Hey,

I finally have a couple of days off and I plan to spend some time checking out Rover, that's what I call him. It’s a new to me 2000 Disco 2. Sorry in advance for the long write up. The previous owner, a guy I work with only had it for 2 or 3 months, told me that he had to add water almost daily, I don’t know how much. He said that one morning he was on the interstate and the temp gauge pegged and he pulled over. Then the gauge was acting erratically and he was afraid to drive it. Sounds like an air pocket, or low coolant. He said there was no steam coming from under the hood and the engine never ran rough. I gave him $400 for it and sent a roll-back to bring it to me. The only thing I have done is top off with water and I let it run for about 20 minutes and the gauge went about half way up and stayed there…although I didn’t watch it closely the whole time and I didn’t see any leaks. The exhaust was steaming slightly, probably indicating head gasket or cyl sleeve problems. My goal right now is to assess this thing, hopefully drive it some locally, and determine whether or not I like it enough to sink $5000+ into and keep it, or just do a top end rebuild and send it down the road.


So here’s the list of what I plan to do tomorrow, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am an experienced ASE certified tech, but I am new to Rovers...definitely not saying that I'm some know it all, just saying that I'm not a complete idiot (most of the time anyways), although I can be an air head at times...hey, I grew up in the 60's & 70's, so if need be, I'll lean on that as an excuse...lol. I do have a shop manual, big thick one from Amazon…looks to be about the same thing as the RAVE download that I’ve seen on here.

• Change transmission filter/fluid/pan gasket. There is a pan leak, whine and it won’t go into reverse. While I’m at it I will go through the XYZ switch. Hopefully, I can get reverse to work…A side note on the whine, it goes away if you rev the engine…which is weird and may indicate that it’s not a low trans fluid whine. Guy that I got it from said he thought that ACE had been disabled and it was that…I’m not familiar with that and will try to pin point the noise tomorrow.
• Pull spark plugs and look for steam-cleaned ones.
• Perform a cooling system pressure check, with spark plugs out.
• Check out the thermostat, I don’t know if it’s the stock 205, a cheap replacement or if it works.
• Look closer at the oil, maybe do a change and cut open the old filter. I briefly looked at the oil before and didn’t notice any sign of coolant present.

Depending on results, I may try something like Moroso’s ceramic engine seal or Thermal Weld…just as a quick fix, so I can drive it some locally and see how I like it. Also, if I can drive it back and forth to work for a few days, 15 minutes each way, I’m sure that I will uncover other issues. Also, I’ve read that these radiators have small tubes that clog easily and don’t respond well to flushing…I realize that my temporary “quick fix” could screw up the radiator (if it’s not already)…I’m willing to take that chance and if I keep it I will replace it.

Also, I like it, but, another reason that I want to drive it some is to see how much it grows on me, if that makes any sense…I have come to the conclusion that these things are a bottomless money pit, kind of like a boat or race car, been there, done that…oh well, we’ll see…


Thanks!!
DD

 

No matter what, you absolutely cannot lose for $400.
Good luck with it!

 

Yo bud..
If he is adding water to it - you will probably need to change the Head Gaskets now..

That's what My 1997 did - drank about a large beer glass of water once a week.

Well at least put in Barr's leaks to put off changing the head gaskets until you have money and time.

You can't go wrong for $400.
it is almost free.

 

Wow that's nice for $400.
I paid a lot more for my D2 and it needed head gaskets and a lot of work.

 

I'll go along with most of your schedule apart from adding 'snake oil' miracle cures 'cos you're wasting your time and money. Be better off finding what, why and where you are losing coolant rather than wasting time with the band aid treatment. All leak additives usually screws up other things like rads, heater matrix and small waterways.

PS nice truck for that money though.