good evening. following a cam belt snapping, after only 25,000 miles, i am going to buy a secondhand head complete with cams etc.
I have changed many head gaskets of k series engines in MGf an MGTf, which is mid engined and a real tight space to work in.
What are the difficult parts to remove to get the head off?
any advice welcome

no replies or tips?

Salut French Dave,

Not having done this job I can’t give any tips, but as I said on a previous post the engine is basically an
HDI……lots in France…..very well known in 1.6 /2.0 ltr guise……..
I have seen a lot of FL2 head removal videos on YouTube but it’s all about the 3,2 petrol…..obviously troublesome….as the K Series used to be. Have seen videos by Alan Howatt on YouTube about the Mondeo 2.0diesel……basically the same as I said…….useful to see the basic engine dismantling process…..
Worth a look…….
Lots of bits to take off…..confined space but if you’ve done same job on MG K Series should not be too bad.

Bon Courage …..Pete FL2 SD4 HSE Lux Auto MY 2012— current
D2 TD5 HSE Man MY 1999 470kmls….gone 2014 ….lovely engine..chassis rotten
D1 300TDI Man MY 1996 56kmls….gone 1999…D2 much better
Wife’s FL1 1.8P MY 2001 32kmls …gone 2007…has Mini since.

french dave , you will need a new set of head bolts for it as they are stretch bolts .
whats it like in calvados theses days i used to live out there back in the mid 2000s  2009 FL2 S now gone
2011 FL2 HSE AUTO
2012 FL2 XS AUTO
2000 Kawasaki er 5

We are between st lo and vire. Love it, been here 22 years. Yes knew they are stretch boths much like the mgtfs I have worked on. still not sure its worth repairing. Only paid £750 for the car last year, but have paid 32% import tax and carte grise fees, to make it road legal in france

I've only changed the exhaust camshaft which is easy enough , the head involves shedding the exhaust manifold / turbo which is another level with poor access for a DIY mechanic.
You may however be in luck as often the rockers sacrifice themselves keeping the valves intact.
You'll see this once you get that far , and it would be worth just trying replacing the broken ones.

Bon Chance

I had to take the head off my Freelander after a nut got sucked into one of the cylinders and I had to replace 4 valves. It’s not a challenging motor to strip down, particularly once you remove the panel on the firewall which gives fantastic access. Putting it back together wasn’t too bad, admittedly I paid a mate of mine who is a mechanic to help me out for a day as I wasn’t confident getting the timing all set up. He also brought a digital torque wrench which was handy. Everything else bolted together pretty easily, we did have problems bleeding the fuel system but I found the most effective way was to use a brake bleeder attached to a compressor and sucking the fuel through the return line from the injectors which solved the problem. The cars still going 50 000 kms later, in hindsight I probably wish I’d done the rocker arms at the same time as I’ve read of them cracking. I did replace all the valve stem seals and all the gaskets including the head gasket while it was apart. I took a heap of photos as I stripped it down which helped when putting it back together, as did the Haynes and factory manuals.

Have you checked the rockers as these often break and save the valves from damage ? ive done a head on a freelander 2 and its not a bad job just take your time you don't need to remove the turbo just undo the long exhaust manifold bolts and the manifold will move away slightly giving you enough room to slide head up everything else is just common sense just put everything in piles with its respective bolts nuts etc that way its not a major puzzle when refitting BUT definitely CHECK your rockers before you dive in as you might be lucky and only have broken a few off those

french dave wrote:

We are between st lo and vire. Love it, been here 22 years. Yes knew they are stretch boths much like the mgtfs I have worked on. still not sure its worth repairing. Only paid £750 for the car last year, but have paid 32% import tax and carte grise fees, to make it road legal in france