Hi, I'm new to these forums but not new to my Disco. I've had her for about 3 1/2 years and has been the best vehicle I've ever owned. I've heard that alot of Disco's fall apart and the engine blows up at 180,000.
Well...............I BELIVE IT! My Disco had 183,000 miles and BAM! blown head gasket. I've always been religious with oil changes and general maintainence and never drove it to hard anyway I was driving down the way for a bit 10miles or so...glanced down and realized the engine was overheating. I imediatly pulled over, opened the bonnet and no coolant was left in the resivour made me feel crazy I just topped the coolant off 4 days ago. I pushed it down to my friends house down the way. Looked at the dipstick......chocolate milk. All of the coolant leaked into the oilpan. SO.......Blown head gasket? Cracked Head? Cracked Block? No real way of telling unless I open her up. Luckly I got a garage filled with tools and I got the time. I JUST DON'T WANA Any Idea on this? What I should expect to find? I know I'm not the first one with this and won't be the last I'm sure. Should I replace the engine? Where can I get an engine for cheap? Let me know

 

Only reason to replace the engine would be a cracked block or slipped liner. Open it up and take a peak. Rovers have head gasket problems, usually they go about every 100k miles, in some cases less. Doesn't mean the engine is blown. Download the RAVE service manual from greenoval.com, it will give you a detailed break down of how to do it.

 

I'm in the process of downloading the rave manual now. BIG FILE. It's a trip to me the stories I hear about landrovers headgaskets going out before 100,000 miles. I just bought a truck with 97,000 miles and to me its brand new, but if it made a noise I would think it was a pos. My land rover sits out in the driveway inoperatable girlfriend yelling about it and I keep saying just a headgasket stop your whining the rovers perfect lol What is this mysterious hold they have over us? Whatever it is I don't want it to stop....I just want it to be free!!!

 

Someone here needs counselling,

Does your girlfriend have medical insurance?

just kidding, welcome.

you're on track, please keep posting

luck,greg

 

Step 1) Download Rave CD
Step 2) Read what is required for head gasket repair
Step 3) Buy a head gasket kit and new head bolts from one of the usual suspects
Step 4) Tear into it, should only take a weekend, since you over heated get the heads machined flat

While you are in there you may want to replace your tappets, pushrods, do a valve job, do the front cover gasket, water pump gasket, front oil seal, and change your timing chain

 

There is no way for the coolant to mix with oil unless you have a cracked block or the timing cover gasket failed.

 

Discoart, Consider failed head gasket,filling cylinder with coolant when not running. Coolant runs down the cylinder past the rings into the pan..... seen it many times

 

Sure, that is possible but it would take a while. The OP states that he lost at least an expansion tank worth of coolant in 4 days. If that much coolant was going into the cylinder the truck would run like crap misfiring on that cylinder.

 

One of the signs of a blown head gasket is oil in the coolant.
Lets face it, with 180k+ the rings are not exactly, whats the phrase I am looking for...water tight.
Pull the heads, look close for a slipped liner or a crack.
You might want to consider having your heads planed to make sure they are still flat.
But if you do the work yourself you can have it back on the road for $500.

 

I have 180K and can still see the factory cross hatches on my walls. I am sure it is due for a total overhaul, but if I were the OP, I would investigate a little more before junking it.