Noticed part of what I assume is the headgasket hanging out on the passenger side of the block. No coolant lose as of yet and I don't know how long its been like this. Lately though my engine oil light has been staying on longer than normal during startup of the truck. Tends to stay on for about a minute before going out. Checked oil level and it was at the lower fill line so I added 2 quarts of new oil. The truck has had 2 oil changes since I first obtained the truck last December ish. Just took a 2 hour ling drive to Vermont and no issues. Highway temps average at 199-206. In town temps from 204-210.

I'm hoping the truck can hang in there until April, ill be parking her once again for 4 months while I work in Alaska. I'll be able to save up for the new headgaskets. I may leave the truck on DAP Enterprise property and just have them do the job while I'm away. I thought about doing the job myself but in the event that the block needs any boreing or anything more serious I'd rather it be in safe hands rather then stuck in my driveway and me not knowing what to do.

But so far she's still running strong.

 

The title of your thread; Heads probably a ticking time bomb, doesn't that apply to all Discoveries? Not to minimize your problems, but I always have a sense of head gasket foreboding even while doing everything I can to preserve them.

 

yes but they tend to fail earlier. My truck is working on 135k and still going strong, I've head stories of heads failing at just under 100k. Plus the fact that I live in higher elevation with lots of hills, I'm really surprised my heads made it this long.....

 

All I see is your valve cover gasket.

 

that and your manifold gasket. I'd snug the valve cover, if that oily looking area is your concern.

 

So that's not a head gasket then? If so my bad. Thought it was. Don't know squat about a valve cover gasket.

 

A valve cover gasket is like $10 and not nearly the amount of labor, but yes that's your valve cover gasket and 95% of them leak at some point.

 

I am in the 95%.

 

Just snug down the bolts and call it good.

10 ft-lbs is the recommended torque.

Your oil pressure problem is another issue.

First - over-filling the oil is not a good idea and won't help. It may hurt.

Second - what weight oil and filter are you running? I'd imagine it's freezing up there, so too thin isn't likely a problem, but too thick could definitely be an issue for the first minute or two, especially f the pump is crapping out.

You may need to be thinking about an oil pump in the near future.

 

"Noticed part of what I assume is the headgasket hanging out on the passenger side of the block"
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Good God, man, if your head gasket were "hanging out" the engine wouldn't be running. First of all, you need to get familiar with your gaskets and various parts of your engine, so you can quickly identify what may be happening to engine. With your lack of knowing about such things, you are a prime candidate for something major happening to engine before you realize it, and having it lead to who knows what catastrophe.