You only need to do the head gaskets if they are leaking. If you have a slipping sleeve, people have successfully repaired that by pinning the bottom of the liners which only requires the oil pan to be pulled. Of course, if your head gaskets are original then they will likely need to be done soon anyway.

If someone put stop-leak in your engine, then you likely have some reduced coolant flow so a radiator might be in your future but if you aren't overheating you're in good shape. How's the heat in the cabin? If the heater core has been partially blocked by the stop-leak you would have reduced heat output. I would recommend just swapping out the thermostat at this point even if you don't do all of the hoses and coolant. It is a quick job and will likely make a big difference in how your engine sounds.

 

Why/How would this affect the sound or reduce the knock?

My coolant temps are normal. I've seen 188 when off roading in Low Range, and consistent 199-204 highway driving.

 

Ive been pondering weather to get the head gaskets done and the sleeves pinned together, or separately as money dictates what I can afford. Id like to get the most out of my engine before I have to think about replacing or complete engine rebuilds. But also dont want to tear the engine apart 3 times either. Have you any idea where I can get my sleeves pinned? and the cost? Ive been wondering if a certain member on this forum who performed the job, could be hired to do my sleeves.....

although no noticeable coolant lose or overheating, I can smell a burnt fluid smell but can tell if its burnt coolant or burnt oil. The smell has been there since I got the Disco. Usually after a long drive or something. Once you get out of the truck and walk by the bonnet you can smell it, but the smell is not detectable in the cabin. Obviously this concerns me. But now that I think about it, can this stop leak fluid have anything to do with the burnt smell? If its still in the radiator and its old then maybe its burnt or something. Either way I did have Jiffy Lube perform a "partial" coolant flush on 2 occasions. At the time we were not sure how to fully flush the system so they hooked up a pump and drained what they could from the coolant expansion tank and refilled with new fluid. Again this was down on two different occasions within a month. I wanted to make sure I got as much of the old fluid out as possible.

Regarding that little bugger of a heater unit. I just took out the heater blower motor last week and removed some leaves and a full napkin! Heater one day decided to vibrate loudly when the heater was on full blast so that was my first course of action. A week later and the sound is back. So gonna take it apart again and see what the hell is up, and this time Im gonna inspect and clear out anything that may be in the gutter between the bonnet and the windshield. Im thinking leaves and **** are still getting into the system and clogging up. That aside Ive not noticed any weak blower strength. in fact after I cleaned it out last week there was a reasonable improvement in the blower output.

 

I tried to do a simple analysis by counting the "ticks" while watching the second hand of my watch. It seemed to be about 50 ticks over a period of 10 seconds which would equal 300 per minute. Now, check my math on this and tell me if I'm wrong. If it were a single cylinder sleeve would that not have to equate with engine rpm as the piston would be making a full stroke every revolution? On the other hand, if it were a single valve or lifter would that not be at 1/2 engine rpm?

Seems to me it's more likely a valve.

 

Ok... now this is an interesting theory.
I suppose instead of counting by hand. You could record a 60 second video, bring onto your computer and more accurately count the knocks. I might have to try this myself.

 

I don't think it's necessary to have an exact count, it seems pretty obvious that it is at 1/2 engine rpm which would indicate something associated with the camshaft or valve train. To me it really sounds like a failing lifter because, being hydraulic, it's possible for it to come and go like that. Anything purely mechanical would just be there all the time I would think.

 

Your theory actually makes a lot of sense. I hadn't thought about it like that. Another thing to note, for my tick at least, is that when I really push the engine (like up a mountain pass or towing) the tick disappears for a while and is silent at idle. Not sure what to make of that...

 

The thought behind the tick disappearing at higher RPM's is that with the speed of the piston in the sleeve increases. The sleeve does not slip up quick enough to come in contact with the head before the piston reverses direction pulling it back down.

Mine makes the same noise. Have had thoughts about pinning the liners. But also thoughts about the noise coming from the oil pump.

 

I don't know all that much about this slipped liner theory. I do know, from what I've read in the past that a loose liner normally causes combustion pressure to enter the water jacket which causes all sorts of tell-tale signs such as high coolant pressures and temperatures, swollen coolant hoses and leaks. As far as a liner moving up and making an audible ticking sound - again, wouldn't it have to be at engine rpm? And why would it not make a ticking sound as it slid back down and contacted the liner to block seat making the sound at twice engine rpm?

When I did my heads a couple of years ago I looked over everything very closely and honestly couldn't see how a liner, even if it were loose, could move up and down and create a knocking sound like that. Once the head is bolted down there is no space for it to do that unless the gasket seal were completely gone all the way around the cylinder.

The idea never made much sense to me but maybe I'm missing something?

 

I think these symptoms only occur if the liner slipping is caused/accompanied by a crack in the block behind the liner.

I dont know for sure, but if you do a search on this forum for Cometic and look for the posts by RacerX (I think?), he is pretty adamant that head gaskets do not cover the stock sleeves.