referenced "auto-tensioner". Are all 1.8L K4's "auto-tensioner" ?

yarnik said:

I'm surprised you don't like the MLS, all the "expert" resellers seem to recommend it unless there is a problem with liner height.

Click to expand...

The MLS gasket is ok, providing the engine is within a very tight manufacturing tolerance (basically blueprinted).
Rover knew this when the built the engine, so developed the stainless/elastomer gasket to work within standard manufacturing tolerances.

Due to the rather wide tolerances found in the K series, the MLS isn't a fit and forget solution. In fact many leak coolant from the head /block intersection straight after fitting. This is frustrating as the engine then needs stripping for another gasket to be fitted.

The elastomer gasket doesn't suffer this problem, so is my personal preference.

yarnik said:

Do you know how I can measure the head to work out how much has already been skimmed off ?

Click to expand...

You measure the total hight of the head from the HG face to cam face. This must not be less than 118.75 mm. If it's under this hight, the head has already been re-faced.

yarnik said:

I was looking for a complete refurbished replacement head and a lot are referenced "auto-tensioner". Are all 1.8L K4's "auto-tensioner" ?

Click to expand...

Most Freelander K 1.8 used the automatic tensioner. But a replacement head could come from an engine that was previously fitted with a manual tensioner. It's not really an issue, as it's possible to convert to either type if needed.

Thank you so much for your advice. So I've decided to buy a "remanufactured" head, ready skimmed, etc, rather than have my own redone. From what you are saying, it would be better to go for an elastomer gasket. Just to be clear, this is as per OEM Rover part, yes ? Although I see there are many manufacturers/prices.
I was looking at this one from MG Spares :https://www.dmgrs.co.uk/collections...ries-payen-elastomer-head-gasket-set-full-kit . Or could you suggest a known good one ?
Many thanks again in advance !

DMGRS are good people.

Thanks again for the great, friendly replies! Hopefully will be back on the road in a couple of weeks.

yarnik said:

So I've decided to buy a "remanufactured" head, ready skimmed, etc, rather than have my own redone.

Click to expand...

That's only any good, if the remanufactured head is hard and has been tested as such. The reason an overheated K series HG fails again shortly after a new gasket is fitted, is due to the head being soft. Overheating the head ruins the hardness of the head, which causes the fire rings to recede into the surface very quickly. Once soft, the head is scrap, so can't be used as a base for manufacturing.
There are plenty of "cowboys" out there selling junk as remanufactured heads.
So make sure it comes with a hardness test report, and a decent no quibble guarantee.

yarnik said:

I was looking at this one from MG Spares :https://www.dmgrs.co.uk/collections...ries-payen-elastomer-head-gasket-set-full-kit . Or could you suggest a known good one ?

Click to expand...

The Payen BW750 is the HG of choice for the K series.

Good luck with the repair. Like Nodge said if you can get your head tested for hardness it will be much cheaper than replacing it with an unknown one which may or may not be good.
+1 for DMGRS kits, the guy is a MG Rover nut so knows what he is selling.

Thanks guys, for the help. As it turns out, I've found a brand new head with valves fitted at a reasonable price. Hopefully will have more chance of success with this.
Cheers.

- Just in case anyone was following this and considering a head swap on the K series 1.8 (see above), I can report that all went well with my new head and MLS gasket. So far (fingers crossed) she's performing well with no more coolant loss. The cylinder head kit complete with water pump, etc, came from Redmans Engine Center.

yarnik said:

- Just in case anyone was following this and considering a head swap on the K series 1.8 (see above), I can report that all went well with my new head and MLS gasket. So far (fingers crossed) she's performing well with no more coolant loss. The cylinder head kit complete with water pump, etc, came from Redmans Engine Center.

Click to expand...

Nice to hear it's going again. Now you can be as paranoid as everyone else with a K series.
Last time I did that job it was a real pain as some of the oil had crystallised and turned to very thick gummy tar in the oil ways where the head bolts go through. I had to take the sump and oil rail off the get the head bolts out but the worst was after a few months it started loosing coolant again. I of course feared the worst but it turned out to be a leaking hose.
The joys of buying a used car that was owned by someone who thinks oil changes are optional.