Spike or Mike...Please Help
 

Or ANY Rover enthusiast that has a good idea of what is going on. Didn't mean to exclude anyone. I need help and in the past those two guys have really helped me out. So, bring on the bad news if you know what it is!!

I have a 1997 LR Discovery and a couple of days ago I was driving during an usual freeze in Austin TX, and my engine temp spiked suddenly and engine began steaming like crazy. I pulled over immediately and popped the hood to find that the short hose (about 3 inches) that connects the engine block to a cooling tube had split and was the source of the steam. I replaced the hose (I believe the auto store said it connected the heater core to the block, but not exactly sure. It is the top hose that is a reducer, from a larger diameter at the block to a smaller diameter at the tube.) I added coolant and fired it up. Everything seemed to be fine as I drove it home and parked it. This morning I fired her up and went out on the icy roads and after about 30 minutes, my check oil light came on and the engine began making a very loud clicking noise. It is what I would imagine an engine to sound like if running with no oil. I pulled over and popped the hood and checked my oil. The dipstick is showing plenty of oil, although it does seem pretty black and watery. When I bought the Disco a few months ago, I replaced all fluids (both transfer cases and transmission) but hadnt gotten to the oil yet, so Im sure it is in need of a change. It just seems that this is way too close to the busted hose, overheating issue to not be related. Before all of this, my oil light would occasionally stay on slightly longer than my other indicator lights upon starting on cold mornings, but would go off after the truck had idled for a few minutes. Being that it only happened when very cold, I didn't think too much of it. The only other symptom I can think of is that sometimes it sounded like the system was moving a lot of water through something behind the dash, as if a thermostat had been stuck and then opened up. Also, even after a driving for half an hour today with seemingly no problems, my heater was not getting hot. I read a few similar posts and am hoping it is something like a needed engine flush, as I don't know that I am handy enough to do rebuilds on motors or oil pumps. Lastly, it has seemed to be emitting a tremendous amount of exhaust for two days upon start up, but I assumed it was only because it was so cold and for once I could see it in the cold air, bc it subsided after running for a bit. I have about 150K miles and have recently replaced a lot of parts such as alternator, electrical/battery parts, u-joints, shocks, and cleaned the throttle body really well because it was sticking due to build up in it.
Any help pointing me in the right direction is much appreciated. I have loved having and driving this vehicle and I am hoping that this issue is something I can fix myself, as it is only worth a couple thousand dollars therefore I cannot afford to be paying for major repairs with Disco price tags.
Thanks.

Bad news I am afraid. Sounds like you should save your time money and efforts and dump it as is.

Listening to your above description brings up a lot of questions and comments that you probably don't want to hear.

Ignoring the oil was a bad mistake. Prepare yourself for some bad news. if your oil was watery and you are still driving it, you are just adding more damage to a bad situation.

Good Luck. Donate it to a charity and take a Tax write-off.

I would respond but you only want Spike and Mike's help. :p

















Seriously though. Sounds like your oil pump gave up trying to pump sludge. Could also have a headgasket issue if you are seeing water in the oil, generally though you will see a milkshake if you are mixing oil and coolant.

I'm not still driving it. I have checked the oil frequently and it has never caused any sort of alarm. I just went out, pulled the dipstick, wiped it and redipped it. When I pulled it out and held it straight up and down, it read full and only one drop fell from he stick after about 10 seconds. It's not as watery as I has thought it was. Is the coolant issue something that can get water/coolant into the engine?
Even if it is BAD news, I would still like to know what I am up against.. I have several pick and pull yards near me that have Rovers with a lot of parts, so if I can diagnose the problem, I am willing to attempt to fix it. What do you think is the issue? Fortunately, I was 3 blocks form my house when all this happened so I parked it in my driveway and will not drive it until I atttempt to fix it. Is an engine flush somewhere to start?
Thanks.

I'm not Spike or Mike either...
 

But - it also sounds like Oil Pump or Blown Head...

Thanks guys. Didn't mean to offend anyone, was just looking for some quick answers and those two guys have helped me in the past, and their diagnoses were very accurate.
Turns out, I guess I was asking for the wrong people.
So, if there is sludge and my oil pump went out, can I fix that? Can the sludge be broken down and flushed and then repair the pump? I'm sorry, but my understanding of a motor is very limited so I don't know what "a blown head" means. does that mean the motor is toast?

If you have water in the oil, it will look like thick chocolate milk. I doubt that is the case. As for the heat, you probably need to 'burp' the cooling system. When the hose blew, it introduced air to the system. Now you need to bleed the air out for the heat to work correctly. As the temp spiked rapidly, I would replace the thermostat. It likely failed and closed when it should have been open and the increased pressure and temp spike split an already weak/worn hose. Inspect the remaining hoses and replace as needed. If you are unsure, err on the side of caution(if you can afford to) and replace all of the coolant hoses, t-stat and flush the cooling system. As for exhaust, mine emits alot of steam for the first few minutes util the engine is warmed up. Not sure what it is yet. I'd be interested as to what you find out regarding yours.

I have not done any repairs on the Oil Pump, so my comments are based on past experience with other engines. But have seen oil pump repair in threads - but seems to require removing the entire engine <-- and if your gonna do THAT - might was well replace it! And Land Rover had a recall where their "Fix" was replacing the engine... (That don't seem like good news to me)

However, if you blew your head gasket and overheated the engine - there are a LOT of very BAD things that can happen because it is aluminum as it does not tolerate heat very well at all.

You didn't insult us (well me anyway:)) I'm jjust a born $mart @$$ that could not help myself!

Best way I can think of for checking for sludge is to remove the easiest valve cover and do a visual inspection for sludge. If there is sludge in the pan, there should be sludge in the cover. I'd get the stuff and do an oil and filter change. How does the oil pressure look when you start her up? If the oil pump is dead, you will have little to no pressure.

I actually already have another t-stat bc I was concerned that mine might be going, so perhaps I should change it out. Once I do that, how do I burp the system? I read some time back that when adding coolant, I need to stick a long funnel down into radiator so I did that....is there another step?