I was driving down the road, at 40 mph and noticed the battery light came one. I thought to myself, "that seems strange" and continuued to drive. Seconds later, I signaled to change lanes and noticed that the car was steering heavier than normal and came to the realization that the power steering was out. The next second, I noticed that the engine overheat light is burning bright red. I pulled over as soon as I could and popped the hood. The main belt (serpentine?) was not run over one of the pulleys that it normally should be. After looking inside, I pulled out a pulley that is normally right below the alternator that was nestled between the blades of the fan. I can't figure out how this this attaches to the engine, and I am fairly certain that part of the block sheared off, becuase there are two different kind of metal on the back side of this piece.

I need to know if this is something that I can fix, any clue how much a garage would ask for this kind of repair. I have a '00 Disco SII with 155k miles.

Also, how hard is a freeze plug to replace, the car has been leaking a quart of radiatior fluid from the back of the block a day for a couple of weeks now. I've put some radiator stop leak in it, but I understand that is only a temporary solution.

Any help would be really appreciated!

Thanks,

Patrick

 

i had the exact same thing happen a few weeks ago - the engine was fine but i had (it was actually the wife but who is keeping track...) sheared the plastic center out of a pulley. it was a simple fix at the nearest NAPA. they wanted 3 weeks to order an actual land rover part but they had a kinda sorta matching exact sized as the old pulley part in stock for 26 bucks. they even let me borrow a 10mm wrench to fix it there. total time and cost was 25 min and $26. YEAH NAPA!

good luck on yours....

 

Radiator stop leak will build up in the cooling system until coolant can no longer flow through the engine. Do not use it. Are you sure it is a freeze plug leaking? With your mileage it could be a head gasket or intake valley gasket. Have the head gaskets been replaced yet? Clean up the engine real well so you can see exactly where the leak is coming and have a pressure test done on the system. That will tell you exactly where your problem is without throwing unnecessary time and money at the problem.

As for your pulley, is it possible to get a picture of the problem posted? It sounds like your belt tensioner broke off and took part of the mount with it. The good news if that is the case is that it mounts to the alternator bracket and not directly to the front cover. The alternator bracket can be easily replaced.

 

I agree with AK, your belt tensioner broke off, this has happened before, and like AK said a new alternator bracket and pully and you will be good to go.
www.roverlandparts.com
www.atlanticbritish.com

 

Patrick,
You need some head gaskets not a bunch of instant plug in your engine.
As for the belt tensioner, replace the whole thing along with both idler pulleys, all of wish have a high failure rate.

 

The leak I had looked to be coming from the back and after further review it turned out to be the front cover gasket. The guys are right, it took a pressure test to pin point the leak. I was slow to get in and it has cost me $1200 and I do not have the truck back yet. One quart per day is too much, get it checked out quick and save yourself the heartache unless of course, you want to stimulate your mechanics economy.