I am wanting to go pick up a 2000 kent green disco II maybe next weekend but it is ~300 miles away.

The previous owner says that the exhaust manifold either has a large crack or is broken open. Is this a serious enough issue for the engine to not drive it back home?

Thanks

 

Usually a previous owner will "forget" some items, or had ignored them. THis may not be only problem.

Many exhaust leaks take place at this junction between the manifold and the rest of the system, gasket goes out. Also bolts usually frozen, so it is not a good road side repair. See the small black smudge.

Plenty of people drive around with exhaust leaks. Now you'ld want to be concerned about the fresh air intake sucking it into the HVAC system, and you getting it in the sealed up passenger compartment. Crack open a window.

Going to pick up a Disco and beginning your life of service to it with a 300 mile return trip will make for a long day, has a mechanic looked it over? Will you take a lap top so you can have the RAVE shop manual with you? Will you be able to take it to a nearby shop and at least have them put it on a lift and check fluids in diff and transfer case? Or you can check your self, easier if you bring a set of ramps. A scanner that can read live data would be handy, reading the real engine temp beats the dash gauge any day.

Reason I mention this is people have bought Discos only to have them gross overheat, no oil in diff, transfer case, etc. It's one thing to find this a mile from you house.

 

i won't be taking it anywhere to get checked out unfortunately. i work in a euro repair shop that has all the diagnosis tools needed to figure out the issues. once i get it back i can give it a once over. i'd check the oil and coolant levels before i leave and watch the gauges.

what am i looking at in that pic, its obviously the exhaust manifold but?

 

Yep just the joint between manifold and down pipe, silly three bolt gasket, you know the drill (or maybe PB Blaster the night before and no drill)... take a scanner so you can watch the coolant temp, the gauge is widely average. Expect temps 195 - 200 range. Noise like water rushing in pipes is bubbles in coolant going thru heater core. Lots of these have HG issues, could take a exhaust gas in coolant test for pre-sale check. New bolts and gasket set is about $300.

 

Depends how bad the leak is, if minor you may be OK, if a bad leak, you will throw the 02's off and the engine will run real rich possibly causing a cat over heat.

 

Go for it man!!!
It is common for the exhaust manifolds to crack and leak when cold, it is also not unheard of for the exhaust manifold gaskets to leak.