IMO, the underlying cause of the K18s vulnerability is in the cooling system rather than in the engine design. It's said to be the best power pack ever developed by MGR, but it certainly needs more TLC than most others. This above all refers to coolant sytem maintenance and thereby, the running temperature. In the 75/ZT, there's no way to know the running temperature. I suspect this may be so in the MGF as well. Since the temperature gauge is useless, the engine is vulnerable through the smallest coolant leakage from the plasticky bits bolted to and around it. The inlet manifold, the coolant hose connectors, dodgy cooling fan designs, etc. In 90% of HGFs there will be an unrecognised overheat preceeding it. Other causes like the use of OAT based coolant have been proposed as contributory factors, but again it's loss of coolant that underpins most head gasket issues. Obviously that can't be the only one involved, but I reckon it's by far the main one.
TC
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