OK, I have what I hope is a fairly straight-forward question. My 01 Disco II (115K miles) CE light came on last night when I pulled into the driveway, and had a rough idle all of a sudden. Came out this a/m, had a rough idle when it started, drove it to my buddy's shop, had two codes - cylinder 2 misfire and random cylinder misfire. I don't know when the plugs were changed last, but we popped a couple of the wires off (STI wires by the way) and one or two of the plugs didn't look all that great. That said, while it was running (or when I just had shut it off - can't remember for sure) my friend took the cap off the coolant overflow tank just to check it out....seemed ok, was full, etc. This was at 9am.

So, I park the truck at work for a few hours (two mile away), and planned on getting some new plugs in the afternoon. Leaving work (5pm) I drive across town a few miles, park the truck at the store and smell coolant when I get out. Pop the hood, and the level in the overflow tank is low, and it seems like it's trying to force air out / bubble over with pressure. That said, I had no previous issues, and my temp gauge is in the middle, no white smoke, etc. I though I remember reading somewhere that if you open the overflow tank when it's hot and/or running, that you have to bleed the air out of the system again. Is this true? Someone please, please tell me that's my problem, and that I don't have a head gasket issue. Based on the fact that I'm not overheating and no white smoke, I'm optimistic, but don't understand the issue with the coolant tank. Thanks in advance.
-Steve

 

As long as you dont turn it off with the radiator cap removed it will not suck air back in, but you shut it off with the cap removed and you can suck in air. (into the cooling system)

Sounds like you have a blown head gasket and it is letting exhaust into the cooling system.

 

ok....while I stay in denial for another 24 hours or so until my mechanic can look at it closer, wouldn't I have other codes (02 codes, etc) as well as some smoke out the back if it were indeed the head gaskets leaking?

 

The easiest way to explain it is ....know you own a POS...it's much less stressfull if you expect zero....next ...all lr's suffer from head gasket isues, overheating etc... They would win the equivilent of 30 years of olympic gold medals for makeing such a POS. Now assume the worst. i had a 95 RR 4.0 that had no smoke but overheated to the boiling point and needed head gaskets.. Go figure.....if you have a rover with problems and cant figure out what it is..assume rebuilding the top half of your motor will solve 99.9 % of your problems... If that doent help which is a very good chance...you need a new motor....Yea...it sucks but its a LR.....

 

Yeah, I had a 2000 5 years ago, and it needed a head gasket job twice in 15K miles, so I am familiar with the issues...and I have another 2000 now that needed a new motor last year. That said, this just seemed so coincidental in regard to my friend taking the cap off the resevoir, and then I had the issue. Came to work this morning 12 miles, no issue with the coolant level, etc....only the slight miss and the 2 "misfire" codes. Then after he checked the coolant, I go three miles and have this issue. I'm hoping it's something simple, and/or maybe bleeding the air out may be in order, but will plan on banging my head against a brick wall tomorrow if it ends up being worst case scenario. Yep, love the Rover, hate this repetitive head gasket crap. I just finished lifting it, new tires, SD rack, ARM winch bumper, etc...oh well.

 

at least you know.....i hope you have a good sens of humor like me...It's the only thing keeping me from Jihad on it...

 

I know your pain, I'm actually working on the same issues you have right now on my 04' DII with 83K on it. I had the coolant leak and cylinder misfire together, and assumed the worse as a head gasket.... Luckily it was two seperate problems. Coolant was from a leaking heater hose (cheap fix), and I too could smell burning coolant when I got out of my truck. The cylinder misfire was due to bad coil, not as cheap but still not a head gasket, knock on wood.

 

Well, there's sweet smell on the exhaust pipe, the took out a plug that has some coolant on it, looks like it's head gasket time. I'm gonna do it right, new heads / gasket kit / bolts and do plugs and wires while we're at it. Will keep you all posted. Oh well!

 

dont use the same crap gaskets that everyone else uses unless you want to go threw this again....

 

I'm gonna get everything from Will Tillery at Roverguy.com - he seems to know his stuff and had great prices. Thanks -