Hey, first of all just a bit of history. I got a 4 cylinder TR handed down to me from my mum as a first car, it was in pretty rough shape, so I just drove it into the ground until eventually the transmission went bang so I decided not to bother fixing it.

Now I picked up a KR a couple of months ago for a couple of slabs, and it seems to be in pretty good shape, they got rid of it because the "alternator was worn" (just turned out to be the regulator and that was a simple swap over from the TR.)

Anyway I'm now seriously looking at getting it roadworthy and registered as my daily driver, and there was steam/white smoke coming from the exhaust, theres also a bit of an oil leak that looks like its coming from the rocker cover? maybe. No big drips, but just a slow leak.

Anyway because of the white smoke we are gonna give changing the head gaskets a go.

I've had a bit of a search around the forums, and there were a couple of threads I found that I cant find again which had detailed info about changing the head gaskets. While I'm not a great backyard mechanic a couple of mates are and they will be helping with the replacement. Hopefully they can spot a cracked/warped head if thats the issue.

Anyway can anyone help me out with info about what I will need / difficulty's I will face with removing the head and changing the head gaskets? I have the workshop manual but the description is really brief and while I'm confident we will be able to "figure it out as we go" I'd like to know what we are up against.

Cheers.

Mate, before you go ripping heads off are you sure you have blown head gaskets? It does not sound like it to me and yes I am a mechanic.

It sounds more like you are getting smoke from stem seals.

Does the cooling system over pressurise? Are you getting oil contamination in the cooling or sludge in the oil (perhaps not all 3)

Do a monixide test at FOT first before you start to go ripping heads off, it is unusual for the KR heads to have issues

Oh cool thanks for you fast reply.

Nope I'm not sure I have a blown gasket, just going off advice from other people, which is what they said the most likely thing was. I didn't even know it could be the stem seals :redface:

I'll check it out tommorow some more and come back with some more info. Just a quick question though, when you say "Do a monixide test at FOT" what does that mean? Sorry for my stupidity. :confused:

Trust my advice - Try to leave the heads alone - more hassle then its worth

']Trust my advice - Try to leave the heads alone - more hassle then its worth
As in, dont bother trying to do it ourselves. Or just dont bother in general?

I'd like to not have it turn to **** on me like the TR if possible without spending mega-bucks.

As in, dont bother trying to do it ourselves. Or just dont bother in general?

I'd like to not have it turn to **** on me like the TR if possible without spending mega-bucks.

Oh dont get me wrong try it (if needed) but have someone there who knows what they are doing.
And be prepared for the costs to double if stuff goes wrong like that time i did the heads....

It's a common problem to have issues with the heads on 6g72 v6( TR - KR, TS - KS and Pajeros.)The gasket do go after 200.000km's and crack between the 1 cylinder, that's according to the mechanic that I know and the place where I take my heads in to get checked.I have 4 pairs of heads in the shed and 2 off them are cracked.The oil doesn't always mix with the water when gaskets go.
My son's 2.6 TR blew the head gasket and there was no water in the oil, then his TS v6 started
using water with no leaks found so took it to the mechanic same deal head gasket gone and the car had done just over 200.000 km's.
My son got a motor from the wreckers which done 180.000 km's and after 5000 km's the gaskets went on that.
I have brought 4 TS - KS v6's cheap and all of them just over 200.000km's with the same issues head gaskets.
It's a fairly easy job to do the heads if you know what you are doing.

RE: valve stem seals, the usual way to test whether they are the culprit is to have the car revving for a while (ie. foot on the accelerator, not idling), so as to burn off any spare oil in there, then when(?) you have no smoke (if still smoking, that's another issue), let it idle for a little while. After it's idled for a while, give the accelerator a hit; if a puff of smoke comes out, but hasn't been smoking when revving, it's probably valve stem seals.

Reasoning; when idling, leaking seals let some oil through, and when you rev it this oil then burns off. When running normally the seals won't leak, unless they are really screwed (something to do with pressure differences I think)

It's common to have issues with the heads on the KR? What do they have a timer in the engiens, "well that our 200k's lets blow this joint"

I say you have just been picking up abused motors and cars.

I have many customers with well over 200k's on them, my old KR had 345k's when I traded it in, no issues there.

I am not saying he has not got gasket issues however check it forst.

And the myth of the 6g72 having issues at no1 is a myth. There is no fact behind it.

The fact that you have had 4cyl issues comes as no surprise at all but the v6 is a lot better. The main issue they have if over heated is they tend to crack the head between the water jacked and the exhaust port, they will not oil up the water or vise versa but will loose coolant with no obvious leak. Had one of these a few years ago, stuck Inox (only produce I will use) and 50k later was still fine.

Well 3 of the cars I had regular services done, the reason they sold the cars is that it would of cost approximately $2000 to get fixed.The guy up the road from me had a KR with regular services done and it had 180,000 km's when the rear bank gasket went.
My son just brought Shamous69 KS and suppose to have the heads done on it before Shamous69 brought the car, but it has water in the oil so you know what that means, car done 227.000km's.As for the 2.6 I had 2 TM's ,2 TP's and still have a 2.6 NH Pajero and all have done over 220,000km's , only 1 had timing chain rattle the rest no issues at all.

Ok, well today we did a compression test. And cyl 3 is at around 150 psi, and cylinder 1 is around around 220, so something dodgy is definitely going on.

The rest were around the 185 mark which according to the manual is normal. Decided to take it for a spin, see what its like after its been running for a while after about an hour of driving there wasnt any noticable smoke coming from the exhaust.

But when its cold there is definitely a lot of white smoke just idling followed by very very light blue smoke. This goes away after about 2 or 3 minutes, but theres a LOT of white smoke when revving it when its cold.

The main thing is it ran fine (temp stayed fine, no noticable misfiring, a bit lacking in power but meh), well the engine anyway. Something dodgy going on when gearing up (auto) but thats another issue I assume. I'll check the water tommorow for traces of oil, I also put cardboard under the car to see if there are any drips, after its had a good run today.

I'll probably just screw it and get a dodgy roadworthy and look into it more once its been registered. Unless theres any easy stuff people suggest I tinker with. As you guys said its not worth pulling the head off unless I'm sure where the problem is and I don't really have the tools to diagnose it much further.

Cheers for your help / opinions though.

TUFFTR has a whole engine and gearbox assembly for sale, probably more reliable than changing the heads.

Get the roadie, drive it and keep a regular eye on the coolant level, pref when cold before you start it up each day. This will soon tell you if there is loss or not.

In so far as the valve stem goes, run the car, warm the motor, let it idle 5 or so mins, stand behind while someone gives it a good rev, smoke + stem seals. The smoke will be a whitish blue mainly because oils these days are not 100% mineral thus the smoke is not as tell tale as it was years ago.

Does the cooling system over pressurise?

I didnt know a cooling system could over pressurise, how does it happen, what are the symptons and how do you test for it?

Ollie

Great, the car seems to have dropped a cylinder now (after not running for the weekend.) Any ideas on what i should look at bar the usual plugs/leads/dissy? And if they are fine should I then assume head gasket is gone, or is it more likely to be something else?

Had booked in to get the roadworthy this week too. :rant: