If your up for a challenge you can do your head gasket job your self. Do you have a torque wrench??? You will need it. The heads should run you about 40 a piece to be milled and maybe another 20 to be cleaned (each side) then its just nut & bolts and your forum family to answer any questions that come up. Now at some point you will want a extra set of hands to help hold things or maybe help break a few stubborn bolts loose. The worst head bolts to get to are going to be up against the firewall (tight space) get the "rave" out and study but its not a horrible job if you look at the money your saving and the learning experience.

 

Ok, looks like I'm in it for the long haul. Thanks for the responses, and thanks Mike for the call. I'll post back along the way.

 

If it can be done in near Livingstone in Zambia, you can do it in your home garage. Of course, they have Foleys Africa to help. Somewhere, under at a tarp in the bush, men labor to bring another Rover back from the edge. No internet, no RAVE, just a box of wrenches and determination. Repair and despair under the same roof!

How do you keep an elephant from charging? Take away his AMEX...

 

I am inspired!

 

You will cook the engine if the temp goes above 1/2 way.
Stop driving it.

If you go to the store and back.
Then wait 10 minutes

IF you then take the cap off of the coolant tank
and it gurrgles and bubbles then you will need to probably replace the head gaskets.

That is one way to tell.
IF there is the water fall sound when you gun it after the light turns green =
2nd sign.

If you are around 90,000 miles + then...

You can fix it in a parking lot if it is warm and not raining

Flickr: Landroverdude2's Photostream

 

Bleed #1 complete. blasted hot air, and idled for 10 min. Air flow was very cool. Temp gauge at 50%ish on dash, still waiting for ultragauge... Will do another bleed in an hour.

 

I received my UltraGauge today. The truck has been idling for 15 or so minutes, and showing a temperature of 196 degrees.

I'm cautious to drive it, even around the block... What are normal idle temps for a DII, and is it okay to take it for a quick spin?

 

196 is an okay temperature, be alert if you head into the 220's

 

196 was with the heat on HI and max blower... I dropped the heat down to 76, and took it up to 1800rpm several times.. temp went up to 206, put the heat back up to HI and it dropped to 203, continuing with slow and steady 1800rpm revs.

Also, where you may hear the waterfall, I only got a few instances of a slow drip water faucet so I guess that's a small victory. That was after two bleeds.

 

Those temps sound good.
If you are not getting heat... you can try reverse flushing the heater matrix.. thats what I did, and it works great!
https://plus.google.com/photos/11352...IbQj8TDsIDqvQE

Essentially, disconnect the input and output pipes from the hoses that go thru the firewall (see rave picture for coolant diagram).

connect up a garden hose to the OUTPUT, and connect up some extra tubing to the INPUT, long enough to hang outside the engine bay, into a bucket or something.

run the hose, low pressure, and see what comes out. if its like mine was you might get chunks like this.

https://plus.google.com/photos/11352...IbQj8TDsIDqvQE

I blew some air from the compressor through the system after i was done with the garden hose, just to get that tap water out... buttoned it back up, added a bit of coolant and i had heat again.

Good luck... BTW, I'm told I'm due for head gasket job soon as well. Some small leaks around cylinder 2 and 7. I've got 118k on the ticker...