First thread on this forum. I bought a 2000 Discovery a couple weeks ago. The man I purchased it from said a Land Rover auto shop diagnosed it had a blown head gasket. I could hear it when it ran. Bought it real cheap. Pulled the heads off and found the bad cylinder gasket. Number six cylinder and number eight cylinder. But I found number six cylinder liner to be protruding up about .008 of an inch. I looked at the old head gasket and I can see the indentation all around the gasket. Is the engine junk? It had the turn to torque head bolts. Would the ARP studs hold the head down and keep the gasket sealed? The rig has 180,000 miles on it and is in good shape, no rust.

 

The general thought is once a liner moves it will not stay put, having said that it depends on how hot it runs. A cooler running engine will be less likely to have the liners move, you could also press it back in place and pin it,there a couple threads on that.

 

There is no sign of a water leak or water in any of the cylinders. The head gaskets all look good except for blown gasket and it had not been run long that way. I got a lot of maintenance records with the rig and it indicated head gaskets were changed at about 100,000 miles. The top of the motor was really packed full of dirt and oil. The oil pan had never been off according to records and the dried dirt and oil. I had to use a hammer and screw driver to get to the oil pan bolts. The main and rod bears are just getting down to seeing a little copper. I might try rolling some new bearings in.

Mr. Gallant I am glad you reminded me about the pins, I have a tractor pulling friend and they do that same thing to tractors when they turn up the boost. It works for them with a whole lot more pressure on those liners to move.

My worst problem is just cleaning up the area of the grease and oil. It has just dried on so hard you have to scrape it off. Regular degreasers just do not work at all.

I am going to pin all the cylinders.

 

If you are talking about the exterior of the engine or inside of the oil pan spray on oven cleaner works best. For the heads soak them in kerosene.

 

hot tank for grime...or soak in a mineral spirit tank.....

your liner may be loose, or it may not......you will know after the rebuild....if it's loose, then yes, you will need a new block...or new top hat liners (not sure how many top hats have gone into slipped liner blocks?...anyone...?)

also, I am wondering if the 'raised' liner has a different bore wear pattern compared to the the other liners...?

 

I pinned a cylinder this evening. It went quit well. My hardest part is getting the end of the bolt just flush with the inside of the liner. My finger just is not that sensitive. I removed the front driveshaft and found the u-joints need replaced.

 

You can use a small razor blade and drag it across the surface circumferentially, if it hangs you need to take it down a bit more. Be sure to use blue loctitie when doing final install.

 

Seems like all I do is wait for parts. But I finally got the engine back together and started it this afternoon. Two 10 second cranking sessions and it started right up and sounds real good. No oil pressure gauge but the oil light went out. Temp gauge came up to the horizontal level and stayed there. Going to take it for a drive tomorrow. I will then have to start working on all those yellow lights on the instrument panel.

 

Now is when you need to monitor and keep the engine cool so it stays healthy.

Look up the multiple forums on external coolant gauges and the need for them.

Either a gauge that plugs into the ODBII port such as the Ultraguage or install a stand alone temp gauge.

Second, go with the 180 degree thermostat or the increasing popular choice of the inline thermostat.

A gauge to monitor the coolant and changing the thermostat are essential.

 

I replaced the radiator, water pump and purchased a new thermostat from Atlantic British. The radiator and water pump were in original boxes and came with the vehicle when I bought it. I have a new Ultra-Gauge also. I am going to install a temp gauge.