I went out last night cos I have a life and I come back to this madness!!
chromiumuk you are the calm in my life!! haha
OK OK, lets get go over some key points and give you a understanding of my brain, I'd looked at the issue of HGF and at the upgraded parts on todays market, including cheaper market products.
(When things go wrong and if honest you'd look around and see what you can get at the best price but this isn't the best practice as experience would show - if HGF are part of life for the K-Series then you've got to do your best to reduce the possibility)
Having looked over many a horror story regarding "ANOTHER HGF" the ongoing theme I've noticed was not replacing all the key upgraded parts (Most peeps don't state if they obtained high end market parts - again cheap parts are a possible factor of repetative failure)
With the above in mind I began to look at the strongest market parts and information from racing team such as Lotus, Nascar etc and looked at what they've done over the years to help the high stress levels these guys put the engines under, again high upgraded parts are used.
This seems to be a way forward, replacing "all" the key parts! Thermostat, Bolts, Gasket, dowels, Oil rail (Oil Ladder) Over the years HGF has been looked at and the one thing all teams agreed on including Rover/Land Rover is to replace all the parts!
Saying that what works for one..... :doh:
The next big issue to address is Alloy! Now I'm no engineer of the "motoring world" but accepting that Alloy if placed under enough stress goes soft plays a big part in the life of the K-series. The understanding is if it's soft it's junk/it cant be fixed only replaced.
So to cap, Alloy gets way to hot and becomes scrap. This is when you will hear stories about Liners dropping/Heads cracking etc.
So my first job after a HGF was to remove the head and take it for testing. They tested the head first, stripped it down for inspection, reassembled, skimmed and re-tested. As the head's Alloy is still strong it can go back on the vehicle.
So next job was to look at the "Bottom End" now this has caused some debate, whatever practice you choose either "Revue" or "clamping" of the liners the bottom end is generally overlooked but shouldn't be. Again if it's gone soft it's scrap this therory also stands for the Oil Rail as it can collapse and loosens the required tension from the bolts causing HGF.
OK so just for debate sake we all agree that the Liners haven't dropped and the seals are good, the Bottom end and Head is still strong and we've settled on replacing the Gasket, Bolts, Rail and Dowels. I don't need to change the thermostat as my model had it fitted as standard (54Reg) but have checked it over to make sure it still opporates (placed in a pan of boiling water and checked by eye that it opens)
(FACT - THE NEW MLS GASKET CREATES MORE FLEX THAN THE ORIGINAL GASKET THEREFORE IT MUST BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE UPGRADED OIL RAIL & ONLY BE USED IF THE HEAD HAS BEEN SKIMMED)
This is one of the main areas overlooked have a stressed that enough already?!
As mine has done 48K it was due to fail given it had the old dowels/gasket and oil rail, but since it's apart I've also chosen to replace the timing belt and wheel, makes sense to do all the jobs at once!!
The next issue is to cover "Electric Pumps" designed for hot climates the claims are it will reduce air pockets and help with the heating up and cooling down process of the engine especially the Alloy (remember we've talked about the Alloy going soft) now I've got no experience with these some say it's overkill some say it's required. Lotus and Nascar teams don't go as far as fitting these units only that you must upgrade to the new thermostat which is Pressure and Temperature controlled (PRT was fitted as standard on later models). My thoughts are I will look into this more.
So I hope this clears things up a little, job's left to do on mine are little, the head is back on so just to line up timing belt, final tighten exhaust manifold, fit air filter housing and flush entire system.
Final major recomendation is to check the head bolts 5 months/5 thousand miles later regardless of issues and set periods there after. This is a small price to pay in the ongoing battle of HGF it's all about the tension baby!
So you can make your own minds up about HGF this is mine, I will however purchase the Water Expansion tank with a fitted water sensor as mentioned by "the one who's name shall not be typed" as I think it was a very good suggestion and a simple job to wire in.
I thank you!!
