1996 Disco 1, about 148k
So I'm planning on changing the leaky valve cover gaskets today and when I took the throttle body off there were several bits of steel and aluminum in amongst the stacks...bits of piston and rings I believe.
My big question is how the hell can a truck continue to run with this kind of damage? I bought this in February and have driven about 3k so far, there is some noise from the motor but nothing dramatic. (Besides the alternator bearings)
I got the compression tester out and one side of the motor is about 170-175 and the other side is 120-122psi. Obviously I have a serious problem somewhere but I'm just blown avay by the consistency...I was expecting a completely dead cylinder, not 4 sorta low ones.
I'm debating doing anything at this point other than getting rid of it, I swore I wasn't going to put a bunch of money in this truck.

 

Any wierd color or "solder" on the spark plugs for that side? Does adding a tablespoon of oil to the cylinder bring up the pressure (rings?) of the test? Maybe you have one dead cylinder AND a bad HG. Or bad HG and metal from something else. Does listening to spots around the engine with a broom handle pressed against your ear narrow the noise to a certain area?

 

If you don't want to put money in it, DRIVE HER TILL SHE QUITS ON YOU!!! C:

 

you would be doing well the have bits of piston and ring up in the intake manifold and still have a motor that runs....

Pedronz