Head gasket question
 

2000 Disco II 95K miles...I have been seeing a lot of steam out of my exhaust and it smelled like antifreeze and I had been getting a misfire in cylinder 5. I figured the head gasket was blown in that area and leaking water into the cylinder thus steaming quiet a bit on start up. I just pulled my heads off and the gaskets looked fine and the sleeves looked good also. I am going to have my heads checkedbut is there any other way coolant could be getting into my exhaust? I don't want to start putting this thing back together until I have checked everything I can.

The motor did heat up when I first bought the vehicle, I figured it was the T-stat because the temp would spike then cool back down. Turns out that is what it does when low on coolant. The T-body was leaking but I bypassed it and the motor never stayed hot long but the red light did come on once or twice. The other thing that worries me is it looks like the head that houses cylinder 5 has had work done because it is considerably cleaner than the other head and there are scratches and other signs that show someone has replaced the headgasket before.

Any oppinons or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

RE: Head gasket question
 

You need to send your heads out to have them inspected and cleaned. Do not have them resurfaced if it is not necessary and with you low mileage, valves won't be an issue. Make sure you use only a Rover brand head gasket set and new head bolts along with Dexcool coolant. I would also suggest that if you haven't replaced the plug wires that now is the time to do it, should order some 8 mm Magnacor wires. Make sure that you follow the proper procedure when refilling the coolant, make sure all the air is bled out of the block.

RE: Head gasket question
 

Thanks Mike...I do have the Magnecors and Bosch 4's. I will get the heads checked tomorrow if they are open.

RE: Head gasket question
 

When a head gasket goes doesn't the gas from the cylinders go into the coolant system and give you that gurgling noise and a boil over through the expansion tank or is that only in very severe cases?

Could coolant be getting into the exhaust either through a cracked head or block rather than the gaskets if they look fine?

Alan

RE: Head gasket question
 

I don't have any coolant in my oil so I am ruling out a crack in the block. I have heard of the coolant boiling over but I do not have that happening either so I'm guessing I have a cracked head or maybe the person who was in there before me did not do something right during installation of the previous gaskets.

I will follow up when I get the heads to the machine shop.

RE: Head gasket question
 

I would have the heads checked. The coolant jackets are so thin on these things, it can look fine, but not be. The "clean" area could be caused by the coolant leak. When it is sucking in for the intake, it could be taking in coolant and the steam cleaning your cylinder.

When a gasket goes, it could be anything anywhere. Exhaust in the coolant, coolant in the cylinder, or coolant in the oil...

RE: Head gasket question
 

Alan,
To answer your question head gaskets can leak coolant into the oil, into the cylinder, out the side of the engine block and exhaust out the side of the engine. There are all sorts of ways these gaskets can leak.

RE: Head gasket question
 

Steam in and of itself from the exhaust may not mean anything. Remember, you create 2 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of fuel you burn. If you are sure it smelled like coolant, however, then that is a different story. Did you pressure test the cooling system before pulling the heads? If the oil did not look like chocolate milk, you had no external coolant leaks, and the system wouldn't maintain pressure, that would indicate an internal leak somewhere.

RE: Head gasket question
 

Good Luck.

I had a similar problem with my D II right after I purchased it last January. I replaced the head gasket , although it looked fine, but I knew I was losing coolant to the tune of 1 litre every week, while being driven or not. After it was replaced, with the heads being resurfacedI actually lost coolant much more quickly. The result was either a cracked or porous block, andI had to replace the engine. I have put 7K miles on the truck since and all OK. But it was a big bill.

RE: Head gasket question
 

Well...I just got my heads back from the machine shop and they did not find anything wrong. I guess I will bolt everything back up and see what happens.