how many of you have made a 100% successful recovery

[T1z3R]

from a blown cylinder head?

theres tons of threads on blown heads which makes it hard to tell how many folks have laid out to have it repaired or done the work themselves and succeeded to return their truck to as good as or better than it was.

post your comebacks with costs if you like and time spent if you did it yourself. i may or may not perform one depending on your replies.

[Koi]

My head when on my 2.4 at one year of ownership.
Sourced a redesigned head from Stevo and with an extra pair of hands from Lucky stripped the old one off and replaced the new one in a day.
Two years later it was still going strong and sold it, I know a year after I sold it it was still fine.
Cant remember the cost but it was as advertised on Stevo's website.

[gwh200]

My old 2.4 had a modified head on it, and that thing went places you wouldn't ask ray meats to go. I just got a 3.0 litre, it had an eBay head on it.
This didn't last to long so I went to stevo as well... -and I can't praise him enough. If you decide to get a new head stevo is a very reliable and reputable guy to do business with.

[darkdezigns]

head went on mine recently(3.0) i went the roughtrax route,new built head,head gasket,water pump,cambelt,tensioner,pulley, stat,rad,cap,a scary 1200 quid,but massive diffrence,love it

[coolsv650]

I bought a 2.4 with a blown head.

Got a head set complete from Stevo about £795, add in anti-freeze new belts, water pump, thermostat a service kit and oil it would have cost me about £1000.

The 2.4 is a bit more involved to do but with time they are reletivly straight forward.

It tooke me about 3 days to do (taking my time) but we had the truck for 2 years and it was fine. Sold it a year ago so dont know what happened since.

I did modify mine to put in a spare 3.0 ltr radiator in that I had, its longer so the Air con rads would have to come out. the extra length did solve the overheating with the caravan on though

[TonyN]

as long as you do all the obvious checks once the head is off, ie, check bores, check block deck, etc... for damage from when it go hot then there is no reason it wont be fine.

Most problems encountered after doing head are things not put back together properly, or the orginal cause of overheating not picked up on, ie, knackered rad, water pump, leaks,.... etc.

[darkdezigns]

as long as you do all the obvious checks once the head is off, ie, check bores, check block deck, etc... for damage from when it go hot then there is no reason it wont be fine.

Most problems encountered after doing head are things not put back together properly, or the orginal cause of overheating not picked up on, ie, knackered rad, water pump, leaks,.... etc.

funny you should say that lol,picked up the fault a sodding great caravan lol,although,the amount of extra power the surf has now,i dont think it would struggle now?def worth cleaning inlet manifold out i say!

[Maverick]

Honestly can't rmember when and how much my change of head was. I think it was within my first two years of ownership, so that puts it somewhere between 2003 and 2005. Up until last year when diesel went stupid price she was my daily driver without fault. Now she sits waiting and hoping for a nice run (or a trip to the timber yard when I put enougth supplies to get the cross bars bending (solid job done withthe roof bars Tony, they've taken a hammering).

After sitting for over a month all I need to do is connect the batteries and she'll fire up first time every time.

[captain_chaos]

Had the head replaced on my 2.4 by TonyN about 2 1/2 years ago, wtih no faults at all.

[Ptarmigan]

90% successful so far

New head fitted, with transplanted cams.
New valves + guides + new belts etc.
Kept the water pump and rad after a pressure test.

Kept losing coolant slowly after the rebuild, so discovered a shagged radiator top hose (split under both clamps).
A/C advance didn`t work properly and also power brakes very very occasionally didn`t give power... if you know what I mean. Traced today and found they both use the same vacuum feed so suspect some crap got in there while the head was off and started to block stuff up.

So if I had any worthwhile advice, it would be to bank on a few hundred miles to sort out niggles after the work is done.

Otherwise so far so good!

Cheers,
Jon

[evildwarf]

it's hard to find reliable mechanics who dont fleece you but in general the engines are bullet proof some of the niggles dont become visible until you have the engine running right but at the mileage these trucks have done unless properly looked after you will find little bits and peices now and again very few people service their vehicles when they are supposed too but on here they love their trucks and are treated accordingly good luck with yours

[Bibs]

it's hard to find reliable mechanics who dont fleece you but in general the engines are bullet proof some of the niggles dont become visible until you have the engine running right but at the mileage these trucks have done unless properly looked after you will find little bits and peices now and again very few people service their vehicles when they are supposed too but on here they love their trucks and are treated accordingly good luck with yours

Wise words - I have looked after mine an serviced it regularly since owning it. Prob the only reason it has lasted so long since the original symtoms. Guy that had it before me obviously didnt - most of the bolts were loose or missing on the drive shalfts and gearbox an sand filled what looked like an old airfilter proved that.

[T1z3R]

many thanks for all your replies.
ive just sent payment to chewee from this forum for his old replacement head so thats the ball rolling.

fingers crossed i have as much success as at least half of you.

[Vultch]

3.0 L head replaced 18 months ago, spoke to Stevo and got a head, local garage changed it. no prob since...except 6 months later the water pump went, but any car i have before with head probs has lost the water pump as well.