Hmm, water under the valve covers - maybe cracked heads, although that would be super rare. Pics of the waxy substance?

 

@m_lars how much water and was it just water ?

 

the heads are fine, they were surfaced and tested for cracks when they were removed the first time I put it back together. It’s getting coolant in the engine, I’m just not sure where from.

I couldn’t get a picture that was very revealing of the waxy substance. I should have taken a picture before I cleared out the intake port of the head. It looked like red grease, but not smooth like grease. It was like when wax starts to solidify. What was left in the intake port has now dried, I wonder if it was an oil/coolant mix?

I’m thinking I just need to pull the engine but thought I might get by easy if someone had a good explanation of what might have gotten in that intake port.

 

Did the waxy stuff look like this..?



The PO of my rover had done the liquid HG seal BS and caused all sorts of problems until I was able to clean it out. That pic is the temp sensor which is in the lower IM as mentioned above in your post - it was brand new when I installed it and looked like that after a few days.

 

condensation on the underside, I have no idea how much. When I was trying to diagnose I’d watch steam roll out of the oil filler neck as it ran.

That’s what it looked like, but it’s not in an area where there’s coolant. I thought maybe there was a crack in the intake manifold, but this is cylinder 5 which is not anywhere near the coolant passage.

 

@m_lars Ah ok that make sense (the water) you were getting coolant into a cylinder which was putting steam into the valve covers as the valves open. So you did not over pressure but still got water, you may have a small crack in number 5. When it gets hot enough the crack opens you get coolant against the liner which heats it up in a huge hurry, and it will move up to the cylinder and burn.

It is not absolutely a crack,but it is starting to sound like one

 

This was my speculation until I discovered the substance in the intake port. That really threw me for a loop and I started second guessing myself. Did I have an intake gasket leak and I’m sucking in vapor from the crank case? I’m still getting coolant in the crank case from somewhere.

 

@m_lars I feel for you it is the worst thing to troubleshoot, as it is heat/pressure related. The only thing can think of to try short of pulling the heads:

1. drain the oil
2. put a clean catch basin under the pan drain plug out or pull the pan if the front studs have been replaced with bolts
3. top up the coolant
4. use a pressure tester to bring it up to 20 psi
5. Leave it until the pressure drops
6. See if you get any liquid - it may take a few tries I would go 6 times

 

More likely you have water entering the crankcase, condensing in the valve covers. Could be from several areas:

1. Cracked block (somewhat rare)
2. Leaking intake manifold gasket
3. Leaking front cover gasket
4. Cracked heads (never seen or heard of this on a Disco).

Pressure test is the way to go. You may have to pull one component off at a time and use block off plates.

 

Just a quick follow up. I decided to pull the engine back apart and found that it had evidence of coolant in #5 with no obvious reason why. I found a youtube video that had the same problem I think I had, but now I can't find it to post here... He had a leak in the aluminum between the cylinder walls that worked it's way up between the sleeve and the block. The block initially passed a pressure test, but failed after he warmed it up. It had little pinholes that allowed coolant to leak in. Anyway, I bought a junkyard engine to replace it, but I'm not happy with the results. The truck now sits in the back yard while I acquire parts for an LS swap.