I am 1/2 way done with the head gasket job on my 04 disco II. It was what everyone was guessing on here, a coolant leak on the rear left side cylinder causing a miss and white smoke at start up.

Anyone have any ideas on the different buildup between the left and right heads? Left is solid black and right has a lot of white. Anything else I should look for?


Right Head




Both Heads

 

How about a picture of the gaskets from each side?

Left side looks normal-ish. Right side looks like hell, obviously. If both sides were running pig rich like that, the only reason the left would look normal is if you were steam cleaning all 4 cylinders, which is why I'm wondering what the gasket looks like.

 

Left side gasket





Right side gasket

 

So the dirtier side was the one with the leak? Interesting pics and thanks for the sharing. If that is the case, I would figure maybe you were gunking up the plugs or it just was not burning as good as it should with the coolant in the mix. What do the plugs for each side look like?

 

Looks like improper firing in those cylinders, could be caused by wet or bad plugs, air fuel mix. Get heads machined and put back together. Use only a premium platinum plug and good luck, keep us posted.