Hey guys I'm new to this forum and would really appreciate some opinions on this. I picked up an 03 disco with 64k miles for a decent price. The woman I bought it from stated it was overheating and the dealer did a block test that came back positive for exhaust gases in the coolant.

The heads are off and the gasket looks to be in pretty good shape. The #6 cyl is notably cleaner and I figure that cyl is responsible for the exhaust gas in the cooling system. The heads were checked for warpage and leaks and came back ok.

My question is is there any other place the exhaust could get in to the cooling system or am I looking at a new block?


Symptoms before I took her apart:

Started and ran fine idled at 750rpm after calming down

lite ticking/knocking sound

Burbuling sound from under the dash (heat worked fine)

Temp gauge starts to creep up after 15 minutes or so

No smoke from the exhaust but a drop of sooty liquid about every 10 seconds or so.

Cooling hoses get hard from high pressure


Thanks in advance,

Tommy.

 

Have the shop test the block while the heads are off:

YouTube - Land Rover Engine Block Leak Tester

 

Well, you would definitely not be able to see a bad spot in a gasket unless it was REALLY bad.

The dealership did not "test the block" what they did was put something like this

Head Gasket or Combustion Leak Test Procedure (Gasoline Engines Only)

on your radiator and told you that it was positive for combustion gases (not necessarily exhaust gases) in your coolant. Meaning your heads are fine and its probably just the gasket. You could get that block tester kit that was linked but that looks a little excessive to me. I would just pay extra close attention to that cylinder that was the cleanest (Had coolant in it cleaning it) and make sure you don't see any cracks. Rotate the engine so that the cylinder is all the way down in the bore and inspect. Other than that I would slap it back together

 

I actually have the motorcars leak tester on the way from them arriving tomorrow but I'm not too optimistic at this point.

 

Yea but the cleaner cylinder is on of the inside ones not near the cooling passages so it's a long shot.

 

Good luck. There was also a post recently where someone made his own test, but he had the block out of the car.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Argh.

 

If you can't see a bad spot on a head gasket that's been in for more than a few thousand miles its not the cause. Head gasket problems should be obvious. Any time I've not found an obvious issue on the head gasket, it's been something else like a cracked head or block.

Since his issue is on #6, it sounds like the classic cracked block at the end of the head bolt swapping combustion gasses into the coolant jacket over the amazingly stupid tapered liner. If no indication of head problems can be found, this is almost definitely a block issue, and will need to be repaired and re-sleeved with top hat liners.

I have a motor on the stand that has this EXACT issue on the EXACT same cylinder. And I threw the hail mary pass of tossing head gaskets on it anyway, just to see if it would work. Guess where that got me? That's right, a few more weeks of driving it. Because as it overheats, it warps the heads and gets worse. Then you get them decked and put in new head gaskets, and it doesn't leak as bad for a while until it overheats again and warps the heads again. Then you're right back where you started.

If these trucks weren't so great other than the motor issues, they wouldn't be worth dealing with. I like mine enough that I'm rebuilding my old motor after getting the block fully top hat sleeved and believe that will make it as reliable as it should have been from the factory. All of the credible research post online from real Rover engine shops and my talks with real Rover engine builders supports this.

Sorry for the rant. But I'm pretty sure slapping some head gaskets on the OPs truck is the wrong way to go. And block testing may not even reveal this, because its done cold. If the liners are tight enough, the crack in the block doesn't become evident until the entire block is at temperature and tings start to loosen up. Really sucks when a test can give you false results like that, but its the unfortunate reality in this case.

 

Lol, I'm not arguing that he should slap gaskets, I was thinking the problem cylinder was an edge.

But to say you should be able to visibly see a head gasket failure is ridiculous. As soon as you left the heads it screws up the surfaces on the gasket making it impossible to tell where there might have been an imperfection. Maybe on a power adder car where the gasket might be completely missing, but on something like this, no way.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. It sounds to me like I wasted $100 to rent the block tester and I should just be making plans to get it top hat sleeved. Does anyone know a shop experienced in re-sleeveing these engines anywhere near SC?