1995 Disco, ~280k km. PO was driving one day, suddenly had steam coming from the engine bay. Pulled over, had it towed to his place, truck sat for six months until I took it.

Got it home, first issue I had was a no-crank. Replaced the battery and attempted to crank. First two attempts to crank with the new battery get the engine turning over. All further attempts just spin the starter. You can hear the starter motor spin up, but the engine does not turn.

Where it gets interesting is immediately after this, I hear some dripping. I crawl underneath and find coolant dripping from the bottom of the starter motor and from the RH exhaust pipe between the manifold and the cat. I felt around and found water up as far as the heat shields, but that's as far as I could trace it.

Now if I understand the cooling system (looking at the engine and the diagrams on 28-1 and 28-2 of the workshop manual) correctly, there is nothing anywhere near there that could be leaking other than the head gasket. The only other thing running to the rear of the engine is the heater pipes, and there were no leaks on them. I couldn't feel any coolant on the heads/block, but it may have run down already or been soaked into the grease.

What say you? Is this sufficient evidence to call it a head gasket failure, or is there anything else I should check?

 

Head gaskets.

 

Take out plugs, may have cylinder(s) with considerable coolant. Drain oil, look for milkshake gunk. Sitting six months with water in the combustion chambers not so good. Sure sounds like HG, maybe more...

 

Thanks guys, that's what I figured. Pulled all four plugs on the right bank, they all looked like this one. Didn't see any signs of coolant in the cylinders through the plug holes. Didn't get to drain the oil tonight. Fill cap looked good, but dipstick looked iffy. Fully expecting a milkshake to come out. Time to start planning for the big job.

 

Who likes chocolate milkshakes? I’m not so keen on them anymore. When I finally drained the sump, I had more water than oil coming out. I figured I’d find it when I drained the coolant last night, but nope – that was just water (yes, just water. No green stuff in sight). It’s just as well I was planning on pulling the radiator.

I got three of the four lower rad hose connections off (does anyone know offhand what the short, small portion is connected to? I don’t see it in the RAVE). The water pump connection bested me. I could get a socket on, but the ratchet head would hit the pump before it would engage the socket.

I could fit a stubby flathead screwdriver in between the fan blades and reach it, but after I cammed it out a few times I stopped to avoid rounding it off. I may try again, but I might just wait till I get the fan/radiator out, which is next on my list, along with starting on the intake. Time to find a 32mm wrench.

 

Well, after some delays getting some tools, I have made some progress. Now that I've cracked the outer shell of this beast, things seem to be coming apart with less of a fight.

1. The 36mm wrench and sledge worked beautifully to get the fan off.
2. The radiator is free! The bottom oil lines were rusted and took some PB blaster, but all the other lines came off fine. The only other problem was when I jammed both mounting bracket nuts in the socket.
3. Got partway into the plenum removal. I had to break the throttle cable retaining pin cotter pin to get it out - anyone know the size offhand?

Where I got stuck and stopped last night was tryiing to detach the kickdown cable. I can't seem to find an angle that lets me get light in there and see the connection at the same time. The diagram is not really clear on the retaining clip, or at least what my fingers feel in there doesn't match what I see in the picture. Any hints for getting it off the throttle?

 

Invest in a mechanics mirror to see around corners bends better than your neck.
The Rave is like stereo instructions you have to find the way it works then find the section on how to fix it. I am now trying to fix the sunroofs on the 1998 and that gave me the hint.
At least you have Molson's to make the job go better.

 

No Molson's here - just Granville Island Honey Lager, and it definitely helps.

A mirror is definitely in the near future. Figured out the kickdown cable by leaving it attached and maneuvering the otherwise detached plenum chamber to where I had a better view (whilst not kinking or damaging the cable of course). Once I had a good view and better finger access, it was obvious how to do it. For anyone else's sake, the retaining clip grabs the cable just before the anchor. Unclip it from the cable and rotate it around the pin, and the combined pin and clip slide right out.

Next up is the ram housing. I've got everything pulled off. All the bolts are out (half were coated in oil, half were corroded). When I try and lift the ram housing, there is no give whatsoever.

The plenum chamber initially felt stuck too, but with a little leverage under it it popped right off. With the ram housing, the only place I can get any leverage is straight on from the front. Everywhere else is impeded by the fuel rail. I gave it a few raps with a rubber mallet and that didn't loosen anything up. Any suggestions from the head gasket gurus?

 

1. DO NOT PRY with a screwdriver it can gouge and you will have a leak thanks to that. I use a dead blow hammer to whack it about. I also found a head popper (no idea what it is really called) my dad had from the 1940's it looks like a door card remover on steroids. ALMOST SHARP on the end but very slow taper so it does not gouge its way in.
2. Coat your bolts when you do the build with C5a anti-size compound (copper looking stuff) you will get a better torque. I always clean all my bolts an a bench mounted wire wheel so the threads are nice and clean.

 

Thanks George

A mallet did the trick just fine. Sometimes I need to remind myself these things are just big chunks of aluminium.