Hi all.
I'm suspicious that I may have a blown head gasket.
2002 Disco II SE 105k miles.
well maintained over the years. I've owned this car since the original lease return in late 2004.
Originally a CA car. SAI, no stability assist (LTA is TBD )
recently pulled this truck out of 2 yrs in storage as I've been working on the road a lot.
I decided to treat this beauty to Disco Mike's 100k tune up.
As I started w/ the seafoam...figuring I would be flushing most everything after this. smoked like a high schooler on spring break! I was sure the neighbors would call the FD or something....anyway, dissipated as per usual.
then I drained the oil and refilled w/ Rotella T4 15W40 & a mobile 1 301 filter. old oil was dirty but otherwise clear of mayonnaise, as was the filler cap (save for a thin mayonnaisey film just inside the filler neck, and a bit of moisture in the filler cap )
next.
I started to flush the cooling sys. I say flush, but its more like a run engine, drain, repeat. Going through this process when I noticed that the exhaust seemed a bit white-ish, and more substantive than I had ever noticed it being before....did it smell sweet??? not really, but maybe?! this sent me on 6 days of reading posts here and elsewhere RE: blown head gasket. and today I performed a cooling system static pressure test.
The system did not leak pressure, and the whitish exhaust seems to have gone away as of today(warmer weather &5 days after seafoam).
Can I chalk the week of whit-ish and more dense exhaust to cooler weather and some lingering seafoam residue??

Qualifyers:
1 I haven't driven the truck in over a week (only idled it in the driveway) bc I was waiting for a new headliner cargo pocket frame as I'm doing the headliner concurrently.
2 since I pulled the truck out of storage its overheated twice.
both times I pulled over well before it pegged out, and let it cool off.
the coolant was low both times, and I had the heater core waterfall sound, so I bleed the system. drove the truck for 2 weeks off and on after that and no overheating, or waterfall sounds.

I know I have to replace the valve cover gaskets, and blow out the PCV, but if I don't Have to tear this baby down to the block this year I will be happy to wait....but doing the valve covers is half way to a head gasket job.
I just want to make sure I don't have to repeat this work in another few months.
thoughts and or suggestions???
Thanks.

 

Well if the pressure test was fine and nothing showing in the oil or signs elsewhere, you might be good. You will have to one day though. I'm finishing up mine now and I'm trying to do it right the first time. I had a coolant leak by the rear passenger side firewall (#8 cylinder) and it slowly would drip in the starter and I think it helped ruin the solenoid. The biggest culprit is by the coolant holes on the block and head (rear and front of each side). I would say the valve cover job isn't as bad as it sounds and it's a lot more in depth to get down further. If you end up having to do it, chubs888 will tell you not to get a victor reinz kit. He has been having nothing but trouble with his. I got the lucky 8 kit and it's great. Even came with the upper manifold gasket. The only extras I had to buy was, the throttle body gasket and heater, the upper air plenum gaskets, the orings for the heater pipe and return pipe, and manifold to y pipe gaskets. I went a little above and beyond and have everything powdercoated and ceramic coated so I disassembled everything. Keep a close check on it and you oil and if you end up having to do one, there is a good write up I can put in a link for a head gasket replacement with step by step pics. Keep up
posted

 

This. But at 105K, if they are original, plan a convenient time to replace them. They are going to fail at some point in the not to distant future.

 

Put the gasket idea to the wayside until you drive the truck more with an alternate means of gauging the temp so you can know what's going on in hard numbers. That dash gauge trips at 240 degrees so wether it barely moves and you kill the engine (not good) or it goes all the way to the red, the engine overheated either way and it's still getting hotter after the motor is off. Even so, the engine could be running hot in the 220-ish range and you will never know as the dash gauge will stay at normal. So drive it more, monitoring coolant level obsessively along with the temp and lets go from there. Make sure the overheating issue is resolved before concerning yourself with leaky VCs as that may be one of the lesser issues.

 

This.

Mine just started leaking internally and externally. 103k on the clock.

 

Can we all agree Seafoam causes more BS than it solves? For the love of god please stop using this snake oil.

 

It's good for killing skeeters and that's about it on induction cleaning but I will say if you put some on a rag and wipe off your throttle body, it does remove the carbon build up easy

 

Mine was a little over 100K when it started, as well.

 

Thought I was gonna luck out. Replaced the plugs and it helped a bad cold start idle vibration.

Then the codes returned, and a wonderful puff of white smoke on startup.

Oh well, at least I have a relatively warm shop and enough tools to fix a Mercedes...

 

You can remove the back 2 (#7/#8) and see if they are wet from coolant. Even better, remove all of them to be certain that coolant isn't from a middle cylinder.