04' Disco SE
4.6 w/secondary air
87,000mi

About three months ago, I was cleaning my truck in the driveway (truck was running) and while inside, I watched the temp gauge spike. I immediately shut her off, popped the hood and noticed the coolant really low. After talking to a local LR junkie, I decided to get a new thermostat, bleed the system, and all was fine for about 2 months. No loss of coolant, no overheating, etc.

About three weeks back, I fired her up and she was running really rough - check engine light was flashing, so I immediately shut her down to let her chill out. Upon firing the truck back up, she was running fine, but check engine light was on. The following day, I hooked it up to my scanner and it said misfires in cylinders 5 and 7, along with a timing issue. After resetting the codes, it ran perfectly. A day, the same thing happened again. Rough idle, check engine light flashing, but now there was white smoke from tailpipe (but no overheating). Knowing the headgasket issues on these things, I had it towed to a local shop where they pressure tested and confirmed it was indeed the head gasket.

After pulling it apart, they said that it was a head gasket fail between cylinders 6 and 8 - as well as out the back of 8. Apparently the coolant was running right out the back of the motor.

$1,780 later, the truck was ready to be picked up. When I got there, they were having trouble bleeding the system - attributing it to an airlock in the heater core. It would run fine, then overheat. They said they wanted to keep it another day to ensure they could get it right.

The next day, they called and I picked it up. Drove her about 30 miles with no issue, then it overheated on the thruway. After a cool down, and the addition of some more coolant, I limped it off the next exit and had it towed back to them. The rough idle, flashing check engine light, and white smoke were back - along with overheating now.

Now, a week or so later, they've pulled the truck apart again, sent the now re-milled heads back for pressure testing (which ended up being fine). They're saying there's no explanation other than a bad block. There is no visual evidence of a slipped sleeve, but that's what they're calling it.

My plan was to get rid of the truck post head-gasket for something more reliable. Now, I'm not sure what options I have. I'm $1,780 (head gasket) in on a truck I owe $5,800 on. I figured at that rate I would be able to walk away clean, or even make a few bucks (the truck is SUPER clean). The idea of now having to sink more money in for another engine (which could have the same issues) seems like a terrible investment.

Can anyone lend their ideas/opinions ASAP? Thanks in advance!

 

The thermostat is "in the plumbing", and there are four small holes around the fitting it rests in, these must be clear of trash or the stat won't function normally. If shop doing the work some how had problems with the stat, truck would overheat and blow gasket again, certainly if not torqued correctly the first time.

link to a video on a block test, you can see the water squirting out... Land Rover Engine Block Leak Tester - YouTube

pages attached from shop manual on cooling system. here is a highlight of the text mentioned:

Hot coolant from the engine passes from the by-pass pipe through four sensing holes in the flow valve into a tube
surrounding 90% of the thermostat sensitive area. Cold coolant returning from the engine, cooled by the radiator,

conducts through 10% of the sensitive area.

Now, I am not saying your mechanics are wrong in their diagnosis, but a pressure test of the cooling system and a block pressure test are two different tests. The air purge issues lead me to think they might have missed other issues with the stat. Supposedly the slipped liner is more suspected than actually found (what a great reason to sell another engine), according to some posts by real world mechanics.

 

What type of shop did you bring it too, someone who specializes in LR or just a local shop?

You’re kind of stuck between the rock and a hard place right now.
They have are ready taken the truck back apart so there is no way to tell if the problem was in their work or your truck.

I have to assume they are guess it is a slipped sleeve, every one blames it on a slipped sleeve because it is hard/costly to disprove and every posting on the internet screams slipped sleeve.
Did they tell you what sleeve they thought had slipped? There should be signs of coolant if it was pumping white smoke again.

You only have a few choices at this point: (that I know of)
1. Pressures test the block and prove it is not your block.
2. Install a used motor at $2500 and they can say “see it was your block”.
3. Re-sleeve your block at a cost of $1600-1800.

I am assuming that the shop will offer you a great deal on the labor to install a used engine as it is already down to the short block, and dozen or so bolts and a few plugs and they can lift it right out.

I don’t think you can part it out and get the $5800 you owe on it, maybe some of the ohter guys have a few ideas for you.

 

Isn't the slipped sleeve supposed be a source of the TICK for D2, and if it really is a slipped sleeve, is "tick" also going to be there? Was it ticking before or after work? I know there are multiple things that can cause the tick, but if you do have a slippping sleeve, will it always tick? Also, have seen posts related to "fix" for slipped sleeves involving small crimps made with punch or chisel at top (very shady, even at the Tree) , pinning, top hatting. Of course, those won't do much for block erosion behind the sleeve.

PT of block would tell you a lot, and help you decide just how far you are going to have crawl over broken glass.

 

this company will rent you everything you need to preasure test your block while it is still in the truck, if that is any help to you Motorcars Ltd Tool Rental Program

 

Drowssap - This is a reputable LR specialist. Will this test work on a cold block? They're saying it needs to be heated to temp to see any realistic symptoms which couldn't be done with the block still in the truck. Thoughts?

Savannah - No ticking - before or after work.

 

How do they heat it with no heads on it out of the truck?

 

I have seen videos of it working with the motor in the truck with the heads off. I believe that is why they use 40psi double the working psi. there are several videos on utube testing cold blocks and this process worked. your other option is what, just buy another motor; what have you go to loose?
ps i think one of the video is from a member of this group on a 04 4.6 engine block.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4odA...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkjSL...eature=related

 

it sounds like a cracked block a few have had this problem you would have to dig through here or some of the other land rover sites to find the threads....I say find a new block get it going again then sale it...2 cents...

 

I feel your pain. I just went through the same thing on one of our DIIs. We ended up putting in a new/used engine. Find a used engine and have it installed. Have the shop find it and install it so that they are responsible it it doesn't work (I am still trying to get my money back from a seller of a guaranteed engine that also had a slipped liner.....). We had extra vehicles so it wasn't a huge issue, but our truck was out of service for 6 months. We have it back now and it is running great. Unfortunately, there is no easy fix. Bite the bullet and get a new motor. There is no other financially reasonable alternative. Good luck. Phil