You could always put a piece of cardboard infront of your radiator to help keep the engine warm.
Just like on over the road trucks, except they use basically a tarp specially made to fit their truck.
When I drove truck I just used cardboard, stuck it right behind the grill, engine stayed nice and warm, removed it come spring.
Next winter new piece of cardboard.

 

Very nice job. I'm glad u didn't go by the usual advice "don't mess with the stat or ur asking for it" advice I've seen on alot of different forums. My truck is a 2000 disco 2 with 110k on it and I believe most bluebooks value these at around 4500 and I think that's what a shortblock costs minus the labor time if u have it done. Hardly a wise investment at my stage of the game. Did u get a chance to drive it on the highway. That will be the real test I believe. Just exactly how did someone come to the conclusion u have a cracked block. Unless it's visible or spewing out the side do not trust this diagnosis wihout seeing it with ur own eyes. It could just be a headgsket leak and could be checked by backing off the rocker arms so all the valves are shut and apply compressed air to the cylinder via the spark plug holes. Look for air entering the coolant system which u should be able to see in the overflow since u have the stat altered. But u kinda have to be a car guy to do this. Lmk if u decide to try this method and I can walk u thru it over the phone. I'm so happy I don't have to worry about his sucker for a couple months. Cheers. Kevin

 

Man, I guess I don't know, friend. The Rover dealer said it's a crack, so I assume it is just the crack.

I just had the head-gaskets replaced, but man... I don't know. I think it's burning a little bit of coolant in #7, and it seems to put out more exhaust "smoke" than the 2000 does.

Assuming I DO have a crack, I think you're right: I feel confident that I could drive this for a year the way it is. I have to make a trip to Wisconsin on Thursday, and if I could have a couple more weeks, I'd drive it there... but I don't feel confident in it YET.

But more good news: I drove on the freeway today, cruise set at 79. The engine stayed just below the normal operating range, and it ran perfectly. I had all the power in the world with this baby, and the heat wasn't that bad.

It worries me that I might not actually have a crack... Do you think the dealer could be wrong? Do you think YOU have a crack? Did you use your rocker-method to test it?

 

I assumed that the dealer took the heads back off and did a inspection Pat.
Without a visual inspection how can they tell?
There is a way to test a block for a cracked sleeve, or a crack anywhere but the heads have to be off of it as far as I know.

 

Spike- you mean there is NO way to check?

Because it only took them about 45 minutes of diagnostics....

I'll call Jason back at the Sharpe collection tomorrow and ask.

 

Man I would love to be u right now. I would go to the dealer and kill the guys intelligence in 10 minutes of questioning. First I would say just how did u find the crack. He won't have an answer for this. Where is the crack? Since he's so sure there is a crack surely he would know. What cylinder has the crack? How do u go about diagnosing this crack other than overheating? Shock u fixed in 20 minutes and a screwdriver. Alot of rover dealers are going to give u the same answer because hey if u buy a motor it's a forsure headgasket change and all gaskets new. Also ask him how he knows it's not a head crack? He won't have an answer to this either. Did he go thru the coolant system to make sure there isn't a bunch of junk in it. There are tons of answer u are entitled to after u have spent 300 bux in getting it to their shop. Most dealerships are crooks and without people who don't know engines they will be in business a long time. Really happy for you.

 

They didn't do anything in 45 minutes except feed u a line of crap. I don't care what test they did it can't be done in 45 minutes. They will let u bring it in for the cracked block. Replace it along with all the gaskets inspect the heads to be sure they didn't miss something and charge u 5k. People fall for this crap all day. Think about it. With a crack engine diagnosis they cover all their bases and if the heads are cracked they come to u and say well the motor ws crack and that cracked the heads so now we need more money from u to fix it. Now it's an entire new engine. Tough for them to be wrong at this point. Lol.

 

Man, you're right...

Friend, you've given me a LOT to think about.

 

Please tell me that u are going to ask the dealer some of the questions I said earlier. I am a dealer mechanics worst nightmare. I sometimes ask them to check over stuff for fun with my wifes Mercedes ml430 the Benz dealer comes up with some crazy stuff. They finally realize now not to feed me crap lime they do the other lost sheep coming into the dealer with a Mercedes. Let us know what u find.

 

Yeah Pat without pulling the heads I dont know of any way they can check.
Other than pulling each spark plug one at a time but even then without it leaking coolant into the cylinder they wont know.

I have been looking on youtube for the video that I saw before on how to check for a crack behind a cylinder liner but of course I cant find it.