So I recently got some inspiration to get my disco back on the road after it being parked for 2 years (parked it after I bought an 07 HSE.

The only thing left to do is fix some oil leaks which the vast majority is coming from the valve covers.

Couple questions...

1. Should I buy the factory gaskets or can I get away with an aftermarket brand such as Victor Reinz.

2. It's hard to tell if the oil valley end seals are leaking because so much oil was pouring out of the valve covers but if I were to replace them has anyone tried using clear RTV in lieu of the rubber seals (which I understand are problematic)

 

Good after market gaskets are fine.

 

If I were replacing the valve cover gaskets or the end seals, I'd put a very small amount of rtv (maybe 1/8" thick) on the top and bottom of the gasket.

But I'd definitely want an actual gasket in there.

 

Have you tried just tightening the valve cover bolts?
That fixes 90% of all valve cover leaks on these things.

 

Victor Reinz work fine
Use Aviation form a gasket permatex sealer on the gaskets

actually they are a bear to replace

 

"If I were replacing the gaskets or the end seals, I'd put a very small amount of rtv (maybe 1/8" thick) on the top and bottom of the gasket."

 

If I was replacing the VC gaskets I would make a specal effort to keep up with the small spacer rings that can fall off and down into places unknown.

 

My Disco is now officially back on the road. I passed the smog test and then went directly to the DMV to pick up my tags.



I replaced the valve cover gaskets, intake manifolld gaskets and the sump gasket.

The sump gasket was much easier to replace then I had expected. The only thing that I did differently from the manual was the removal of the steering link. This extra clearance made it much easier to remove the pan. I used "The Right Stuff" sealant to seal the edges where the front cover meets the block and the edges along the rear main cap.

The Intake gaskets were pretty straight forward as well. During reassembly, I did make the mistake of trapping the Idle air control valve electrical connector between the upper and lower intake. Luckially i didn't have to remove the upper intake, I was able fish it out with a hook made from a coathanger.

I replaced the coolant with the green stuff and used 5-30 Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil as well as a Mobil 1 oil filter.

When I fired it up for the first time the oil leaks were gone but the check engine light came on....

I hooked up the scanner and it showed a P0150 code (bank 2 sensor 1 malfunction). I ordered 2 new generic O2's from ebay (my frisrt mistake).

The new O2's came in a few days later and I swapped them out...Now instead of just the P0150 I was also throwing the P0130 code.

After doing some research I found that the P0130 & P0150 codes could be triggerd by a vacuum leak and not necessairly by a bad O2. I went ahead and checked the vacuum at idle and it was 16in. I aslo did a smoke test and this also came up negative... Did some more forum searching and came accross many posts warning against generic O2 sensors... I then went down to Auto Zone and bought 2 Bosch O2's and swapped them out with the new generic pos's.... NO CODES!!. Lesson learned for cheaping out and buying the $30 generic sensors.... you get what you pay for.

I'm glad to have my Disco 2 back on the road with clean emissions, oil leak free and getting 15mpg with Chevron 91 octane.

 

Nice work and congratualations.

However, one thing to note - 5w-30 is only good up to the low 90s F in the Disco. So if it gets above 90 where you live you need to swap it for 5w-40.

 

Saga continues.....


This morning, to my dismay, there was a puddle of oil beneath my oilpan...

I was completely oil leak free for 3 days ater I replaced my oilpan gasket and now this. I got underneath while the engine was running and I could see the oil seep out between the sump and the front cover near one of the nuts that fastens the front of the sump to the front cover.

I rechecked the torque on all of the sump bolts and they were @ 16ft lbs.

Any ideas how this could happen? I put 200 miles on the truck after the pan gasket swap and had zero leaks until today.

Could the 5w-30 synthetic oil i'm using be causing the problem?