Thread: Tracing the coolant leak

on the cyl head bolts dont bother with anything but a 1/2 inch drive single hex impact socket, i prefer 5/8 but 16mm will bo ok to, ive seen many people give themselves un neeeded heartache breaking tools and rounded head bolts, i use a snap-on socket myself with a breaker bar and extensions to suit to loosen, and have done more engine rebuilds on these things than any one person should have to (17 years dealer tech) , im still in therapy after not touching one in 4 years!!!
dont forget to use new cyl head bolts, lightly oiled, and torque all bolts to 20nm, 15 lbf ft, and then tighten all bolts 90 deg and then a further 90 deg. just use white out or something to mark the bolts after you torque them and then the 90 + 90 , its easy to forget which ones you have tightened and those you havent

Originally Posted by eb220

Looking at the spark plug above the red box, seems your in for a new set of leads.

I have a set of Summit Racing 8 or 8.8 mm, (can't remember which) sitting here if you want them.

Chris

Yeah, that lead was a pain to remove and I will be in need of a new set of leads. Let me know what you want for the set you have, thanks.

Cheers, Paul.

RH head is off!!

Went to the big boys toy shop and got a couple of socket sets, plus 2 of those black 16mm 1/2" drive sockets, and a 600mm breaker bar. In retrospect I should have got a bigger breaker bar... my back is still sore... those bolts are a real pain. For a couple of them I had to climb up on the bull bar and wedge my right foot against the hoop on the bar to get enough leverage to shift the bolts.

Undid the bolts according to the order specified in Rave...


Underside of removed RH head, showing leak at bottom right (rear right bottom on engine)


close up of leak location


pic of block


and close up of leak location. I think the oil staining on the LHS was me as I was removing the head.


Lots more pics at my Engine Refresh photo journal... about 160 now . Eventually they will be moved to paulp38a.com when I have the time to sort it out.

Cheers, Paul.

while you have the heads of, remove one of the exhaust valves and see if it has the revised spec ones fitted, the original types were prone to carbon build up and causing valve sticking resulting in missfire and or rough running. youve gone this far so you may as well. since it looks like you have acess to rave its on there under dicovery or range rover 12/12/96EN TECHNICAL BULLETINS. or do a word search on exhaust valves

How much easier is it to get the LH head off than the RH head!!

It took less than an hours work to get the LH heat shield, exhaust manifold, rockers and head off. I'm sure there are moany of you who could have done it in less, but I was pretty impressed with myself. The only hitch was that I didn't unbolt the engine wiring harness at the back of the head first as I thought I had already done it a few days ago.

The 7 x 8mm bolts holding the heat shield in place came out easily and I could do all of them from above the car.

I could remove the exhaust manifold from the engine bay before the head was removed, giving more room to manouvere... unlike the RH manifold.

The head bolts undid quite easily as I could lean over the front of the car and pull the 600mm breaker bar towards me rather than pushing as I had to do for the RH head.

No signs of leaks on this head, at least to my untrained eye.


The pistons tops look pretty ordinary though. Is this flakey black stuff normal, and what should I use to clean them up?


I've got one of those re-honing attachments to clean up the cylinders. Should I?

I've also got degreaser and gasket remover spray to clean the other bits. It did a great job on the rocker covers....

and this...

Is the breather supposed to have a hole in it or does it work off pressure? I couldn't get it to move and there doesn't seem to be a hole. Wonder if it is blocked?

My cleaning efforts so far have been using degreaser, gasket removal spray (for non-painted really stubborn gunk inside the rocker covers), heat gun, water, WD-40, soft-ish wire brush, scouring pads and rags.

I don't have a half 44 gallon drum to use for an oil/diesel bath so have to make do with buckets and those plastic storage bins...

More cleaning tips would be much appreciated.

Suppose I'd better get around to ordering the new gaskets, hoses, clamps, bolts etc on Monday... Last week was hectic at work and I didn't get time to review the quotes properly. This week is going to be worse... plus 2 days in Perth again. Love Perth... hate the flights from/to Canberra.

Cheers, Paul.

Paul

Clean what ever you like ... But what ever you do ... DO NOT remove, or clean the carbon on the side of the bore at the TOP /// This your carbon seal for the rings when the piston is in the TDC firing position

To clean the tops of the piston ... Turn the crank & put each one in the TDC position to clean .. use a Vacuum cleaner to get any crud out from between the piston & bore // use a soft wire brush // No cleaning fluid agents

Mike

Thank you Mike. It looked like that tapered carbon ring around the top of the cylinders was supposed to be there. Glad you confirmed it for me.

Now for the really noob question... can I crank the engine to get the pistons to TDC just by putting the transmission in neutral and rotating "something" with a spanner without dismantling the engine any further?

Cheers, Paul.

Originally Posted by PaulP38a

Now for the really noob question... can I crank the engine to get the pistons to TDC just by putting the transmission in neutral and rotating "something" with a spanner without dismantling the engine any further?

ahem, never mind... just looked at Rave and found the crankshaft pulley below the water pump. Maybe I will have to take that damn viscous fan off after all...