Land Rover Repair: Range Rover Classic - Head Gaskets, combustion gases, coolant loss

Question
John,
I'm thinking seriously about getting myself a Range Rover Classic, preferably a '95. As I've done research on Land Rovers equipped with the Rover V8, there seems to be an above-average incidence of head gasket failures about the time the vehicles roll over the 100K mark. Are these failures due to a deficiency in design/materials or are they more often a consequence of an overheating episode that isn't caught in time?

Answer
The vast majority of head gasket failures in LR V8s are simply leaks of oil or more often coolant onto the ground.  They do not disable or damage the vehicle's functionality.  When you have a bad failure - a leakage of combustion gases into the cooling system - that is more often a result of previous overheating as a result of a hose leak, gradual coolant loss, etc.

It's actually not all that common to have a head gasket alone cause a combustion gas type leak, especially on newer Rovers.

There are article on this on my blog, http://robisonservice.blogspot.com and my website, www.robisonservice.com > service > rover > advice