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[Abiton]

When I was getting bits to do ours last summer, I asked Vx what they'd have charged for the job.  I was told "Around £800, if it all went well and no studs break off in the head or anything..."

 

If it does need doing, have a go yourself, or ask one of the kind 'travelling omega gods' on here to come and do it for you, or take the car to one of them. 

[Andy B]

I would say 4 hours and about 100 quids worth of bits.

You may wish to add in a cambelt kit and water pump if its due soon and if its mega bad a head skim (about 20-30 quid extra)

SO...even at Vx proices, 600 quid.

1200 quid must have included a replacement head

Print out suggests they removed head & refitted them. 'Coolant loss traced to leaking cylindr head gaskets. Removed both cylinder head gaskets as required' done at 73500 miles & I was slightly out with the price at £1038.50  and the age  , done in Oct 02 (car registered 05/99)

[RossMk2]

Im suspecting my head gaskets have gone also. I stripped the inlet right down to the coolant bridge as i have water around the back of both heads and was told maybe its leaking from there, but its dry as a bone, looks like its coming straight from the heads. Im slowly loosing coolant but i dont get any of the other side effect of mayo etc...

[Rob-Mitton]

First things first!
1. Are you losing coolant from the expansion bottle?
2. Can you find the source of the leak in the engine bay?
3. Is there a smell of petrol or exhaust gas in the coolant bottle?
4. Is the cooling system pressurising, can you see air bubbles entering the expansion bottle from the small diameter hoses?
5. Is there any oil in the coolant or coolant (mayonnaise) in the oil?
6. Leave the car to cool down overnight & then remove the plugs one by one & shine a bright torch into the plug hole, can you see any liquid in the bores? or firmly tape a cotton bud to long pencil or similar and carefully lower into the bore until it touches the piston head and check if it is wet when removed.

Note: Even if the head gasket has gone, it is not a difficult job to do it yourself with some basic tools and a common sense approach to the job, you do not have to be a mechanic to fix a 2.2 head gasket & it will cost in the region of £150 ota in parts plus approx. another £30 - £40 to get the head skimmed if that is necessary. Plus you will get all the help you need on here for free too! 

I know there's no sign of Mayo in the oil or expansion tank, these are the first things I checked. I'll check the rest this weekend. Cheers for the pointers.

If i'm only looking at £150ish then i'll do it myself. Just in the process of putting a zx9r b model back together in the diningroom (the wife's not happy, lol)

I bought it to tow my caravan and to get me the 80 mile round trip to work in Goole from Sheffield, which she does with ease. I was luck as we got an estate in at work to break that had a dog guard and full un-used tow bar.

I'm really enjoying the car, this is the only niggle and i'd love to get it sorted. (Would a 3.0L elite model engine fit?? Got one of those in as well)

Cheers for all the help lads

Rob

[Abiton]

First things first!
1. Are you losing coolant from the expansion bottle?
2. Can you find the source of the leak in the engine bay?
3. Is there a smell of petrol or exhaust gas in the coolant bottle?
4. Is the cooling system pressurising, can you see air bubbles entering the expansion bottle from the small diameter hoses?
5. Is there any oil in the coolant or coolant (mayonnaise) in the oil?
6. Leave the car to cool down overnight & then remove the plugs one by one & shine a bright torch into the plug hole, can you see any liquid in the bores? or firmly tape a cotton bud to long pencil or similar and carefully lower into the bore until it touches the piston head and check if it is wet when removed.

Note: Even if the head gasket has gone, it is not a difficult job to do it yourself with some basic tools and a common sense approach to the job, you do not have to be a mechanic to fix a 2.2 head gasket & it will cost in the region of £150 ota in parts plus approx. another £30 - £40 to get the head skimmed if that is necessary. Plus you will get all the help you need on here for free too! 

I know there's no sign of Mayo in the oil or expansion tank, these are the first things I checked. I'll check the rest this weekend. Cheers for the pointers.

If i'm only looking at £150ish then i'll do it myself. Just in the process of putting a zx9r b model back together in the diningroom (the wife's not happy, lol)

I bought it to tow my caravan and to get me the 80 mile round trip to work in Goole from Sheffield, which she does with ease. I was luck as we got an estate in at work to break that had a dog guard and full un-used tow bar.

I'm really enjoying the car, this is the only niggle and i'd love to get it sorted. (Would a 3.0L elite model engine fit?? Got one of those in as well)

Cheers for all the help lads

Rob

It sounds like you have the skills/facilities. 

I bought everything from Vx, but I think various members (e.g. Marks DTM Calibration?) have said that other suppliers are better value/equal quality on the HG itself, headbolts and cambelt kits.  Stay with Vx for exhaust mani gasket (metal multilayer) if you take that off, and camcover gasket.

There's a (camshaft sprocket) locking wedge readily available that makes replacement of cambelt easier, for very little cash, that I would have invested in if I'd known it existed. Fiver well spent, I'd think.

P.S. Philrich's list of diagnostics is spot on. 

[adi191927]

Labour times remove and install cylinder head 4.7 hours

Labour times strip and rebuild                       7.9 hours

According to autodata.

[PhilRich]

First things first!
1. Are you losing coolant from the expansion bottle?
2. Can you find the source of the leak in the engine bay?
3. Is there a smell of petrol or exhaust gas in the coolant bottle?
4. Is the cooling system pressurising, can you see air bubbles entering the expansion bottle from the small diameter hoses?
5. Is there any oil in the coolant or coolant (mayonnaise) in the oil?
6. Leave the car to cool down overnight & then remove the plugs one by one & shine a bright torch into the plug hole, can you see any liquid in the bores? or firmly tape a cotton bud to long pencil or similar and carefully lower into the bore until it touches the piston head and check if it is wet when removed.

