I am fairly confident I will have this fixed pretty soon, but I wanted to make a thread for any extra help and to document my problem to help people in the future

My truck is a 2001 d2 with about 185k miles on it. I parked in last August to pull the diffs so I could regear and install a rear locker. Due to hurricane season, college, and other reasons, I didn't get the diffs back in until November. When I finally got it back together, I had a constant misfire on cylinder 3. Trying to get the truck ready for a wheeling trip in 2 weeks, I immediately threw plugs and a set of wires at it since that was cheap and my first thought but it did nothing. I was able to get a new injector in time, and I was sure that was the issue, so I tried a new one and got nothing. I spent the next several days swapping injectors, plugs, wires, and the coil packs around in various configurations but could not get the misfire to move. Finals week was coming up and I was running out of time to do anything so it sat again.

Now I have gotten back into it, and I performed a compression test on the whole driver-side bank so I could compare results. All the numbers are low, but keep in mind the truck hasn't turned over in a month and I was outside in 30 degrees F when I did this, so i expected low numbers
1: 130 psi
3: 0 psi
5: 130 psi
7: 126 psi

Based on these results, I am assuming rings are probably okay, and the issue is a broken/damaged lifter, pushrod, rocker, valve or spring. I have not performed a leak-down test and I have not pulled the valves yet, I am planning on doing that this weekend. I turned the motor over about 5-6 seconds on each cylinder just to double check, and after I did them all I went back and did 3 again just to make sure, but the needle didn't even move.

I did the head gaskets on this truck in 2020 at 160k miles, and I reused the lifters and pushrods. They all looked fine to me, and up until now I haven't had any issues that could be traced back to valve train so I was never concerned, but that seems to be the cause of whatever is happening now. I have zero coolant consumption or any other symptoms that lead me to believe blown HG, plus I rebuilt it with head studs and the block hasn't seen north of 220 since then.

I put the truck on 35s this summer and only put a few hundred miles on it around town before I parked it to pull the diffs. I am just so bummed I haven't even gotten to enjoy the time and money that I put into it The last time I wheeled was nearly a year ago, and I was on 33s with stock gears and open diffs! If anyone has any advice or thoughts, please let me know!

 

To be 0 psi it would almost have to be a stuck valve. Pull the valve cover and make sure all the rockers are tight.

 

@Grum.man That was my thought, but a friend of mine who is a rover tech and knows D2s better than I do suggested I do a leak-down before tearing into it. I don't understand how that would help if it never developed a single pound of pressure, and I even came back and tested 3 again to make sure it wasn't a user error. I have never dealt with valve train issues before on a car, so diagnosing all of this is a learning experience.

We are projected to get 5-6" of snow on Friday, and if that happens I will certainly be enjoying the rare snow day rather than working on the truck, but when I have a free afternoon I will be pulling the valve cover to do that. Should I go ahead and pull the intake to check the lifters and pushrods as well?

 

I would start with the valve cover and go from there.

 

A leak down test would potentially allow you to hear where the air is going. Whether it be the intake, exhaust, or oil pan. If you have a bore scope that would be ideal as you could see what's going on. Zero compression wouldn't point to a lifter problem so I don't think it's worth pulling the lower intake. You can see everything you need to see valvetrain wise with the valve cover off. You can pull the spark plugs, the fuel pump relay, and two coil relays and have someone turn the engine over on the starter for you so you can watch the movement of the valves.

 

Taking a break to grab lunch, but there isn’t a way to pull the valve cover without moving the ac pump is there? I’m just going to take the belt off and unbolt it so I can wiggle the VC out of there, but before I do that I wanted to double check

 

The AC is simple to remove. It will sit in the bottom half of the airbox where the air filter goes without removing any lines.

 

That was my plan. I remember doing that trick from the AB video when I did my head gaskets, just didn't want to do it if I didn’t have to.

 

Well, the problem has been found! Classes just started back up and work is picking back up (I bartend downtown, so we are really only busy during the school year) so I hadn’t had a chance to get the head off until today.

I had spoken to a friend at a shop in Texas who knows a lot more about rovers and d2s specifically than I do, and after telling him all the symptoms he suspected it was head gaskets. I told him I was wary of that, since I did HG back in 2020 and have studs now, and the motors never overheated since then (ultra gauge, so I know engine temps haven’t gotten over 220 or so). He asked what brand I had used and I said Victor Rienz, and he said in his experience those fail way early.

Sure enough, I get the head off and there’s a nearly 1” hole in the HG between cylinder 3 and the valley. Lesson learned, and I have Elring HG coming Tuesday to put it all back together. So for anyone who didn’t already know, stay away from Victor Rienz head gaskets. The friend I talked to said he recently had a truck with those HGs that failed after 8k miles or so.





With the long weekend ahead, and parts not coming until Tuesday, I’d like to spend the next few days cleaning everything really well. What are y’all’s recommendations for cleaning everything? Lots of carbon build up on the pistons and head, and there is just a layer of oil/dirt/whatever else on the front of block under the brackets for alternator and AC. When I did the HG before I was still in high school and was just trying to get it all back together since it was my only car and I didn’t take the time to thoroughly clean everything that wasn’t necessary. I have a daily now so that’s not a problem, and I want to make sure everything is done right and put back together as a best as possible.

 

You need to get a precision straight edge and check the head and block for flatness. There is a spec in the RAVE. That big of a blowout i'd be surprised if the head or block doesn't need machining.

As for cleaning, I sprayed mine down with a solvent to remove wet oil then used these brushes on the end of a drill. I pulled the valves and cleaned them up with a wire wheel then lapped them in place and installed new valve seals.