MG ZR no heat from blowers/heater and brown toothpast like substance in coolant system, also oil in the water tank

Sounds like its definateley the head gasket , oil is mixin into the water system, sooner or later the water will become super heated and then you may cause damage to the cylinder head itself and then the cost will escalate. new Oil and filter required , oil flush , coolant system will need to be thoroughly flushed through and new coolant mix required. Head gasket , rocker gasket , probably exhaust and inlet gaskets aswell. Not sure of the cost of this , but i suggest getting quotes now and dont leave it too long as you will eventually crack or worp the cylinder head.

Head gasket gone , common fault. You will need to get modified head gasket kit and head skimmed / checked . Also see other posts re. this below .

If the repair is carried out correctly, ie - all new headbolts are used, new water pump, new timing belt etc then it should be fine but to make it even better , suggest to the garage that they use the gasket kit from a LandRover Freelander as it is supperior.
But whichever way they repair it, the fix will only be as good as the attention you give it after it is done. The 4 pot K is renowned for HGF and it is due to the minimul tollerances of the coolant system - a trade off for making what was at the time (and still may be) the lightest production 4 cylinder car engine.


wildoliver

5,951 posts

44 months
[report] [news] Friday 4th July 2008
As above there is a new kit out including the modified gasket AND a modified bottom rail which reduces the likelyhood of it going again by a large factor, I doubt the garage will put the bottom rail on for you, I would suggest paying the extra (£40 or so) to get the bottom rail and ask them too, it will take more labour but will be worth it.

Will be an expensive job ,price will vary on who does job and how they carry out the repair i.e what they recommend is needed to repair correctly .