[Wadmiester]

It is with deep sorrow I post that after 131,000 my 400's head gasket has finally spewed it. Driving home from my daughters ( only a couple of miles) I noticed steam coming out of bonnet ,a short distance from my front door thankfully. Car boiled over and now pumps freshly added water straight out of filler tank. Im not ready to give up on the car as it is to be honest one of the best cars I have ever owned. 5 years absolutely trouble free driving until tonight. It seems a straightforward job but having not done one before ,Im hoping that someone can advise me on the best gasket type to fit. There seems to be a plethora of them out there, are Multilayer Steel or other materials the best for the job. Also there are slightly different dimensions given on the sites I use. Any advice on the gasket and any fitting tips would be much appreciated. Cheers.

[Mr Teddy Bear]

Hi, there is an art to this job that not all garages understand and best practise has moved on since the Rover workshop manual's were written. It's important on strip down to visually examine the head/gasket/block face to work out the mode of failure.

1] There are various head gasket types available. The liner heights need to be measured before deciding on the gasket.

2] If one or more liners have dropped in the block due to over heating the liner can be pressed out and shimmed I believe.

3] The liners are designed to stand approx' 0.002 thousands of a inch proud of the block, this needs to be accurately measured first.

4] Due to the casting process there is a limit on skimming the head, so knowing the history before starting would be helpfull.

Hope this is of some help.

[Wadmiester]

Thank you for the quick reply. As always the forum doesn't let you down. I fear my earlier optimism has faded in the cold light of day and your obvious experience and know how has me thinking there is a lot more to this job than i previously thought. I did some reading last night and as you stated the liner heights dictate the gasket type to use. Knocked my confidence a bit but its no use me just looking at it. Will get the tools out , thanks again for your advice.

[rjessett]

Don't be put off!.

on an 8v its a reletively easy job, easier than the 16v, simply as its ligher and easier to time, and thats not trickey to do eihter

As long as you have not driven it too much and warped the head, I suspect you might just get away with the gasket, I always have, luckily.

The Elastomer gasket is far more tolerent of liner heights, and to be honest, its all I use. Im not keen on the MLS

[crepello]

The Elastomer gasket is far more tolerent of liner heights, and to be honest, its all I use. Im not keen on the MLS

In fact the official advice seems to be that if the liner heights have become irregular, then an MLS gasket should not be used.

There seem to have been design iterations of the MLS, judging from the product photos matching the 'MLS' description. Latest
ones seem not to have crushable fire rings, and have multiple layers riveted together through small external tabs. Earlier ones
have a single steel lamination and fire rings as with the classic elastomer bead type, but the elastomer beads have been replaced
by almost continuous elastomer slabs each side. I've fitted one of these from BGA, and observed that the specified bolt torques
were the same as the Rover manuals stated for the elastomer bead type, from which I inferred that it would be OK in any situation
where an elastomer bead gasket could be used. It also came with a saver shim to protect the face of the head.

It would have helped understanding, if these developments had been made under a single Rover/Land-Rover company owner!

[RoverRevival]

Depending on your location is more than likely a £300 job start to finish if you need any help.

[Wadmiester]

Cheers for all for your input , it really is invaluable. Thanks for the offer RoverRevival but im in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, dont think im anywhere near you and I dont mind getting my hands dirty "IF" I have researched it enough and asked for advice off wiser people than myself. Im a backstreet fixer and with the weather changing these things seem a little less stressful . Only a little mind you. At the minute I just keep opening the bonnet and saying to myself "it doesn't look that bad"

[Mr Teddy Bear]

If you're going to do it your self, you need a straight edge that's longer than the block, or borrow one. It needs to be precision ground and not a Ebay second. There are various folk on here who have successfully changed them, it probably depends on how badly overheated the engine has become. Put the edge across the liners and see if they're all the same stand proud height.
You could take the head off your self and see what's wrong with it first, there are Rover mobile mechanic's who cater for these sort of jobs and will know which gasket to fit depending on the situation, whether they would take on the job once the head is off is another matter. You could ask.
The SAIC Gasket and head bolts had a different tightening sequence. I think it's fair to say that the latter Chinese produced N Series engine doesn't suffer from failure of the elastomer gasket, so if the engine hasn't badly overheated it's probably worth doing, making sure that who ever does the job uses the correct gasket and bolts and follows the correct tightening sequence and torque figure for the replacement bolts.