Hey all, I've finally bitten the bullet and started tearing down the engine on my 2002 disco. I'd been driving it for about a year plus now with a "mystery" coolant leak. No signs of internal HG failure, but a pretty good coolant leak down the front of the engine block.

Plan to replace/refurb:
- all gaskets (HG included)
- Get heads rebuilt/decked/checked
- coolant hoses
- Plugs/plug wires
- Coil packs
- Water pump
- PS pump (was dying)
- Potentially replace rockers, pushrods, tappets and cam depending on how they look

Teardown pics:





Here you can see the external coolant leak. Must have been going on a LOOONG time by the looks of it.

 

My hidden coolant leak from the front of the block was the timing chain cover.

 

"My hidden coolant leak from the front of the block was the timing chain cover."
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No great surprise; a pretty common leaking point. So, Rover guys, experiencing coolant leaks, should keep this in mind, and look for possible leaking in this place; deal with it.

 

I am experiencing a slow phantom coolant loss currently. I will look into the timing chain cover.

 

Don't suppose you'd consider installing top hat liners while you've got it gutted, and maybe a hot cam from D&D? More hp and reliability!

 

I'm subscribed to this one. Good luck with the rebuild. If you have any question please feel free to ask.

 

That's a little more invasive than I'm looking to get with this project. Its tempting, but the $$ doesn't make sense.

Thanks. Will hopefully have the heads off and out to the machine shop later this week or this weekend.

 

Today's update:

Got the intake manifold and rockers off, and am very pleasantly surprised. There is very little sludging and all of the surfaces have a nice oil petina on them. Rockers have little to no play in them and the shafts look pristine. Tappets come out of their holes easily and they also show no wear along the cam surface. I think I'm going to reuse the entirety of the valvetrain. I'm very impressed, and definitely believe the previous owners must have religiously changed the oil in this thing.

Longblock:



Rockers:



Tappets:


How she sits now:



This weekend the heads will come off and go to the machine shop. Will spend a good bit of time degreasing and cleaning everything in the bay. Will also be re-wrapping all the wiring harness in new conduit tubing as the old stuff is brittle and destroyed.

 

Not trying to second guess your experience level, but are you sure you know what to look for? I thought mine were fine at first glance until someone who knew better pointed out minor pitting on nearly all the lifters. Just hate to see you do all that work just to have to tear it apart again in a year or two.

 

I've got a reasonable amount of experience. I haven't made the final decision yet regarding the vavetrain. I will be pulling out all of the tappets and thoroughly examining them, as well I will be dismantling and inspecting the rocker shafts and rockers.

The few I pulled out and cleaned off literally looked like brand new tappets.