I had a spot of corrosion between 3-4 cylinder in 300Tdi about the size of a 10c piece and up to 10mm deep (pretty close to the bore but not quite)welded up and the head refaced. i dont think the bloke new much about landrovers and didnt think this would be a problem, $100 later i was happy.

With a new headgasket and head bolts i put the head back on all angle torque up correctly. the thing run like a dream with fuel economy less than 10l/100km. i did a few long runs and after 2000km noticed a small drop in power not to long after the temp come up and stopped me half way to my destination. it bloew all the coolant out and the pistons were pressurising the coolant system. i thought the weld had failed or cracked.

Turns out the head gasket had failed, was flapping and only the 4 head bolts on the ends were tight the rest were half as tight. The gasket had failed between 2-3-4. Talking with a few mechanics with landrover experience all reckon the 300tdi head gaskets compress and if the head is not brand new the head bolts need to be retorqued or checked to take up the slack to the head gasket compression. So i would advise anyone replacing the headgasket to check the torque on the head bolts. Get the motor up to temp let the motor cool fully then check the torque. to get this torque simply test all the bolts after you do the angle torque they will be very similar if all the threads in the block have been cleaned up.

i know alot of people will say otherwise, but if i had retorqued the bolts the thing would still be going and not missed a beat so for piece of mind rip off the rocker cover and check them after refiting a head.