Hello, I am new to the Forum but have used it lately quite a bit... Ok, I am loosing a litre of coolant practically every day with only a 20-30 mile driving distance. Upon return, I have coolant leaking down from around the bell housing. I took it to the local LR shop and they pressure tested but it's so bad they could not pinpoint where it is coming from. They told me that they would have to begin pulling motor apart to find it. I decided to take it to a well known mechanic in the area to get a second opinion. He got underneath and decided that it appeared like a freeze plug leaking. I did replace the T/B heater 2 weeks ago b/c of it leaking onto valve cover. Now I am staring at a major repair and the vehicle only has 62k on it... My question is, are the freeze plugs a common problem at this mileage or could it be that previous owner got the motor hot and put wrong coolant in and caused corrosion...?

 

NO it is not.
You are still most likely looking at a valley pan and headgasket replacement.
Let us know what you find what they quote you and all that stuff.

 

Disco Mike, Thanks for the quick response... I was quoted moments ago for Headset replacement 1,400 from one and the other will be just shy of 1,000. Would it be wise to install new freeze plugs while the motor is out of the vehicle...?

 

Maybe I shouldn't butt in, but I think the freeze plugs issue is a red herring, and you don't need to pull the engine to replace the head gaskets ... etc. Been there, done that. $1,000 sounds like a good price.

 

discojag, thanks for the input... I have considered doing the work myself. Both shops that I took it to said that the labor would be less if the motor was pulled out.

 

There is NO way that pulling the engine out of the trcuk will save on labor NONE.
I agree that the freeze plugs are a bad idea. They dont rust out unless the car is 8,000 years old.

 

I can't thank everyone's input enough, I think I am going to do this work myself considering I did yank the motor out of my s10 blazer several winters ago after seizing the motor due to a oil line to the remote oil filter location blowing apart... My only other question for now is.... if it turns out to be a freeze plug problem, can I get to all of them while the motor has the heads off... and should I have a machine shop check the heads for being true...?

 

If you're going through all the work to pull the engine apart then go ahead and have the heads checked. It's a little peace of mind for you when it comes time to reassemble the engine. I really don't think the freeze plugs are your issue. I think you'll find that your head gasket is the problem. It is leaking out of one place on the head gasket like mine is. Definitely let us know what you find when you pull the engine apart so we will know next time someone raises this question.

 

I will report back on the findings for sure so someone else can do the research here just as I have.

 

I don't know your mileage or year, but I had the heads off my '96 Disco w/ 100K miles a couple of years ago. I did it myself to fix a sticky exhaust valve problem and I took the heads to a good local machine shop where they went over them with a fine tooth comb. I would recommend this every time you pull the heads and hopefully, that will only be once. They only charged me $250 - $300 and it was well worth it. I agree with Spike on the freeze plugs, unless something very unusual has happened. This link may be of some help with technical info -

http://www.robisonservice.com/servic...n_fouling1.pdf