So about a month ago I bought a 03 disco, which I got it for cheap, because it had a issues and needed work done on it. And the previous owner had lost their job and needed money. So I took it into a well known land rover mechanic's shop, and they replaced the radiator, radiator tubes, head gasket, valve cover gaskets, so O-rings near the filter, brakes, and some locks inside. Which the engine was running great after the fix, but this weekend I went camping and offroading up at a high altitude (I live in Phoenix and I took her up a mountain to around 9000ft). And it did fine on the 200 mile drive to and up the mountain and did fine with the 4-wheeling and running through mud pits. But than as I was driving around up there at night, the engine suddenly overheated. I added some water the the radiator and got it back to camp. Than the next day I worked my way down the mountain to the nearest town and got some radiator fluid. Which at the time the levels looked fine so I did not add any fluid. But I did have the engine light come on when I restarted the engine in town and my friend claimed he could smell something burning. But than the smell when away and we drove the 200 miles back to phoenix with no issues. Which the next day I was driving it and the engine light went out, but since I have been losing about half the volume of the radiator reservoir a day. Which I scheduled to take it into the mechanics tomorrow and see what they say. But I just wanted to see what you guys think about this. Because everything that I could see that could cause it to lose coolant was replaced two weeks ago. The radiator and its tubes are all brand new and the head gasket it brand new. Which all this leaves is that the head is warped and my mechanic did not tell me this, or that one of the tubes are lose or cracked already...

 

Did he replace the throttle body heater plate gasket?
Def take it back and see what he says, you have a warrenty by law.

 

I dont know if he did, I will ask him when I take it in tomorrow. What exactly does that gasket do? I am assuming that the coolant runs through that gasket too. Which also I have checked the coolant for oil and there is no oil in it, which I know in other vehicles is a good sign that the head gasket is cracked.

 

You won't generally get oil in the coolant, but you can get coolant in the oil. Pull the dipstick and oil filler cap and check for white foam looking stuff. That will indicate coolant in the oil.

Are you seeing puddles of coolant under the truck?

What shop did you take your truck to? There was another post just today from someone looking for a shop in AZ. The poster didn't say what part of AZ though.

 

Okay, I will give a looking at the oil when I get off work today. I go to Rovertech in north Scottsdale, they are pretty much down the street from the only land rover dealer in the phoenix area. Which the dealer charges 140 a hour and rovertech charges 90 a hour. Which the two mechanics were both factory trained, which they worked for the old land rover dealer in scottsdale before it went out of business. Which when it did go out of business, they started this company. You can call them at 480-998-6617.

 

Which I do not see coolant under the truck either, and there is no smell of burning coolant out the tail pipe. The coolant smell is all under the hood. Also I dont know if the coolant would make it to the ground anyway, I still have the what looks to be a plastic skid plate on the bottem of the engine.

 

If you plan to use the truck to off road you should get rid of that plastic cover under the engine. It will allow more air flow into the engine compartment and make finding leaks easier. When you take the truck back to the mechanic have a pressure test performed so they can find the problem without charging you to change a bunch of parts they think might be the problem.