[2.5 NA Cylinder head core plugs]

Hi guys - must say I'm impressed by the speed of response on this site, and the willingness of you guys to share information and experience! Think I'm going to be posting plenty of dumb questions as time goes by.

Western/Ralph(?) - many thanks for that. That's been very helpful. About to get greasy so will get back on this later in the day.

Mr Eightpot. I've certainly had trouble with core plugs on other engines in the past, and in the searches I did on this site before posting my query I found I number of people with core plug problems, including the dreaded 'it's an engine out job for the rear ones'. But hey - 50 Land Rovers in 30 years? That's getting on for 1 every 6 months! ;-)   

More seriously, the vehicle has spent it's life so far in Singapore. Whilst it came to me with anti-freeze in it (and I assume a reasonable cocktail of rust inhibitors etc), it wouldn't surprise me if it spent most of its life with tap water in it. There's a fair degree of pitting in the head under where the thermostat sits. I plan to do long journeys in it and I don't want to blow a plug half way across the Carpathian mountains. So with the greatest respect I plan to ignore your advice replace the plugs that are in contact with coolant. Call me Mr Picky. The ones in contact with oil though, I whole heartedly agree. And we've all had the experience of making things worse while trying to make things better, Haven't we? So unless anybody can advise differently I plan to leave the oil side plugs alone.

So a basic question before moving on to the cylinder head (and the subject of this thread!) - which plugs in the block are in water galleries, and which in oil galleries? I don't want to replace unnecessarily.

Thanks - Phill

[2.5 NA Cylinder head core plugs]

Hi Ralph - thanks for the rapid response! I'm happy enough doing the actual job of replacing the plugs, and I've spent a lot of time watching Mike's/Britannica videos over the last month. That's a brilliant source of know-how. I couldn't find the plug numbers in the parts book - am I being thick? Or maybe looking in the wrong section. Engine?

I guess my issue is about, is it ok to just replace the plugs in the waterworks? I'm figuring that the guy who did it in the factory was probably more proficient than me, and was working with all new 100% clean metal surfaces. It's a kind of if it ain't broke don't fix it approach on the oily ones, whereas after 34 years the watery ones are just biding their time waiting to give me a headache!

[2.5 NA Cylinder head core plugs]

Hi - new to the forum so still finding my way around, but not able to find the specifics I was looking for on this topic. Possibly being thick.

I'm a first time Land Rover owner, recently bought a 1987 ex-Singapore Army 110, 2.5 NA, only done 4k miles (although 1,100 running hours on a clock in the engine bay). Everything leaks. Body and chassis pretty much A1. Right now I have the engine, LT77 and LT230 out and in various stages of strip down.

I have the engine down to the iron block, I (think) I count 5 core plugs to waterways and 1 to the rear of the cam at the back - I plan to replace all the plugs on the block except the camshaft one - oily plugs don't normally give problems in other classic engines I am more familiar with. Please holler if it's a water one, or if this one gives trouble.

The head however, looks much more complicated core plug wise than I am accustomed to! I count (I think!) 13 plugs of different shapes and sizes. So, with the same take on replacing only the water gallery ones, which ones do I need to replace?

I have picked up in other threads that it's best to fit only original Land Rover ones as other makes are not a tight enough fit, so that has been very useful info.

Cheers

Phill