Its been 4 years since I sold my baby and now I have an opportunity to buy her back from the gentleman who took over. He took it from 130k to 160k until the head gaskets went several months ago. He described it as a problem that slowly increased until he finally decided to tackle it, rather than an incident that left him overheated and stranded. He has had the heads professionally prepped and purchased all the gaskets and parts, as well as a new water pump. I suppose I should get to my question, what should I be looking for as indicators that there was more more damage than just the failed gaskets? He was a very nice guy, an engineer if I remember correctly and wasn't keen to sell it at all as I approached him so I don't expect anything nefarious. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! I'd love my landy back but it would be rather bittersweet to find I need a full rebuild/new engine. Pic for motivation

 

That's a tough one because you can't run the engine. Is the coolant still in (probably not if the heads are off) but can you check for any residue in the tank? If you have a scanner you could check for codes and if the heads are off you could also check for any liner slippage.

 

Is it together or in pieces? other than check for codes and liner slippage you can ensure that the block is still straight and not warped. Other than that slap her all together and see what happens.

 

Heads are off, I'd imagine all the fluids have been drained. I'd be looking for a milkshake residue? How would I go about checking for liner slippage and what codes should I be weary of? Thanks for the response, Cheers!

 

Depends on how the gaskets failed. Both of my discos the gaskets failed externally and the oil and exhaust never showed any evidence. I'd check to see if the cylinder walls are in good shape as well. If it were me I'd buy new plugs, coils and wires so you can ignore any misfire codes. I'm not sure there is any code that would deter me as most common codes are misfire and vacuum leak related in my experience and by putting it all back together you have the ability to remedy pretty much all of them. An idea of what was going on prior would be nice just to reference if you run into any issues after start up. Liners are a little trickier but I'd be looking to see if any of them stand a little proud (higher than the level of the block). I personally haven't seen a slipped liner so I'm not super familiar with the noise or any visual indications.

 

If the heads are off, liner slippage will be obvious. The liner will be below the surface of the cylinder wall or ABOVE the surface of the block. In my case, the sleeve was above the face of the block by just under 1mm. I was able to press it back down by dumping dry ice into the cylinder and then using a 1/2" steel plate to push the sleeve back down to flush incrementally.

 

Great freaking picture at the top of the thread!

 

Thanks! That's my girl on broken arrow trail just outside of Sedona!

 

Always a tough question, I say go look at. If the liners are good take a chance, a slow increase in problems is generally a gasket rather than a crack.