Willy, Let me share my story regarding a Head Gasket Replacement and perhaps you my find some comfort if not a solution. Last April, 2012, I purchased for $1200 US a 1999 Range Rover SE (4.0 Bosch) as a project vehicle. My intention was to repair it and sell it for a profit. The previous owner had owned it only 3 months and parted with her mechanic boyfriend before he repaired it.. It had everything wrong with it, but after eliminating all other possibilities, I decided to tackle the Head Gasket rather than have a Salvage Yard come and get it and claim it as a charitable donation.
I took my time and after weeks completed the job. I used Pauls (the Australian) photo guide as well as the Discovery II guide written by Land Rover. After I thought I was complete, I had to adjust the throttle/cruise control cables, I exchanged incorrectly the IACV and the coil connectors that gave erroneous codes, just to name a couple. The car started and when I took it for a test drive, it was ok at first, but soon overheated. I recalled all of the horror stories that you read on these forumsslipped sleeves, cracked heads, loose bolts, etc. I checked, rechecked, read forums, and just walked away for a couple of days. Then I read about filling the coolant. One writer talked about jacking up the car and the side that has the overflow tank. I did it, why not? I removed the bleed hose from the nipple on the radiator. With the car running while jacked up, I filled the overflow with coolant until the there was a steady flow of coolant from the bleed nipple. I then reattached the hose to the nipple, topped off the overflow tank. My temperature gauge has been at 12:00 since.
My heads were skimmed. Rave says that they can be skimmed .5 mm. Mine were skimmed 12 thousandths of an inch which is about .3mm. My cost was only $82 for this. I have been driving this car since. I have towed a vehicle on a car carrier with it. I decided to keep it as a 4 wheel through the winter. Having fallen in love with my Rover, I may never sell it. I hope this helps
