Ok, so I have a 99 V8 D2
I was driving home one night and noticed the temperature shot way up high, so I pulled over straight away and let the car cool down on the side of the road overnight.
The next morning I took the Disco to a mechanic who told me the water pump had failed, so we replaced the water pump and radiator hoses while he was at it... Still no good, he now tells me the head gasket has blown, which is going to cost me $2500 to replace.
Now that's alright, but I have receipts from the previous owner who also replaced a head gasket and had the heads machined roughly a year ago...
So my mechanic is telling me that since it's happened in the past it could be the engine bore liner, which mean I'm up for a new engine.

So I'm at a crossroads where I either:
A) Have them rip the heads off and pay the $2500 hoping that when they test the block its OK
B) Do the head gasket myself to try save the money and hope for the best
C) Get rid of this car

note I've only had the car 2 weeks now and it's going to cost me more than what the car is worth to have an engine replacement done.

Is it common for the V8 to blow the head gasket twice in the space of 18 months? or do you think I just had bad luck with the water pump dying which caused me to blow it the second time... for all I know the first may have been maintenance and this time it died due to the pump.

I'm really lost on what I should do now, I don't have much cash...

 

Do you have a second car? Only reason I ask is that would be a factor for me. I myself would fix it on my own as I have the skills the time would be the issue. My DII is my secondary car so I can let it sit in the garage while I take my time fixing it. Paying 2k or more to fix the head gaskets would be hard for me to swallow so you might think about just selling it as is. Tough choice

My guess is (and you would want to anyway) is the heads are warped from the overheating so they will need resurfaced when the HG job is done. That will cost a few hundred but thats all you would need from a shop

 

X2 buy a second car for 1500 bucks off CL and then you can at least have some options on what to do - sell it as is, or take the time and do the headgaskets yourself. Not a hard job, just time consuming/tedious.

Having something else to drive while owning a D2 is pretty much mandatory lol

 

There are limits to how much material can be removed from the heads (multiple HG jobs). The overhaul manual has a page with the spec.

Now that water pump has been replaced, what specific items point to the head gasket diagnosis? Continued noise like water in paipes under dash? That could be exhaust gas (HG) or just needs to be bled. There is a chemical test that turns colors to confirm there is exhaust gas in coolant, worth doing before wrenching if any doubt.

Water pumps tend to fail slowly, beginning to leak at the nose, wobble, etc. A good thing to check on the weekly under hood inpsection, after checking the cold fluid levels crank it up and observe things (like pulley wobble).

I would imagine your temp gauge was running at the normal 50% before this sudden spike. The gauge is built to do that, and if you want to see real temps (instead of an idiot light with a pointer, 130-240F); you'll need a scanner or ultra gauge. You may have been running hot for some period of time. You can also have a sludged up thermostat cause all kinds of problems, there are 180F alternatives that are a good choice. The stat has these little holes on the top, if they get sludged or blocked with trash from cooling system work, the engine has to get much hotter to open the stat.

 

You can never overheat the engine.
Depends on how LONG you drove it overheated.
Yes, overheating it does ruin the headgaskets.
With that said - if your head gaskets were never changed, they WILL GO OUT
if it is not overheated even.
So, that's that.

If you have a cylinder 1,2 7 or 8 misfire now - you are OK to replace the head gaskets.
Any other cylinder misfire after the overheat - think twice.

 

The water pump has been replaced and the cooling system has been checked over, so I'm no worried about that at all.

What I am worried about is if I put all this effort in and replace the head gasket and it turns out to be a problem with the block. The car doesn't miss-fire at all, it was only hot for a moment before I pulled over.

So I'm wondering how do I check that the block is OK?
Also, do you think there would be enough material for a second machine job on the heads or are they are one time deal?

I know it's all hard to say until I actually take the heads off and look at it, but I'm trying to get my head around it all before I decide on what I'm going to do. Thanks!

 

Cometic head gaskets in your specific thickness are in order.

 

So just curious but your not getting any missfire codes? With it overheating still after the water pump replace I can only think of a few things. The thermostat may be sticking or bad, the water temp sensor might also be bad, possibly a bad clutch on your cooling fan, or maybe it was just a defective water pump that they put it (as it does happen sometimes). Clutch fan is easy to test if bad, will put a link for that. And thermostats aren't hard to test with those. I would say also unless your oil looks to have water in it your more than likely fine with the head gaskets. I could be forgetting something, not sure as am way past tired lol. Anyway best of luck and if I can help out in any way shoot me a message

****Link for clutch fan test****

How to Test and Replace the Engine Cooling Fan Clutch

 

If he has not fixed it in the last 2 1/2 years, your help would be greatly appreciated, but I'm guessing he has moved on...

 

As above.. haha.

So it was the head gasket but the car still ran fine, it wasn't too bad.
The new owner actually just drove it and said that I was dreaming and there's nothing wrong (good luck to the guy when it overheats again).

To be honest, I like Land Rovers, but I just cut my loses and sold the thing, I've got a 65 mustang that is my baby and a land rover at the end of the day was just not a wise choice for a daily driver.
I've owned 3 different discos and while I do love the car, they just have crap engines (lets face it), if I were to buy another I'd do a conversion to some other v8 like maybe and LS based engine, but I've just decided they're not for me and gone back to track / race cars.
I lost the passion for Land Rovers, I'd just buy a different model car like a Toyota Land Cruiser or a Nissan Patrol if I wanted to 4x4 again, way less hassle.

Thanks for the reply, just a few years late haha.