What causes a head gasket to blow?

Thanks for the clarification! I forgot that Rover & Range Rover are distinct. :eek:
Hi.
I can understand why you thought that. Rover and Land Rover were indeed one company back in the 90s. They were owned by BMW. Hence my Freelander had the awful k series engine. Not enough research on my part prior to buying it.

BMW sold Land Rover to Ford and Rover to the Phoenix company. BMW retained the Mini brand.
 
The 1980s Toyota 7M engine has head gasket issues because the gasket was designed wrong. It didn't help that they didn't tighten the bolts enough from the factory. But, even with upgraded bolts and proper torque, the gasket is not up to the task. Its structure on the exhaust side is nowhere near strong enough. An aluminum head mated to a cast iron block really needs an MLS gasket.

By the 1990s, Toyota moved to an MLS gasket. The 2JZ, for example, has an MLS gasket from the factory.
 
Cooling system problem usually, leads to head warp, then gasket leak when pressure is unevenly applied and it blow out of the weak spot. As other said the 05 Camry likely has bolts issue.
 
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I don't know what the cause was for the older Toyota 2.4 head gasket failures but there have been a number of engineering or bean counter failures on various engines. The Caddy Northstar v-8's and Olds LX-5 Intrigue v-6's had all alloy engines with ridiculously undersized head bolts. I sprang some head bolts on my LX-5 by driving through a deep mudpuddle. Which was much worse than just the head gasket.
 
Another vehicle to add to the list of head gasket issues due to improper material selection.

1995-1997ish Dodge/Plymouth Neon was initially equipped with a "composite" head gasket that was pretty much guaranteed to fail, sometimes as early as 60,000 miles. Chrysler made a running change at some point during the 1997 MY to a multi layer steel gasket that corrected the issue but a lot of 1995-1997 owners were burned and it negatively impacted the line.
 
If an engine didn't come with an MLS gasket, can one be used as a replacement? I noticed that some brands come in different thicknesses. Can a thicker-than-standard gasket be used to maintain valve clearance if the heads and deck had to be shaved more than "normal"?
 
According to one YouTube video (probably Scotty Kilmer) one of the reasons for head gasket failures is that they aren't using enough head bolts.
Didn't small block chevy's use 5 bolts around each cylinder, only to go back to 4 on the LS motors? I'd think not enough clamping, but make the surfaces super rigid, and then one doesn't need all that many.
 
My sweetie's daughter has an older (2005) Camry and told me that the head gasket was leaking. She asked me what would cause that. I realized that I don't know what the reasons are that the gasket would go bad. I know what happens, I've seen bad head gaskets, but never learned why the problem happens. Anyone?
it´s good you keep asking questions, i learned lot from people´s replies.
 
I can only speak for the 7M, but you can get MLS gaskets in a few different thicknesses. The thicker gaskets have a thicker core.

On a turbo'ed engine, the reason for going with a thicker gasket is you don't want the compression ratio rise from shaving the head or deck. On my NA, a higher compression ratio is a bonus, so I continue to use the stock thickness gasket even though this engine has lost about 1mm (I think) from the head and deck.

Generally, if an engine did not originally have an MLS gasket, the deck and head need to be surfaced. A smooth surface finish is absolutely required for an MLS gasket. The manufacturer is not going to do that if they're using a composite gasket.
 
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