Note: Even if the head gasket has gone, it is not a difficult job to do it yourself with some basic tools and a common sense approach to the job, you do not have to be a mechanic to fix a 2.2 head gasket & it will cost in the region of £150 ota in parts plus approx. another £30 - £40 to get the head skimmed if that is necessary. Plus you will get all the help you need on here for free too! 

I know there's no sign of Mayo in the oil or expansion tank, these are the first things I checked. I'll check the rest this weekend. Cheers for the pointers.

If i'm only looking at £150ish then i'll do it myself. Just in the process of putting a zx9r b model back together in the diningroom (the wife's not happy, lol)

I bought it to tow my caravan and to get me the 80 mile round trip to work in Goole from Sheffield, which she does with ease. I was luck as we got an estate in at work to break that had a dog guard and full un-used tow bar.

I'm really enjoying the car, this is the only niggle and i'd love to get it sorted. (Would a 3.0L elite model engine fit?? Got one of those in as well)

Cheers for all the help lads

Rob

It sounds like you have the skills/facilities. 

I bought everything from Vx, but I think various members (e.g. Marks DTM Calibration?) have said that other suppliers are better value/equal quality on the HG itself, headbolts and cambelt kits.  Stay with Vx for exhaust mani gasket (metal multilayer) if you take that off, and camcover gasket.

There's a (camshaft sprocket) locking wedge readily available that makes replacement of cambelt easier, for very little cash, that I would have invested in if I'd known it existed. Fiver well spent, I'd think.

P.S. Philrich's list of diagnostics is spot on. 

[/highlight]





  Only because I learned it from YOU Abiton mate 

[Chimpchoker]

I had coolant leaks or a long while and a little trickle of water down from the rear right corner of the block and my trusty stealership said ti was a head gasket job. I left it until aug 08 it was taking 5lts of water to drive 2 miles so the AA lifted me home and it turned out to be the oil cooler casing had split. That job cost me £450  ish at the stealership to replace the oilcooler ( as it comes with its own casing...... )

[Rob-Mitton]

Well, quick update.

Coming home in the car this evening, as she boiled her top. Looked down and there it was, right into the red. Got her to side of the road and got a 2l bottle of water from the shop.

Started To take the cap off (tank empty), and water came bubbling back into the tank. full 2L of water and the temp dropped. by the time i got home it was pushing 90 again. (Usually around 80). Now i have the dreeded white steam at the exhaust. Couldn't get it above 90 on the drive.

Starting to wonder if I should have kept the Range Rover

Rob

[mark.adams]

A head gasket change on a 2.2 is not bad, my head is going back on today on my drive in the rain after reskimming and welding.

[star_whites]

It ain't that difficult to do the 2.0 like they said. I've done three rebuilds on the 2.0 and the cost will vary depending on how far u want to go with parts. If u do everything and use genuine the cost mounts up fast, I should know. But if you just replace what's needed it ain't too bad.

[mark.adams]

Mine is back together now, cost £330 for welding, skimming and complete gasket set, new cambelt and set of head bolts. Now fully reassembled and it works woohoo....
temp gauge doesn't work must have forgot to reconnect temp sender at back of block....

[Rob-Mitton]

After checking all the levels i have put 3 litres of water and a litre of oil in. The last time they were checked was 03/07/2010. these were brought to correct levels at that date.

I've got no mixing of the oil and water, but white smoke at the exhaust (minimal). I'm going to get a code reader (as bulb appears to be blown for EML light)

Would this do?? http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002451&langId=-1&searchTerms=CODE+READER

I just want to check for any stored codes.

To be fair, i've been sat all day on e of bay and the trader websites looking at replacement, but I've decided I want to get this sorted. It's looking like a head job, but i think i need to check for any other problems with the code reader before i delve in as it were.

Cheers for all the help guys. 

Rob

[Rob-Mitton]

There's a hell of a lot of pressure in the expansion bottle. Even when cold. Is this normal???

Temp stays down if the blower is left on (hot or cold) as then the rear fan is perm running.

Could this mean a blocked rad???

Also, a new little trait its started with is that the auto box doesn't seem to want to move the car at a great rate of knots. Starts off ok, then the power drops off and sports box can't be engaged. Turn off and restart and everything goes back to normal. (For a while anyway).

No messages on the message centre either. V V Confusing

Rob

[Abiton]

There's a hell of a lot of pressure in the expansion bottle. Even when cold. Is this normal???

In a word, no.  Before ours got replaced (HG) it used to retain pressure overnight, and when up-to-temp the rad hoses were waaaay hard. After new gasket fitted, no pressure in exp tank once engine is cool, and nice squeezable hoses at op temp.  Have you looked down the plug-holes yet?

Temp stays down if the blower is left on (hot or cold) as then the rear fan is perm running.

I don't understand the interaction between rad fan and blower motor, but I've seen that there is such a link in the wiring diagrams once (complex mass of relays and schizzle in these cars), and wondered what it was all about TBH.  Just tried ours, and from cold the rad fan (ours only has the rear one) doesn't come on with the blower motor.  Ours is the basest of base models though, so may not have quite so many relays/interactions :-/

I would guess that your overheating is down to quantity of coolant lost/remaining.  As the volume of coolant goes down, temps are sure to increase.