Alright so I took my new to me 03 Disco 144k miles on a weekend trip across the state. It wasn't leaking before for the day and night I had it at home.

It was ok until the next morning I went out to eat with my buddy and we came back out to a medium sized green puddle of coolant.

It's not a lot but it was about a good 2 cups.

I filled it with some from autozone real quick just in case and went to his house a few miles away. Afterwards it seemed to have stopped. It dripped a small bit onto his driveway but that was it. No more.

While I was there I peeked underneath to see where the leak is coming from. I can't really see where but it drips down from the rear driver side of the motor somewhere and drips onto the exhaust manifold and sizzles down to the bottom to drip. Some of it gets onto what looks to be a crossmember and spreads to drip from there.

All I know is it looks like it's seeping out the drivers side rear of the motor.

Any ideas of how bad this is?
I still need to drive home on Sunday ~100mi with a few uses today
What puzzles me the most right now is sometimes it leaks and sometimes it doesn't It leaked a bunch again today when I was parked at the street.

 

There are a number of possible sources, you need to beg, borrow, or steal (Or buy) a cooling system pressure tester. any leak on the top of the engine could run under the intake on the valley gasket and leak back there, it could also be the back corner of the head gasket leaking externally, or the intake manifold (lower) itself. But this is all conjecture so you won't know until you or someone else checks it and determines the source. The intermittent nature of the leak isn't unusual, as things expand and contract they can leak and then not leak, eventually(unfortunately) the intermittent nature becomes permanent though.

 

The leak is the infamous V-Gasket intake leak that happens to all 4.0 and 4.6 L v8s. In the back of the V, where the lower intake sits, there is a coolant passage. It is the last opening in the cylinder head surface that mates with the intake manifold.
You do not have a head gasket problem as long as you did not let the engine overheat. keep adding coolant and drive it home and get the lower intake gasket replaced.

 

The motor doesn't overheat at least the gauge doesn't fluctuate. So I don't think I broke it yet. lol

Is this an easy weekend job?

I plan on doing the brakes, oil change, and shock absorbers this coming week on my days off

Where do you guys get the gasket for this?

 

1. The gauge won't fluctuate. The computer drives the gauge and keeps it at 50% from temp A to temp B, then whamo, you are over heated. It does not creep up like an old Chevy gauge. A scanner or ultra gauge will show you the true temperature, and would be a good idea to have if limping home.

2. The valley pan gasket is a weekend. There have posts about intake bolts found just finger tight at rear. Head gaskets are two weekends with machine shop in between.

3. I don't know how to be any more direct than this - drive it with high temp and you will have more problems than you can afford with the holidays coming. Blown head gasket, cracked block, slipping sleeve you can't get rid of. No joke, these things do not like to overheat.

 

Hope its not the head gasket. I had a very similar problem with my 03. At the end, it was the head gasket. Cost me 1800 to fix.

 

the only way to find the problem is to preasure test your cooling system, it could be a freeze plug, valley gasket or head gasket. a preasure tester and flash light is the only way to know.

 

Well then. I suppose I need to find some parts to order.
I'll see if I can get my hands on a pressure tester; afterwards.. how does that work? Is there anything I look for? or am I just using it to force pressure into the system and see where it leaks

Are there any other things you recommend replacing while I have that torn open?
I'm guessing with the intake manifold out of the way I should do the plugs and wires too. I see I have some sort of blue wires but I mind as well change them for piece of mind. Not terribly expensive.

 

Discovery II Head Gasket Set (Same As Genuine Part # STC4082): Land Rover Discovery Engine Parts

I looked around and found this entire kit. It might be worth doing all of it all at once right?

 

There are some great shops around New England that can do this for a fair price. If you are doing it yourself - perhaps you'd be willing to have it documented for this group. You'll need some supporters,some beer and someone with a camera. I'm sure we could find some volunteers for that. Good luck