Hi, I am new to Land Rovers so please go easy on my, right now I have 2 late 90's volvo sedans and do all the maintenance my self - some has been pretty extensive.

I am looking into an 01 Disco 2 with 105k on it. It has the common problem of overheating. The seller said his mechanic changed the headgasket along with some other stuff, but after half hour of driving it starts to over heat. His mechanic did a smoke test (not sure why he didnt do a pressure test or leak down - unless smoke test is anther name for those) and found nothing.


The truck is in good shape otherwise and everything else is in good working order.

I dont mind taking this on as a project with one exception - I dont really want to deal with a cracked block.

From some other threads around here people have said mentioned somethign like this is worth about $1k.

What are your feeling guys - I am kind of clueless in the Land Rover world.


Also is there any way to get better mileage out of these - my volvos get close to 30 mpg on the highway

 

Hard to say what it might be but, a cracked block I believe will overheat very quickly because it is actual combustion gasses that get directly into the coolant and heat it rapidly. I don't know for sure but I think a half an hour of driving it seems to me to be more like a bad thermostat or a bad coolant cap on the recovery tank. Both of which get eaten up by the coolant itself (if the truck has dex-cool in it, which I believe is what they come with but not positive.if it's orange, it's dex-cool).

 

Thanks for the input

 

No problem, don't quote me on that but I'm pretty sure cracked blocks heat up much quicker. I'm sure someone else will chime in with some good info. for you.
-Good Luck!!

 

Unless you can steel it and are willing to take a risk of buying an engine with a dropped sleeve and replacing it yourself, I would stay away from it.

 

Does this "mechanic" know Land Rovers? What was the "other stuff" he replaced? (thermostat, water pump, fan clutch, expansion tank cap). Did he know how to properly bleed the cooling system? You can do a lot of driving in half an hour. Like disc oh no said, I doubt it's a cracked block.... unless the oil looks like hot chocolate, then it might be cracked. If the price was right, I'd gamble. edit to say forget about great mpg. That's not what these vehicles are for. You can get the better results by doing Mike's 60k service. On average, expect 14 in town 20 on the highway... YMMV

Eric

 

What price is a steal ? and is there any way to check for a dropped sleeve ?


Thanks for the inputs

 

Have a look at the oil as SDinDS said, if the block is cracked there is normally coolant getting into the oil as well as combustion gasses getting into the coolant so, the oil will look milky, sort of like chocolate milk, that is the coolant mixed in there. It's a real mess. You also may see some oil/coolant mix inside the oil fill cap but, this is not the best way to check for coolant getting in because you can get moisture up there just from taking a short trip and not giving the engine enough time to burn off the condensation in there. Also, there could be some left over from the head gasket failure. Just don't let the seller convince you it's just from that.
Also, you may want to check for misfire codes if it has a check engine light on. The coolant getting in the cylinders will make the effected cylinder misfire from the water getting on the plug.
If it were me, I would see if I could spend a while REALLY checking it over to gather as much data as possible and then make a more educated decision on purchasing. If the seller will not allow you to give it a really good once or twice over, he may know he has more to hide than he would like you to find out.

 

Well we will see what happens going to check it out tonight will update later

 

I dont know if the mechanic had any extensive knowledge of Land Rovers - my guess is not, but he replaced the water pump and radiator