I know a lot of these have been posted. I have read many but not seen one quite like my concern. I have been told by two indy LR shops that I need a new h.g.. The last one told me my ignition wires were "saturated" with oil. I went home and both looked at them and felt them and found no oil on the wires. There is no white smoke, no oil in coolant or coolant in oil, not rough running or idling, I had the oil changed 3 months ago and have checked oil and coolant weekly and found no loss, no odd smells or sounds. It is a 2000 Disco 2 with 96,000 miles and runs almost better than ever. I am considering getting one of those test kits that shows unburned gasses in the coolant but would rather not spend the $50. So...thoughts? So far the last shop has been VERY good and seemed honest. Could there be a problem with NO signs at all? BTW I plan on taking VERY good care of this and keep it.
Thanks to all

 

Hi there.


May I ask why you had the Discovery in the shop in the first place? Seems odd that your Rover doesn't exhibit any symptoms but you have two Indy shops telling you that you need a head gasket job.

Are you leaking coolant? If not then I wouldn't worry about it and I'd keep taking care of it as it sounds like you're doing.

We had a coolant leak for well over a year which progressively got worse. White exhaust, etc. No coolant in the oil but we knew that something was definitely wrong. Thankfully we had a helpful soul that took us under his wing and put us on the right track.

 

well all rover indy shops will tell you you need new head gaskets at 90k plus if they havent had them before. And the correct answer is that they will at some time need new head gaskets.

So should you do them, that is up to you, i am from the school if it runs good leave it the hell alone. However the concern with the discovery is that if they blow and your care over heats, you may be in for a new motor. so you are now in the risk reward stage.

risk is your engine, if you do the heads you will have hopefully anthor 90 k of trouble and worry free driving.

 

Guess I was lucky in that it leaked for a year and gave me a forewarning?

 

The worst case usually happens when you are not paying attention.

The Disco will tell you when it needs attention.

Help yourself by investing in a real time OBDII reader.

This will give you a better read on actual coolant temps among the hundred other parameters the onboard computer monitors.

Do your diligence as you have been monitoring the oil and coolant levels every 250 miles as suggested in the owners manual and don't let it overheat ever.

At this milage you should be looking closely at every component in the cooling system. Any failure could lead to disaster.

 

It was in the shop to replace a throttle position sensor. I bought it new and all it has ever needed other than tires and reg maintenance is that sensor, the mass airflow sensor and crank position sensor. And no, it is not going through ANY fluids. Just seems...odd.

 

Forgot...brakes and serpentine belt as well.

 

it is quite possible while they were under there they could see the gasket weeping in the rear the same for your wires, it is a different view under looking up.

 

^x2

My heads on my 96 look fine from top, but get under the car and the rear section on the driver side has coolant leaking externally. The car does not overheat and uses a slight amount of coolant, but really nothing of note.

If this is your case, as said above, you can be really careful and monitor the temps and wait for the gasket to blow and shut the car down immediately. Or you can do the preventative maintenance and get them done.

Why not ask the shop you like the best to show you why you need head gaskets? If this is your DD, better to do the preemptive strike.

My $.02...

 

So far the vote is 3 to 3....��