Yea pretty much. I have some dampness on my rear main seal. Like Mr MM3846, My oil cooler lines are starting to get damp at the fittings. So I will fix that soon. It's a constant battle.

 

my biggest culprit was the power steering. after i swapped out the high pressure line i'm getting some dampness around the return lines... at least those arent that big of a deal.

 

Okay, so it sounds like it isn't the pressure cap, because it's doing exactly as described. Nothing comes out of it until I start to loosen it, then it hisses and vents.

As for the driving conditions when it overheats, it's a combination of surface streets (25-45 mph), and faster country roads (55 mph). The test route we take starts with slower mph, then gets to the 55 mph roads. It doesn't seem to start creeping up until we hit the faster mph roads. Last time, when it started getting close to the upper white mark, I turned on the heater full blast, and the temp went down slightly. But as soon as we started to slow down for stoplights and traffic, it crept up into the orange, and more or less stayed there for a couple of miles until we pulled into the driveway.

I have a funny feeling the head gaskets are shot, but I'll try to eliminate other causes first. So it doesn't seem like it's the t-stat, since I removed it, and the pressure cap seems to be working like it should. I suppose the next things to check will be the fan clutch, water pump, and the radiator itself. 'Course doing that chemical test thing will indicate if the head gaskets are blown, and save me some time and money from checking those other things, but I don't want to get that kind of bad news so quickly!

 

if it cools back down once you are sitting still, its an airflow problem. check for blockages around the radiator and in between the radiator and ac condenser. based on what you are saying, i'd say you probably need a radiator and a fan clutch.

why do you think head gaskets? are you loosing coolant? mixing oil and coolant?

 

Mine was leaking at the oil and transmission cooler lines, steering lines, oil pan, etc. when I first bought it. After replacing all the leaky lines and a new pan gasket, it only weeps oil now from the rear main seal, and an occasional drip from the transfer case; nothing I can't wipe off every week or so, and nothing ever makes it to the driveway, so I'm happy.

And my forum handle continues to apply!

 

We were planning on taking it in for a power steering fluid leak of some kind, so while it's in, I'll have them check the overheating issue, starting with the fan clutch and radiator. I'm guessing it's not the water pump, because it's not leaking or loosing any coolant, it just gets too darn hot. I guess since it's not losing coolant, and the oil looks just like it's supposed to, and it's not belching white smoke, it may not be head gaskets. The engine only has 105K miles, so I'm hoping it's something more simple like the fan clutch, debris between the condenser and radiator, or the radiator itself.

 

Worked on my other English self destructing externally lubricated, spawn of our dark lord Lucas. Scored a really good D1 radiator (copper/brass) for 30 bucks at the junk yard. I'll have it hot tanked and keep it for a spare.

 

Very cool, MG? Reminds me of the gray market fiat spyder I used to have.

 

The Disco has only been just driven the last couple weeks. It's not breaking or leaving me stranded anymore, I'm not sure what's wrong! I can't believe I just said that, Im sure when I go out to crank it now it will not start!

 

Dropped by the local pick-n-pull since it showed they had a disco in stock. I was able to pick up a couple of door lock actuators, a window motor, the 7pin to 4pin electronic adapter for towing, and a new airbox complete with K&N filter for $45. The airbox on mine has all but one clip broken off I think.

I'm especially excited about the towing converter thing since I was contemplating spending $80 to get the one from AB. For $5 I'll take the chance it doesn't work.

Now all I need to do is go get it from up north to actually see if any of this junk works.