PM me with your number and I'll call you.

 

Checked the coolant level in the reservoir today and it was about 1/4 full. Definitely burning up coolant. Looked under the car to spot and coolant leaks and I noticed a slight bit of coolant on the underside of my gearbox. Nothing traceable though, it was on my ground wire and in other random spots but like I said couldn't trace it back to anything. Tried to pull the front two and back two spark plugs out but the 5/8th socket didn't fit If the leak is coming from the valley pan then apparently the plugs would have a white coating on them. DM tells me there is no way that the coolant can end up in the exhaust through the valley pan gasket but I just want to check for the hell of it.
I'd like to start reading more about the actual head gasket procedure can anyone point me to a good write up? I have already started looking over the RAVE directions. 11 hours! my gollygalloshes!

 

Is it okay to do slight driving with a blown head gasket? I might need to move the truck out of the garage for a bit. Maybe some short around town driving...
Was looking on craigslist and found this 99 D! sitting in DC. $1500, the guy is flexible on the price and it has a blown head gasket as well but if I have to do the job anyways I might as well do it on a nicer truck right?! haha the 99 is a beast of a year also! I know DM would concur.

 

It's fine to drive as long as you don't overheat. Remember temp gauge reading 3/4 is about 235*

 

When my head gasket went, there as a small leak that made itself apparent on the floor of my garage; very small droplets and not a lot of coolant loss, but I did start to notice a peculiar smell when I discovered it.

I drove around town (short, low-speed trips) for about a week before I got it into a shop. Overheating wasn't an issue for me, but your situation may be different; I assume head gaskets don't all fail the same way.

It cost me about $1800 (I think) to have the head gaskets replaced + have the heads resurfaced, which I believe is a good thing to do while you have it apart.

Doing it yourself will likely save you significant dollars, but you might count on having the vehicle out of service for at least a weekend, depending on your skill level and any issues that you discover in the process. It took my shop 2 days to get the job done; they had to send the heads out for resurfacing.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. No real smell other than the sweetness in the exhaust. Overheating also not an issue for me. I just refilled the reservoir a bit so i'm going to monitor how much it's burning to see how bad the leak is. I will check everything necessary while the engine is apart as well. Any suggestions on where to send the heads to get them resurfaced?

 

You ask for advise and I am not sure if you are not hearing me or what, even after a phone call you are still not believing me when I say it is your head gasket.
Why are you wasting your time?
No, it is not a smart idea to drive it cause it can go to a total failure on your next trip or next month, either way you won't catch it in time and your engine may turn into a boat anchor.

 

You drive at your own risk. Any slight overheat and you will have a potentially ruined engine. You could do it yourself for under 500 bucks if you can follow directions but it sounds like you have difficulty doing that.

Live and learn, some just learn a lot slower than others, some never learn. The 94 is a lot simpler than the 99. Either way, both can be a money pit depending on how they were treated maintenance wise.

 

What's with the attitude guys? I obviously don't know as much about these vehicles but there's no reason to be rude about it.
What's the problem with me running some other tests? To you it might be a waste of time but to me it's a learning experience.
I heard everything that you explained to me Mike and I do believe you that it is my head gasket I am just trying to understand more about the issue.
I've done all repairs on this disco by myself so far and seeing as how this is the first car that I have done this much in depth work on I think I am doing quite alright. I can follow procedure just fine, thanks for checking Danny.
I switched over to this forum because it seemed like everyone on landroversonly was tired of answering the same questions over and over and was pissed off all the time, probably not the only one that felt that way, hope that's not the direction we're going here.

 

You know, there is an old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
You have all the information you need to get your truck fixed, guess you just want to waste time and money instead of dealing with it. I figured since you are burried in that truck, making suggestions on what to do might keep you from wasting any more money.
So go mess around with it, hell, go out and drive the crap out of it, at some point you will learn to listen.