I wanted to get opinions or ideas on what I should. My 02 Disco has multiple issue that are leading me to believe that I have a slipped sleeve. I have white smoke on start up coming from the exhaust, misfire in cyl 6, and overheating after a few mins of driving. Also have the sloshing sound in the cabin. Everything I have read seems to lead to a slipped sleeve. I am planning to tear the motor down this weekend to see whats going on. Is this a good idea or should I look further into these problems? I bought the disco for dirt cheap knowing that there were issues. The last owner did a head job on it.

 

Also there is a dripping oil leak from the rear of the motor. Oil looks clean still, and it doesnt seem like theres any coolant missing or going low.

 

1. What you describe may lead to a slipped sleeve, but you don't mention loud ticking (sleeve moving).

2. White smoke at start up may not be as large an issue as it would be if it continued AND there was loss of coolant. You say no loss. Could look at # 6 and other plugs for signs of steam cleaning, or put dye in coolant and look for flecks of dye on spark plugs.

3. Sloshing sound is bubbles in coolant, which need to be bled out. Large pockets of air in coolant can make system overheat, or be indicators of exhaust gas in coolant. If bled out and they return, might try a $50 exhaust gas in coolant test from pats store.

4. Overheat in a few minutes could also be stuck thermostat and/or clogged radiator. By overheat to you mean off scale, red light comes on? Do hoses get rock hard from steam pressure?

5. Oil leak could be oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets need to be snugged up (8mm 12 point), or rear main seal (don't worry with now, because the bandaid is a bottle of Blue Devil / White Shepard rear main seal laek fix, which needs to be driven for two hours after installing).

6. Of course, previous owner might have done a slack job or had a low price HG job done. Could have skipped trip to machine shop for heads, re-used original oem head bolts, etc.

7. So while I hope you don't have another HG problem, here might be things to check before pulling it apart. The $50 exhaust gas in coolant test makes about 15 tests, so it is a good proof of performance if you end up doing the HG again.

 

Awsome info, thank you. I dont notice a ticking but its hard to hear over the misfire to be honest. Is the ticking loud? I will go ahead and get some test done before tearing into it.

 

My money is on a typical head gasket failure.
Have you ordered your gasket set, bolt.t/stat, wires and all that fun stuff yet.
Make sure you let a machine shop pressure test the head and measure for warpage.

 

I would recommend doing a block test while you are at it. It may save you doing a head gasket job only to find you have a dead block. Do a search you can find a number of threads on having a block test done. Good luck, hope it is just a HG. Phil

 

Just had my 2003 engine resleeved because of loud knocking once engine warmed up.
Just got her on the road, No loud knocking.