Thread: V8 Head Gasket

A small mirror and a good torch, or get underneath and look at the backs of the heads. Leakage here is common on Rover V8's so nothing to be overly surprised about. Time for some new gaskets.

I've had a weep there for the 5 years I've owned the car. Top the coolant every couple of months, and no problem. I did get an engine saver for Justin though.

Originally Posted by EddyEddys

Gday All,
I fear that I have a blown head gasket on my 2004 V8. Whenever I get out of the car after driving it, it smells like hot coolant. There is evidence of a coolant leak from the back of the drivers side of the engine and coolant is finding its way to the front cross member and onto the drivers side cat. The coolant level is only slowly getting lower and the coolant temp is remaining steady at around 87 degrees. Theres also a slight oil leak in the same area. What would be the best way to prove its a head gasket leak?

get a tk test there cheep and will let you know on way or another I had one done on my td5 because she was preasurizing and I was getting air in the heater core and I could always smell coolant tk test cost me $50 well worth it good luck

Possible cause could be a loose inlet manifold, quite common on V8s, water holes at each end of the heads.

Having just been through exactly the same on my 2001 v8 the head gaskets failed on the corners. I was losing about 100ml a day. It was weeping on the back corners and front corners. No coolant in the oil. Just and external leak. Common if your up around the 200k mark.

You have 2 options
1. Replace the head gaskets. About $1500 to 2k via a mechanic. Or do it yourself
2. Use a chemical stop leak in the coolant.
2nd choice won't do any harm, but only temp fix

Having just been through this. In hindsight i would have tried the chemical fix first. Ive heard others doing that and getting another 30k travel before they had to replace the gaskets.

Kseal available from supercheap.

Ive used it before on other cars with good results.

Just my 2c worth ....

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