MG ZR Head Gasket

mgdavid

goonarmy wrote: »

....... And the 2.5 kv is supposed to be just as poor.

Oh dear you really don't know much about cars do you, been listening to pub talk again I suppose. The KV6 suffers none of the gasket issues of the K4 engine, they are quite different.

mgdavid

OP what part of the country are you in? There are a few very good people who specialise in K4 head gasket jobs at a more reasonable price. Get yourself across to one of the specialist forums where you can find recommendations.
http://forums.xpowerforums.com/
http://www.zscentral.com/phpbb/index.php
http://forums.mg-rover.org/
all might be a good place to start

Lieja

mgdavid wrote: »

OP what part of the country are you in? There are a few very good people who specialise in K4 head gasket jobs at a more reasonable price. Get yourself across to one of the specialist forums where you can find recommendations.
http://forums.xpowerforums.com/
http://www.zscentral.com/phpbb/index.php
http://forums.mg-rover.org/
all might be a good place to start

I'm in County Durham.

Thanks, I'll have a look at those

nickcc

mgdavid wrote: »

Oh dear you really don't know much about cars do you, been listening to pub talk again I suppose. The KV6 suffers none of the gasket issues of the K4 engine, they are quite different.

Certainly does in the Freelander.

goonarmy

mgdavid wrote: »

Oh dear you really don't know much about cars do you, been listening to pub talk again I suppose. The KV6 suffers none of the gasket issues of the K4 engine, they are quite different.

Nope. Forum talk. The kv6 seems to be suffering in freelanders. Or maybe the people complaining of HGF are wrong and you are right. Im open to suggestions.

goonarmy

nickcc wrote: »

Certainly does in the Freelander.

LZ is full of em.:j

AdrianC

goonarmy wrote: »

Nope. Forum talk. The kv6 seems to be suffering in freelanders. Or maybe the people complaining of HGF are wrong and you are right. Im open to suggestions.

It's entirely possible - the Mk1 Freelander certainly had serious cooling system issues, leading to the K4 engine having FAR worse HG issues in that than in other installs. Since the KV6 doesn't have the same open-block design as the K4, and doesn't have anything like the same HG issues in other installs, perhaps there's actually a double-whammy on Freelander 1.8 HGs, with both the plastic head locators and some fundamental installation issues at the root cause of those problems?

Rover_Driver

goonarmy wrote: »

Nope. Forum talk. The kv6 seems to be suffering in freelanders. Or maybe the people complaining of HGF are wrong and you are right. Im open to suggestions.

The KV6 doesn't suffer head gasket failure anywhere as much as the K4.

It can suffer from inlet manifold gasket problems and subsequent coolant loss - which many wrongly diagnose as head gasket failure 'because they all do it, it's a Rover'.

BeenThroughItAll

Lieja wrote: »

I'm in County Durham.

Thanks, I'll have a look at those

Sadly I'm up to my ears in work and trying to move house at the moment and I've got no time or I'd help out as I am local.

A properly fixed K series (especially the understressed 1.4) needn't be unreliable. As I said on another thread recently:

I've personally rebuilt five K series engines from 1.4 to 1.8VVC, the last being in 2009. All of them have been done properly. I only know the history of three of those since I've done them, but none of those have suffered any further problems, in spite of them all being tuned examples used in Elises and Cater-likes

atrixblue.-MFR-.

the KV6 doesn't suffer HG issues if a HG blows in a KV6 its usually lacking maintenance like not swapping out thermostats on services can arise problems, also the vis motors shut down on them wich give lack of power.

the K series can portray a veriety of HG symptoms but not actually have a HG failure.

1.the coolant cap can have froth like mayo on it, this is due to the rubber seal of the top the cap perishing.

2.inlet manifold gasket leak can pass water and mix with what's dripping down from the rocker cover gasket onto the inlet this then get sucked into the engine at the leak site making it look like a HG failure under the oil filler cap.

usualy the elastomer metal gasket only goes on the outside of cyl number 4 and leak down the side of the block and go between the oil return and water supply ports, problems arising after this is fixed is mainly due to crushed fire rings in the gasket due to over tightening of the headbolts or cylinder liners too proud or too low due to lack of mechanics knowledge of the engine to measure them and know the tolerated specs, if the liners are out (mainly due to the mechanic moving the crank while the head is off) then they will leak.


another problem why they go after replacement is that the engine was cooked to the point of no return the alu block and head go so soft after sever overheating that it just will not make a proper seal once the engine is warmed up.

another problem is garages not following the revised torque settings and warm up procedure once HG replacements are done.


my advice to the OP, get over to the MGRoverforums, theres a few mobile mechanics who will fit bought parts for little money and endless supply of tea and biscuits. take the head to be skimmed and tested and check everything is good and sound once the gasket is done.