Well, yesterday I brought my 96’ Disco back to the garage it was last in. Fortunately they didn’t charge me since they couldn’t tell me what was wrong the first time; unfortunately it is the head gasket that is causing the issues. They told me that they took it on the highway and got it warm then did a compression and chemical test on it. Evidently the chemical test showed that there was carbon dioxide in the cooling system. Now my question is how likely is it that the heads are warped or cracked given what I have provided for info? They said for head gasket they would charge $770.00 for labor (~10 hours) plus materials, but this is if the heads are alright. Thanks, Tom

 

That is a crap shot. You never know the condition of the heads till you pull them. Once of you may find they are OK, they may need to be resurfaced, they may be cracked at $1000 a piece or you may need a valve job.
Just be prepared and remember, the more you drive on them the greater the chance you will damage them or the engine.
Mike

 

Could be all of the above or what is most likely failing on my car. My cooling system is fairly new, replaced at 55k miles (now at 100500) and im pretty sure the two fans infront of the radiator are failing. When I have the AC on the temp rises to about 3/4ths Then it needs to be turned off as it just keeps rising.

 

Hey Guy's,

I am new to this forum so I hope I am posting in the right area. I have a similiar issue with my 1995 discovery. The expansion tank cracked so I replaced it along with the radiator hoses and since than the car runs fine for half the day and than the temp gauge rises slowly to the H position. If I shut the car off and let it cool abit it goes back down, or I turn on the heater fan and set it to the hottest and highest speed it will level out for a while. Now I have tried to correct this with the airlock technique but no dice, I took it to a mechanic and he suggested replacing the themostat and than going from there, which is fine but I don't want to get roped in to adding part after part. Any help is greatlty appreciated!!

Chris.

 

Chris,
There is a good possibility that you did not bleed all the air out of the engine which will cause what you are describing. Course there are other items to look at, a t/stat is probably a good idea, yours is probably pretty old. How about your mechanical fan is the hub working OK, how about your eletrical fans do they come on?
Mike

 

Ok I had this (sort of) same problem on my 99 Disco I. Let me tell you all I did and all to look out for, then what I finally did that fixed it. This may be a long post, so bear with me.

I live 5 hours from San Antonio Tx. and drive there regularly. My 99 Disco I would overheat randomly, never at the same place in the drive, sometimes I could make the whole drive without it overheating. I do not know that I ever lost any fluids, however. I know that these engines are aluminuim and have a lower heat tolerance rate. What this means is if it overheats one time, you may warp a head (Yikes!!), so when the heat guage starts to climb,I shut it off.

My wife took it through a what looked like a lake (yea, water on the hood and everything) on her way to work one day(hard rain, roads flooded like crazy!!) . This cooked the fans for the radiator, I replaced these ($75 each, times 2), I did the labor myself, I replaced the relay for the fans behind the glove box ($10), Fixed the fans, but not the random overheating problem. I replaced and then removed the thermostat to get max fluid flow through the engine, still overheats at random times. Waterpump (engine had 110k on it so it is time anyway, $120) I again did the labor myself. I was hoping that this was the problem, but it wasn't. Clutch fan (weilded that sucker solid, gets worse gas mileage but is engaged constantly to eliminate the clutch part that is so often defective on these), still overheating now and then.

It did not fix the overheating problem. Still at random times, I could drive it 6 hours no problem, then hop in and 30 minutes I am sitting on the side of the road waiting for the thing to cool off. Quiet frustrating and VERY hard to troubleshoot as it never had a definate pattern to it.

My fix:


I do some (hehe... ALOT of) research and find that the wells on the sides of the radiator in the Disco I's do not have good fluid exchange and tend to clog after awhile. I flushed the radiator and it DID NOT fix it. I replaced the radiator($350 - ebay), it has been a year, and it HAS NOT overheated again.


What was happening was, there was sludge in the wells (side pannels) of the radiator (as they have poor fluid exchange, it would NOT flushg out), it would clog the output back into the radiator at random times. When I shut off the engine, it would all settle back to the bottom of the radiator and off I would go with no problems for awhile.



I hope this helps, if you have any more questions, let me know.
Charles

PS.. the mechanic kept saying the heads are probably warped, I need to get a head job, and who doesn't want a head job, but I felt I never let it get hot enough to warp the heads.

Also, the radiator overflow cap is rated at 15 PSI, if it overheats and preassure builds up, it is designed to allow leakage. I replaced mine, you may consider replacing yours also.

Good Luck, as you can see mine was the radiator, but my wife driving it through the flooded roads and shorting the fans didn't help matters.