Yeah, so last Friday I get a frantic message from my wife "call me back...hurry" Well, she was on the side of the road just after frying my engine. She said "started to make bad noise when accelerating, temperture gauge read in the red and light was on" Uh oh, imagine that feeling deep in your gut. Yup, my initial thought was correct. Not only did she over heat the engine but ran it so long with out coolant, melted the plastic coolant tubing running from the reservoir and back.

After I got to the truck several hours later and started inspecting for damage I found the following:
- Initial problemun detectible
- As stated earlier, melted plastic coolant lines. (had to cut away melted section and stretch just enough to reconnect and hope to circulate coolant)
-After I get engine started (several minutes of cranking until it stuggled to start) noticed the ruffest idle you can imagine.

Well after determining the engine was trashed I saw no harm inlimping her home (4 mi.) Oh, and what fun those 4 mi. were. It was like walking with the dead.

So, any thoughts:
1)Could attempt to replace engine. Estimatedcost??? What else might have been damaged???

2) Wholesaling it to someone interested in parts or rebuilding

3) Part the vehicle out on ebay (sounds like a hell of a task)

Just think, I only had 2 or 3 minor repairs/maintnance left to complete and she would have been fully up to date.

Thanks for listening!

 

it's possible that the transmission took a beating also in the process because it relies on coolant in the radiator to cool the transmission fluid...I don't know how durable these transmissions are in that respect.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else that would have been affected by cooking the motor. I think if I were you, I'd attempt to determine the extent of the damage to the engine and then take it from there. Again I don't know where the weak spot is on the Disco motors but it might be something as easy as replacing a head or gasket (if you're lucky).

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I can only imagine the pit in your stomach when you got that call. I'm in the middle of flushing my coolant and replacing all the hoses and thermostatright now (the very last of my maintenance since starting last Oct.). I'm hoping to avoid that phone call from my wife. I'm guessing you don't know what happened to your coolant? Could it have run out the melted tubing without being noticed?

 

A used 4.0 for $1750, sounds pretty good.

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/item.wws...torcarsltd.com

I've thought about parting out cars before, sounds like a pain. I'd like to know how it works out monetarily.

 

I'd say attempt the engine replacement. Parting it out will never get you to the 7k or whatever the Disco was worth pre-engine. The only time I've seen a parting out idea work out was when the truck gets wrecked/totalled, you buy it back from insurance at salvage value, THEN part it out and make your 2k.

Pretty crappy though...sorry [&o]

 

When you overheat a LR engine you drop a cylinder liner. Because the engine block is cast aluminum they have to line the cylinder walls will steel liners because the aluminum wear's so much faster, without liner a engine would last maybe 50,000 miles.
Because the aluminum and steel expand at different rates the steel liner becomes lose and drops into the crankcase.
All that being said, replace the engine. It will be cheaper than buyinga new car, especially if it is paid for. The transmission will be fine. Have the fluid in it changed to be sure, but it wil be fine.
www.roverlandparts.com has good parts.

 

A friend om mine had the same issue on a 2003, his coolant bleed plug broke off and the coolant leaked out. He had only purchased it a few months prior so he wanted to fix it. The dealer charged him $9500. They installed a brand new short block, retooled the cylinders and did a complete valve job which included milling the heads. I have to admit that the LR mechanics did nice work, it looked like a complete new engine. They even cleaned all non replaced engine parts such as the oil pan, water pump and other parts. By the way, I saw the detailed bill and the short block was priced at $4500 alone and the labor was around $3000.