Thread: V8 Head gasket gone after 9 months

Pull plugs out if any are steam cleaned.
Look futher.
Outside two maybe be gasket.
Inside two.. slipped liners.
My v8 had steam cleaned front plug.
Threads had pulled out of block..
Time sert steel threads. Fixed that.

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Few Questions, did you use new bolts, did you thread tap the threads in the block, are the heads 10 bolt or 14 bolt, did you lubricate (lightly) the threads in the block and the bolt threads and the underside of the bolt heads. If you didn't do any of this you would not have gotten true torque readings.
If you go ARP studs you will see (instructions) that they are adamant about clean threads and using the lubricant that they supply.
If you have 14 bolt heads, don't fit the bottom 4 bolts, later models only have 10 bolt heads, LR changed to 10 bolt heads, they found that the bottom 4 bolts were causing head gasket problems, Regards frank.

Originally Posted by sheerluck

Well the head gasket I fitted as part of the engine overhaul has not even lasted it's to it's first birthday, and now I am worried that I may have something more sinister.

The symptoms started about a month or two ago, when I got stuck in a huge long queue for the council tip. Up to that point it (the car, not the council tip) was running perfectly, no leaks, either oil or water. After that, I was regularly having to top water up, with no sign of external leakage at all, and the engine had begun to rattle badly with any generous use of the loud pedal.

Then, last week, coming home from a 50km run, I stopped close to home, and on getting back in the car, noticed a puddle of coolant underneath. Popped the bonnet, and could see it was leaking from the back of the left hand (from driver's seat view) head.

Stripped it down the following day, and found two things - 1. the head bolts were not tight at all. 2. the head gasket looked like it had been chewed by mice.

Now, I know that I had tightened the bolts up to the 20nm + 180 degrees as described in RAVE, so am at a loss as to how they had loosened by so much. Defective stretch bolts? Or did I just miss something?

As I needed to use the Disco, I just replaced the gaskets and bolts, and it is running beautifully again.

I did test the head and block for flatness, or as much as an amateur can, and check for obvious signs of slipped liners/block cracks, but could see nothing. Any thoughts?