Hi guys!

Back after a few years in Europe (no I didn't get to buy a TD5 whilst there... )

After a long search I bought a 2000 DII with 120K miles. Short block was replaced about 30K ago, truck looks very clean. No oil leaks (which is weird cause there's oil in it...), pretty much standard aside from the SD roof rack with some lights.

Since I bought it about a month ago I have started to notice the infamous waterfall in the dash. I have tried to bleed the system, but no success... And yes, I have raised the overflow, opened the bleed screw, flooded the driveway till I saw no more bubbles, closed the bleed screw, topped it of, and went for a drive. Tried other, not recommended, ways of running the engine with the overflow up in the air (no lid), but also no success. Floors are dry, so I think the heater core should be fine.

Then I experience some misfire in the morning on 6 & 7. I pulled the plugs yesterday to see if they got steam cleaned or were wet, indicating a HG problem on the 30K engine. Neither one. Also 6 & 7 are on opposite sides which would make HG an unlikely culprit for the misfire (right?). I did notice the plugs were not all the same (will buy new Bosch Platinum 4+ tonight). The wires are silicone, but still want to replace with Magnecore 8mm when time and finances permit.

Looking at doing:
-pressure test
-combustion gasses in coolant
-flush cooling system to get Dex out, Green in to prevent damage/blockage due to air and Dex combo.

Any preliminary ideas of the cause?

As always, thank you!

 

Are you having to top off the coolant frequently? Your heater core sounds like it's fine but for better inspection you can remove the dash bracket and the plastic vent piece on the passenger side. Then you can you run the truck/pressure test and get a better view for the leak, you will definitely see it if it leaks.

Definitely try the new plugs, how many times would you say you bled the system? Sometimes it takes a couple times(from other's experience).

 

7 is a bad sign. Head gasket leaking into coolant jacket.
7 is right smack in the back.

6 is off by itself and should not misfire.

With 30,000 miles, that is enough time for a head gasket to wear out from thermal cycling.

If you start the truck, drive it around a bit, then park it
with engine running.

Take off the coolant cap slowly. Let the engine idle.
if after seconds or a few minutes, it is throwing coolant out the top of the expansion tank, then you have a bad head gasket on the #7 side.

Just do the head gaskets and if you are rich, get the heads done at a shop and put it back together and smile.

It will actually bleed correctly with new head gaskets.

I just went all through this.

I would do the coolant test first to see if it throws out coolant.
If it does, I would move to changing head gaskets.

If not, then do the rest of the tests you are planning.

 

Awesome (that is for your suggestions, not possible HG...)! Thanks, will pick up a test from a parts store along with the plugs.

Some more details:
- Bled the system 4 times now this week. 1st, 3rd and 4th time when stone cold (California style).
- I do not have to top of coolant at all really.
- I don't consider the smoke from the tailpipe to be white

Will update in a few days... Thanks!!

 

how can you say not possible head gasket???
You do have 30,000 miles on those head gaskets right??
If you remove the cap on the expansion tank and it throws out coolant and keeps throwing it out - it will be head gaskets pressuring the cooling system.

You got a misfire on #7. That is about 5mm or less to the coolant jacket and the cooling system from the crown ring on the head gasket.

I had a misfire on Cylinder #1 and could not bleed correctly.
It WAS the head gasket.

 

It could very well be your head gasket but you want to eliminate all other causes before HG. They tend to leak pretty bad, so it might be that this head gasket is in the beginning stages of failing. Mine started to weep and then slowly started to **** itself. If you have to drive the truck make sure you bleed the air out frequently, you don't want that making hot spots in your engine/heater core.

And obviously you have checked the oil for milkyness yes? If it's leaking internally that is especially bad and you need to stop driving a immediately.

 

Misinterpretation of my shorthand. My sentence should have been like below:

"Awesome (that is for your suggestions, not the possibility of it being a blown HG..."

I agree the likelihood of the HG being blown next to#7.

 

Will (continue to) do.

No milkiness.

 

I have to agree with jfall on this one.
#7 has an incredibly small amount of gasket between
the cylinder and the large water jacket opening.
And who says the HG job was done correct, heads resurfaced, new bolts used, you can't know in most cases.
I am by no means a LR expert, but been there done that.
See attachment, that lil bit of missing gasket caused nightmares.
The sauna sound under the dash is soothing to the brain, but your wallet will not like it.
Edit in this thought. The lower head bolt on #7 is the hardest to get to during an engine in the vehicle HG job.

 

Thanks INNZANE.

Landrover installed the new short block, so I would hope they used new bolts, resurfaced, and installed correctly. Then again, I have no paperwork on it from PO so who knows what really happened. After all, I found 2 different types of plugs.


UPDATE:
When I checked the plugs last night I swapped the #6 plug with the #2 plug to see if the misfire would now happen on the #2 cylinder. That would have pointed out the plug to be the culprit for #6 misfire. I reset the codes. Just now as I left the office for lunch, I got codes again: 1300, 306 and 307. With a pending 300. #6 is still misfiring, so that can not be blamed on the plug (unfortunately...)

What would P1300 indicate? Bad wires? Bad coil pack?

Thanks guys!