By way of background, I bought a 2000 Discovery a couple of weeks ago. The PO told me that he had it diagnosed with a bad head gasket and likely in need of a new engine. He had parked it last year and it had been sitting his garage since. I bought it sight unseen and had it towed to San Diego from LA. I was ready to put in a new motor. I charged the battery and it started right up. It seemed to run great, other than a squeeky belt pulley.

I did notice at least three distinct head gasket leaks, one from each side at the back of the engine and one on the front corner of the driver's side. The leaks were such that a drip would develop every 3 or 4 seconds and run down the block and drip onto the ground while idling. There did not appear to be any combustions gases leaking into the cooling system, it looked like it was all external. I also check all of the spark plugs and they all looked good.

I have used White Shepherd by Universal Products on the transfer cases on a couple of my Discoverys with good results (I have no affiliation with Universal Products). Universal Products also makes a head gasket fix called BLUE DEVIL. They have two formulas, one Mechanic Style and one Pour-N-Go. The Mechanic formula requires a free-flowing system, ie removal of the thermostat. I couldn't figure out how to disembowel the thermostat so I decided to use the Pour-N-Go formula. Both formulas require an engine that will idle for 50 minutes without overheating. (I did a test idle on my engine and the temp held steady without significant coolant loss for more than an hour).

I ordered the BLUE DEVIL Pour-N-Go from Advance Auto, they sell a 32 oz. bottle for about $60 (the website shows the Mechanic Formula but they actually sell the Pour-N-Go). I could only find the Mechanic formula locally.

I put it in last night and after the required 50 minute idle, let it sit until this morning (with no radiator cap on the DII, I removed the top hose drained enough coolant and poured the BLUE DEVIL into the radiator through the top hose). I have driven it around all day, up to an hour at a time and so far, knock on wood, there isn't a drip present anywhere! Dry as a bone. The temperature gauge reads just below mid-line and the truck runs great. It is still early and I will give it more of a test this weekend, but for now it looks like it took care of the head gasket leak and may have saved me $$$. This will likely not work for all head gasket leaks, but for smaller, external leaks, it might be the answer.

Phil
1999 DI
2000 DII BLUE DEVIL Guinea Pig
2001 DII

 

sounds like it might work ok for minor head gasket leaks..if it was $10 I'd use it..but for $60 I'd just rather buy new gaskets and do the work.

 

I honestly believe all those type remedies are temporary if they work at all.

Having said that, about four years ago, I put a can of bar's headgasket sealer in my DI to slow a leak pass side rear (teaspoon a day), hasn't leaked for maybe 30k miles, I'm ahead of the game.

luck,greg

 

It sounds like we have the same issue. I used the Blue Devil sealant on my Range and it has been holding up to the external leak just fine. The engine even feels like it is running better. If used correctly it can work well.

 

For all of you naysayers that told me not to use the Blue Devil, I should have listened to you, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa. I spent a couple of weeks researching the Blue Devil and other products. I talked to the Univeral Products (the maker of Blue Devil, I have used White Shepherd on a number of occasions and in most cases, it worked) tech rep, local shops and others, felt good about it and put it in. It did stop the exteral leaks for awhile, more on that later Problems is it also plugged up my radiator, was the source of my rising coolant/engine temp at idle and a major source of frustration and expense.

The saga is short but sad. First, my euphoria when the Blue Devil went in and the leaks stopped $60 plus another $15 for shipping and tax. After a few test drives around town, I took it on a trip to Orange County, about 240 miles r/t. While driving, the temp was fine. On the way back, the temp started to climb while I was in the drivethrough line at McDonalds.

I changed out the fan clutch, no real difference except my wallet was $100 thinner. While at the shop, the mechanic told me that the bearing on the water pump was a little loose it was not leaking a drop). It was loose, so, while I was there, I told him to replace it, should have had a bid before I told him to go to work, $225 for the pump, I can live with that, and $250 for labor, very high, $30 for thermostat and buried in the bill was another one hour labor, $95 to change the thermostat! Obscenely Outrageous! It was all but off when they changed the water pump. At that point I lost confidence in Premier Rover in San Diego, a sponsor of this forum. As I left, I had a $700 tab for a used fan clutch and a new water pump, new thermostat, 1 gallon of DexCool and a new metal belt pulley (that was nice, no more noise!). I pulled away, sat at a light to get on the freeway and boom, temp starts to rise. back to the shop. The guy says lets dump this BG stuff in, it works wonders. Another $12, the problem is worse. Now once the truck is warmed up, everytime I get to a stop light, a parking garage, etc. the temp starts to rise. (when I called Premier the next day about the one hour to change the thermostat, I got nothing but runaround, he told me that is the book rate! BS, if you are in San Diego, be careful about using these guys, my mistake, I should have been more careful)

I poked and prodded trying to figure out what is going on, the only thing left is the radiator. I order a new one $120 and got it installed $150, plus coolant, distilled water and water wetter $44. I also had the cooling system flushed. While I was waiting for the guys to finish the work, I took the tank off of the old radiator to see if I could figure out what the problem was. Wow, what a mess, it was full of gunk and junk. It looked like a rat's nest of Blue Devil and BG. I was getting about 25% use out of the radiator.

Everything now seems like it is running well, cooling as it should. I still am trying to get all of the air out of the system, even with the vacuum method, there was still air. I will continue to bleed it every morning and try to get the rest out. (did I forget to mention that the guy at the radiator shop overtightened the bleed screw, broke it and the truck spilled about 1/2 gallon of fluid in my office garage yesterday morning. That necessitated a trip to the local BMW dealer for a new bleed screw?)

Had I just had the head gasket fixed when I bought this I would have been several hundred dollars ahead and had the head gasket fixed ($250 parts, $500 labor, $200 on the outside chance that the heads needed work). (I could have ordered the water pump from AB $150 OEM, along with the pulley $25 and fan clutch from Summit Racing $60 and another $80 to have it all installed by my local mechanic, a water pump is not rocket science, total $325 with two gallons of DexCool and two gallons of distilled water.)

As it is now, I will still have to have the head gaskets done, I am seeing evidence of build up at the head/block seams again.....

I WOULD NOT USE BLUE DEVIL AGAIN! I do not recommend it except as a very temporary and last resort. It just has too much down side. On the bright side, after getting the radiator rodded out, I will have a spare radiator, I have a much more intimate relationship with my 2000 DII, I have single-handidly boosted the local economy I have spent 30 hours horsing around with it.

I am repentant and humbled. Please forgive me and my unrighteous ways. I will sin no more with the Blue Devil!

Phil
1999 DI
2000 DII
2001 DII

 

Thanks for letting us know!

I had a similar experience with a magic pour in formula once. Works for a little while..

 

Remeber my post about my son using Blue Devil on his Ranger?
He did not have a blown head gasket, it was the water pump leaking, the gasket was jacked and it was leaking where it mates to the block.
JB Weld and the leak is sealed.

Blue Devil did not stop that leak and they are refunding him his money.

 

You might want to check the throttle body heater. It has small passages and could be glogged. LR has an upgraded TB heater plate that is less prone to leaking.

Willie

 

Here is a photo of the radiator, this is only some of the gunk, most of it had fallen on the ground when I pulled the tank off. Enjoy! Phil

 

whew, man I'm kind of relieved we can revert back to the sarcastic remarks every time someone says they want to use a head-gasket-fix-in-a-can product.