my 03 disco had a small leak in the front of #1 cylinder. I also had the service light on figured I had a small leak in the emission system yet I could not find a problem with it, I had been driving it the past 10,000 miles with a lifter knock that got so bad it was time to repair, I also had the abs tc and hill desent lights going on more often. ok I replaced the head gaskets and cleaned lifters and rockers reassembled motor. the motor runs great got 500rpm less while driving and no more service light or any other lights. I never thought such a small leak in the head could cause all these problems.

 

Good to know. What kind of codes were causing the engine light before repairs? How many miles on the truck?

 

How many miles on your engine, what were the exact fault code numbers and when you cleaned the lifters, which is not necessary, did you happen to inspect the hardend surface of both the lifters and cam lobe, also did you make sure to but each lifter back on the same cam lobe if not your cam/lifters will get real bad and need of replacement very soon.

 

my disco had 76,000 miles when I bought it and started leaking at about 80,000 service code was on when I bought it and read po442 and never could figure it out and yes I checked everything. the knocking got real bad and could not tell if it was a rod or a lifter so I tore it down and found the lower intake gasket belled upword like a lot of preasure built up inside motor the pushrods and rockers look fine with little ware but all my lifters were seazed and had a hell of a time getting them apart the ball was frose and toke a while to get them to open after a good soaking and cleaning they worked fine. yes I kept all the parts in order when I did this. I had 2 years of auto repair in the 70's so I know what im doing but this is a first rover I have owned. and first time I repaired lifters. I now have a small water leak looks like its comeing from timeing cover haven't haven't fixed that yet.

 

got any photos?

 

Regarding your lifters, did you clean and put them back on the same cam lobe, if not the cam and lifters will be short lived because of the soft alloy Rover made that cam out of so keep an ear open for the noise to come back and when it does, you will need to replace both the cam and lifters. At you mileage, I would suggest you also replace the timing chain set and oil pump gear set cause they will have wear also.

 

water leak from the timing chain cover is a common leak