I just replaced the head gaskets on my '99 two weeks ago. Today driving down the road, I noticed it was on the hot side.. pulled over, well long story short, the return line from the radiator had broken, and the truck now has a pretty good knock, and won't idle well. I owe about 2k on it. Will I be able to get close to that pariting it out?? What is my best avenue?

I really just want to set it on fire and laugh at it.

 

How good is your insurance policy?

You have several options but parting it out is not one of them as you still owe on it.
1-replace the engine.
2-sell it and take a loss.
3-drive it until it blows.

Seriously, it might last until you get it paid for.
Get it looked at on conferm that it is a dropped cylinder liner, then if that is the case drain the oil and put in HD-40, dont change it just keep it full and drive it until she wont run any more.
Then you can part it out, fix it, whatever, but you really need to make sure that it is a dropped liner and not something stupid like a melted spark plug.

 

If you hurt your engine, you are in trouble cause as much as I hate to say it, 99 D2's are selling for under $3000 in good shape.
Sorry.

 

After getting it home, and changing the oil/letting it cool down.. It run's a little rough on initial startup, then the rpm's are normal, even at idle. There's still a definite ticking/knocking. How would I check the dropped sleeve.. I'm planning on a compression test tomorrow..

Do the rockers ever make noise on these? When the truck was cranked at home, with the hood up, it sounds like a low pitched noise coming from the top end. Usually top end noises are higher pitched.

 

Ok this sounds good, sounds like you baked the oil and plugged some oil passeges.
Do a engine flush and then switch to full synthetic motor oil and you should be good to go after that.

 

On cold starts, if it starts hard and idle rough for a bit, this can be a leaking head gasket.
Stop driving it and start pulling it apart, let us know what you find.
That knock does concern me.

 

Well, work has kept me from checking on the rover for the past two days. But I have been able to track down a local LKQ junk yard that has a few motors from between 1300-1800, from just unker 90k to 130k. I know everyone here is partial to the rover land motors, and they are just across the state from me, but it's twice the money.

I may be jumping ahead of myself, and i'm gonna pull the oil pan sunday to physically check the bottom end. What should I look for in a dropped liner? A rod bearing will be obvious, but I don't know how to check for a dropped liner. Will I even be able to tell without pulling the heads?

Also, If it's a bearing and not a liner, is there any chance that the crank and/or rod won't be damaged?

Just trying to find the best way to attack this problem. And what my options are when I find the problem.

 

Pull the pan, don't rinse it out, PM me with your number and I'll call you.

 

Well, after a closer look, decided to pull the valve cover instead of oil pan. Found that the exhaust valve on cylinder #7 was not closing fully. Apparently the valve seat had fallen out, and was holding the valve open. Which was subsequently hitting the piston causing the knock.

There was coolant in that cylinder, and no obvious point or reason of entry??? The head was pretty beat up around the valve seat, but that's the only damage that I could see on the head or block..

So, a new (to me) head is in line for the disco, and new gaskets/bolts. Hopefully this will be the fix.

Thanks to Mike to his help on the phone. And if anybody else has seen this, or has any advise, please feel free to post..

Thanks, Jimmy

 

Hopefully it didn't do too much damage to the piston...