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1998 Brooklands Head Gasket

4K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  shadow 11 
#1 ·
Hi

I feel my 1998 Brooklands Mulliner Head Gasket has gone or should I say one of them!
In recent days its not fired up immediately as its always done in the past.
Today it was the same but it also seemed to be slightly rough running, I took her on a very short run and its smoking lots of white smoke and still running rough.
So I bought her straight home and depressurized the water.
The oil filler cap is not emulsified.

Firstly is there anything else this could be?

Secondly if it is the head gasket has anyone on here tackled it themselves?

Ive already in the past tackled the hydraulic pumps so am used to going that far.
I replaced head gaskets on other vehicles but how involved is this job on this car and what are the key difficulties or things to bear in mind?
In reality how long is it likely to take, I would of course do both gaskets and also the valve seals etc, but any recommendations very welcome.

Many Thanks

Andy
 
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#2 ·
I would read before you proceed. Knowledge is everything and never assume what you may know transfers over to a project on a RR/B. There is nothing extraordinary here, just alot of labor and common sense and the proper tools for the procedure.



Download the workshop manual for your car from the Bentley Heritage site and read the section you need...in fact read it several times and be absolutely sure you can tackle this job. Most of the work is topside and some of it is below so make sure you have the right shop eq to tackle.
Do you have access to a good machine shop? Why do you feel the valve stem seals have to be replaced? Smoking? I would certainly do the valves, check the V guides and replace the stem seals with positive seals since they have to be removed anyway.
 
#3 ·
Andy, while never replacing the HG on a Bentley, and while there are lots of accessories bolted to the engine, it's an OHV engine and as such, it should be simpler to do a head gasket than any OHC motor from Mercedes, BMW etc.

If you've done it before, it should be within your ability to do it again.
 
#5 ·
head gaskets

I had same problem just after buying a '97 turbo r in nov 2017, 80+k on clock. My first indication was an erratic water temp guage. i thought it must be getting some shots of exhaust gas. When I saw the white cloud out back I knew for sure. It was steam from water entering combustion chambers. I stopped driving it immediately. i started the teardown,found the turbo was seized, i assumed from the pump picking up water from bottom of sump and feeding it to the turbo. I went no further as it was winter and I did not have indoor repair facilities. I had it done by RR/B specialists for that engine in Crondall, Hampshire. many more here know more about this than I do but this is my experience. The minimum book time for this job is I was told 35 hours. Much cleaning and difficulties with corroded and broken parts took this to 60 hours for me. The inlet, exhaust manifolds and turbo aren't easy to remove ( I think Crondall can do it with their eyes closed). the head gasket, as far as I can make out, had not changed design for many years, since when the engine produced much less horsepower. There is a much better, in my opinion, 3 layer metal gasket available which is identical except needing one extra hole for a locating pin. Crondall did not want to fit this as they do everything by the book and as they've had 600 bhp from this engine with no problems I let them go ahead. They did not remove the sump but did flush it a few times. i don't think they changed valve seals although I would have done so. At my request they also changed the thermostat, pump and radiator. Bentley parts are expensive. I would have used some aftermarket parts but Crondall didn't do that. they were very thorough and detailed in their report on work done. I sincerely hope i don't need to go back. It hasn't missed a beat since (except for its tracktion control skips at 70+mph) Anything else, please ask.
 
#6 ·
Well shes all apart and the near side gasket had blown slightly. Luckily she did not overheat so as expected the heads are flat, which is a bonus! I had better get on with ordering some parts :) I have the whole disassembly photographed stage by stage. So will post some up at some point.
 
#8 ·
Andy.

The usual suppliers, Introcar and Flying Spares will know the part no. for your car.

There is still a problem getting head gaskets and you may well have to wait until they become available again. I would advise you get them from the known sources as they will have been tested.

Jake.
 
#9 ·
Thank you and yes I feel your quite right, I understand flying spares, intro had stopped supplying them, and in any event id rather use a genuine one, but am struggling to find a part number and so are Bentley Berkshire. It may be they are aware but not saying whats happening? Ill see what they come back with :)
 
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