I began noticing that my temp would quickly spike to hot for about a second or two and then immediately drop back to normal. I began to watch it more closely. At the same time, my heater went out blower and A/C work but no heat. A few days later (this past friday) my lower radiator hose ruptured so I replaced it. Sunday, on my way to church the upper hose ruptured. Sunday evening, on my way to a Super Bowl party the temp rose again and stayed high so I replaced the t-stat. I thought that fixed the problem but I kept running low on coolant. I started seeing white smoke coming from the tailpipe but I didn't think much of it because its been 20 degrees and thought it was hot fumes meeting freezing air. It began running noticeably rougher but I thought that was due to a faulty camshaft position sensor that is being UPS'ed to me now. Tonight I saw thick white smoke bellowing out from the tail pipe and my oil light came on. I thought that odd cause I just had all the fluids change two weeks ago! So I pulled over to check the oil and WOW, it was High and thin. There is no knocking or rattling coming from the engine, just running rough. This is my only vehicle and I cant afford to miss a single day of work let alone any more! Where do I start the trouble-shooting?

 

Do you have access to a leak down tester and an air compressor? Leak down compressors can be bought at Harbor Freight for $40.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cylinde...ter-94190.html

 

Trouble shooting? There's no more to be done other than shooting the engine.

Your headgasket is a goner. Do not drive the truck if damage hasn't been done already it will be. Grab some headgaskets and bolts and hope for the best. As for missing work, you may be able to finish in a two day weekend if you keep at it. I took 40 hrs but I did alot of small stuff and cleaned the parts more than you could imagine.

In order to not waste any of your time and money get the heads checked. Good luck hope it all works out. It's not as hard as it seems

 

Head gasket is gone...

 

Other than RAVE, Is there a good "how-to" write up somewhere on a head gasket replacement?

 

Not that I know of. It's really just remove accessories, intake manifold valve covers, heads and reinstall. Rave does a pretty good job

 

One super nice thing about D1 discos is that land rover designed everything to be able to fix on the trail..everything is fairly accessible

 

Use a 6pt impact socket to remove the head bolts and be sure you've cleaned out around the ones under valve covers well before trying to remove them.
Sometimes they can be super tight (I've had to use my hi-lift handle to break some loose) and a 12pt socket is more likely to round them off. An impact socket won't break.

 

If you are so concerned about not missing work, You could get a short term rental, some are pretty reasonable.

Like Tom said, use as long a lever arm extension as you can find to help loosen those bolts. Do not beat on them, apply a slow steady force with a long breaker bar.

 

If you remove the hood it will give you tons of room to work.
A good cheater bar is a must.
I bought a left over piece of pipe from the Home Depot for $7 for use as a cheater bar around the house, worth every penny.