Hey folks, been quite a while since I was on here, must be because the freelander (smelly nelly, ex dog walker car) has behaved itself for the last 3 years since I got it with a blown head and rebuilt it.
When I did the rebuild back then I did all the upgrades with the gasket, bolts, head saver shim, lower oil rail and even put a new belt kit on and water pump for good measure. It had already been fitted with the “out front” thermostat mod.
Since the rebuild it’s been 3 years and she’s covered 31,000 miles and has been pretty flawless, never used a single drop of coolant.
Then last weekend I went on a road trip to swansea from Edinburgh, around 400/500 miles each way. I got to about 100 miles away from Swansea when it started misfiring and running sh** so I stopped for a while at services to fuel up anyway and seemed fine after. Made it to Swansea and decided to have a look the next day. Opened the bonnet and my face dropped when I noticed the coolant was... gone , so I topped it up, bled it, ran her up to temp and watched her overheat on the live data, I switched her off at 105 degrees c and it sounded like water was actually boiling in the head, I could hear it gargling n stuff. I checked the top n bottom rad hoses to realise the thermostat which for months had been stuck open (taking forever to heat up) was now stuck shut and boiling my cylinder head bast***!!, I thought, but anyway off to euro car parts for coolant and a thermostat.
Got back, sorted all that, went a 5-10 mile test drive, that was successful and good constant 92 ish on live data, no overheat and circulation good.
Next day I head home to Edinburgh from Swansea and get about 1 hour up the road and all he’ll beeaks loose lol, loose power going up hill, eml starts flashing, misfiring like bandit, down through the gears for power till I’m crawling in first into a lay-by
and, oh bollux, it’s pouring out steam smoke oil you name it and it’s pouring out my exhaust lol.
So sadly to say the £17.64 thermostat has fubar’d my head and the previous work. Dammit lol. So here iam about to start the process of “the great cylinder hunt and rebuild” again. It’s been 3 years so I can remember most of it.
Unfortunately this heads no good for rebuild again for various reasons so I need to get one from the breakers check it over the if good skim and rebuild it. Now I’m trying to remember the list of important things to check when scouting for a k series head but I don’t wanna miss anything important. Is there anything people would add to this in the breakers yard check list?
1) cam bearings and oil ways
2) head face - check depth of head gasket indentations for softness
3) steel rule for warpage
4) check how much skimmable metal is left on head
5) valves appear to seat nicely nothing bent.
I usually Dremel out the waterways etc anyway as most of the casting is fairly poor. I really hope I get a good one as I’d love to keep the motor, it’s been a great car until now.
Rossco
When I did the rebuild back then I did all the upgrades with the gasket, bolts, head saver shim, lower oil rail and even put a new belt kit on and water pump for good measure. It had already been fitted with the “out front” thermostat mod.
Since the rebuild it’s been 3 years and she’s covered 31,000 miles and has been pretty flawless, never used a single drop of coolant.
Then last weekend I went on a road trip to swansea from Edinburgh, around 400/500 miles each way. I got to about 100 miles away from Swansea when it started misfiring and running sh** so I stopped for a while at services to fuel up anyway and seemed fine after. Made it to Swansea and decided to have a look the next day. Opened the bonnet and my face dropped when I noticed the coolant was... gone , so I topped it up, bled it, ran her up to temp and watched her overheat on the live data, I switched her off at 105 degrees c and it sounded like water was actually boiling in the head, I could hear it gargling n stuff. I checked the top n bottom rad hoses to realise the thermostat which for months had been stuck open (taking forever to heat up) was now stuck shut and boiling my cylinder head bast***!!, I thought, but anyway off to euro car parts for coolant and a thermostat.
Got back, sorted all that, went a 5-10 mile test drive, that was successful and good constant 92 ish on live data, no overheat and circulation good.
Next day I head home to Edinburgh from Swansea and get about 1 hour up the road and all he’ll beeaks loose lol, loose power going up hill, eml starts flashing, misfiring like bandit, down through the gears for power till I’m crawling in first into a lay-by
and, oh bollux, it’s pouring out steam smoke oil you name it and it’s pouring out my exhaust lol.So sadly to say the £17.64 thermostat has fubar’d my head and the previous work. Dammit lol. So here iam about to start the process of “the great cylinder hunt and rebuild” again. It’s been 3 years so I can remember most of it.
Unfortunately this heads no good for rebuild again for various reasons so I need to get one from the breakers check it over the if good skim and rebuild it. Now I’m trying to remember the list of important things to check when scouting for a k series head but I don’t wanna miss anything important. Is there anything people would add to this in the breakers yard check list?
1) cam bearings and oil ways
2) head face - check depth of head gasket indentations for softness
3) steel rule for warpage
4) check how much skimmable metal is left on head
5) valves appear to seat nicely nothing bent.
I usually Dremel out the waterways etc anyway as most of the casting is fairly poor. I really hope I get a good one as I’d love to keep the motor, it’s been a great car until now.
Rossco
