**UPDATE, LEAKING BEHIND SLEEVE**


Well,
I joined the forum 2 years ago, did a fair bit of reading, know of the issues with this motor and the causes and still got some bad luck. The motor did have a tick, which was valve related, I think. What I DO KNOW, is that today, it got a misfire cyl #5 and bad overheating and it's running very quickly through it's coolant. I limped it home shutting it off when it got into the red, then turn the motor carefully as it cooled down, then driving another 60 seconds and repeating until home. Upon full cool down I fired it up, it runs half decent but I can hear one cylinder that only sometimes fires, not surprising.

'04 SE White/Blk
94k miles

So, what are my options fellas?

1. Head gasket, if I tear it down and the cylinder doesn't seem to have dropped, worth replacing?
2. Fancy crate motor from one of the few decent builders with..... some warranty I hope?
3. Find a junkyard motor? What are the options here? Replace the same damn buick motor and risk it again? I know swap options seem to be a PITA

The wife wanted one of these so bad, we knew the risks but damn if I'm not bitter. I work really hard for my money and I hate to look at this like I just threw a few thousand dollars away for a few weeks of driving.

 

After reading this forum for 2 years you bought one with a tick and no idea if the headgaskets had been replaced? And paid enough for it that you don't have money budgeted for gaskets or motor work?

Sorry about the truck but 2 yrs of reading here would have been more than enough info.

Is this a joke?

 

And you should have bought a 99-02. Less problems with the thing.

I'm surprised you didnt read my "run as fast as you can" comments.

 

Just simple hand tools can remove the air intake, fuel rail, valve covers, and heads for free if DIY.

Assuming that you haven't overheated to the point of warping anything important, you'd expect to find coolant in your #5 which of course makes that whole fuel/air/spark trio problematic,

Have the heads decked at your local machine shop if nothing looks unusually bad in there at that point.

Reinstall using the all-metal Cometic head gaskets.

Drive. Enjoy.

 

Have you been tracking temps with an obdII tool? If u keep it you should start. May just have been bad luck, but likely your thermostat went bad, or something else in the cooling system went.

New engines from Turner, Atlantic British or RPi are good.

You can can put in a 4.6 out of a Range Rover P38.

If you can wrench have the block tested, if good do an HG job with good gaskets like Fel-Pro, Mahle or Cometic. Refresh the cooling system with a genuine 180 thermostat or do the online thermostat mod. Also, using Studs is recommended as well.

 

Thanks for the responses folks! Probably shouldn't have done the later years but.... well, the wife really wanted this white 04.

The tick isn't a scare anyway for an 04, those sleeves don't drop which means a tick is valve related and most likely harmless.

 

Going to start on it today. I drove it off and on until the red light would come on, then within 5 seconds I'd shut down. Not sure how hot being fully in the red is but it was there a few times under light load. It wasn't steaming surprisingly but it was certainly hotter then we'd like to see. Cyl 5 is probably full of water by the rate that it is consuming water now. It DOES seem to run otherwise fine this morning besides an obvious running on 7 cylinders. Maybe that's a good sign or maybe I'm being presumptuous and hoping for no dmg when I shouldn't be.

I do have a Bluetooth ODBII reader that I run TORQUE app on my phone with and have for years and years. However, I can't seem to get either of my BT readers to actually link to this engine for some reason though they link to any other vehicle I've ever tried and I've tried many. A LR fella 45 min out has a few discos and a Defender90 and seems to know these well. I told him of my bad luck and he offered to sell me rebuilt and prepped heads for $260, probably a very fair deal I figure.

My real concern with doing the HG is that I do it, then I find out the sleeve has a pinhole at the top and isn't sealed or something like that and I end up throwing away $550 bucks doing the HG. I see Atlantic Rover has the HG kit and head bolts for $220 bucks or so. I don't think I've got a great way of pressuring the block to find sleeve leaks and such but I know that's possible to do maybe it's a MUST, I'm not sure. Thoughts on that bit?

I have used cometic in my little S2000 Turbo years back which is still holding 786whp for quite a few years out of a Honda 4 banger so, I would probably go cometic again, I'll need to see what Atlantic is offering in their kit, I didn't look.

Once again many thanks for input on this. Such a bummer to buy a truck and have it only last a couple weeks. The wife literally cried when it happened yesterday as she loves this thing and always wanted one.

 

I'll track it if I can get a BT device that will actually READ this damn engine.... I did try two so far.

I asked her how it happened and the wife said it ran fine, then suddenly began to rough idle at a stop light and within two minutes, overheated and she shut it off instantly when it turned the red light on and the CEL went from on to blinking. It starts up ok just runs rough now.

 

I see https://www.roverparts.com/resources...-head-gaskets/ seems to prefer the LR style composite gasket. A few posts above a member has recommended an all metal which has done me well in my past but perhaps this will be full of mixed opinions in this application. I'm sure if I use the composite I'll have to use the stretch to yield bolts with it. Generally I like all metal and ARP studs but I know very little of this particular motor. I guess I have more reading to do.

 

The HG had been replaced and I did get good deal on it, less the fact that it lasted two weeks. I hear plenty with valve-train tick and speaking with those owners, many of them have it continue for 30k plus miles etc. So while I didn't feel 100% confident in the sound, I knew it to be common. I didn't read the forum daily for two years, I did get on here two years ago though. After two years of reading MY OWN opinion is that the vehicle is a notorious POS and I'd never in a million years own one for the reasons most people own a vehicle.

HOWEVER, the wife really wanted one, in particular this one with the rear seats and spectacularly nice interior in just the color combo she wanted etc. So against my otherwise better judgment, it was purchased.