My Rover lifestyle started in January with the purchase of a Rutland red 2000 Disco 2 with the heads and intake removed and in the back end of the truck (500 dollars) I have the window sticker it was 38K new!!! WOW. It was a Craigslist purchase sold as needing new head gaskets. I bought the truck and tried to bring her back to life. Many hours of cleaning, reading and asking questions here drew me into the Rover culture. I built block off plates to pressure check the motor (held 60psi for well over 24 hours), had the heads re-worked at a professional machine shop, had the alternator rebuilt at a local company that specializes in rebuilding auto electrics. Purchased a head gasket kit, new strech bolts, thermostat and water pump and reasembled her. She purrs like a kitten, I mean it runs awesome, no knocks no engine codes and plenty of power drives nice, no vibration, no pulling and shifts well......for about 15 minutes, then it blows the coolant out of the expansion tank. I purchased a block tester from NAPA and wouldn't you know it, the blue fluid turned yellow.... and I know for a fact that the head gaskets were installed properly and the bolts were torqued to spec. I have rebuilt engines in the past and I am an aircraft mechanic by trade. so my conclusion is that the cylinder is cracked behind the liner and doesn't appear until the temp rises. (no coolant in oil, liners were in place not slipped) This was a great father son experience, how many other 13 year olds have actually properly torqued a set of intake manifold bolts??? But I am defeated, how can I do all the testing and work that yielded nothing but positive results and still wind up with a engine that over pressurizes the coolant system. I know I am not alone, many of you feel my pain, many of you continue the quest. I however am cutting my losses and I'm prepared to scrap the Rover. Granted she needs some work, she has all the typical issues listed in this forum, to be honest I feel like we all own the same truck since we all have the same issues. My goal was to get it running strong, then tackle the water leaking into the interior and rusty frame (but solid) and have a good truck for my son to drive once he got old enough, teaching him proper maintenance and giving him a pride in ownership that comes with becoming an adult. So with all that being said, I thank you all who have answered my questions. I would also like to say that if anyone needs a set of block off plates, reworked (non secondary air) complete valve job and decked heads that have not been overheated, with proof of reciept from the machine shop of work preformed less than a month ago. I will pull them back off and sell them locally (Pittsburgh PA area). along with the alternator and water pump. I know this isn't the classified section and I will post there as well. or I will sell the whole truck if anyone is interested. I have the clean clear PA title. I'd hate to see all the reworked parts go to the scrap yard, but sadly that's where they are headed.....I would buy a top hat lined short block if anyone has one laying around, but it's almost time to deploy again and I'm running out of time. Again thanks to all for the help and message me here if your interested. I have or can take pictures of anything. aside from parts listed I really don't want to get into parting out the truck I don't have room and I think my wife would kill me if she had to look at a Rover shell while she floated in the pool this summer.

 

a container of KSeal may be in order. Last chance before move to engine swap. LKQ near me gets about $200 for an engine. Trust me, you will need a new HG kit and swap your heads over.

And you could have an HG issue that will reveal itself on tear down.

You positive that thermostat is working? If bad or wrong could overheat. Use a scanner to see coolant temp. not the dash gauge which is not reliable.

 

Are you saying you can buy an engine near you for $200? I would change the gaskets and bolts again if I swapped engines. I would be 100% surprised if it was a head gasket issue, I just installed new ones from Atlantic British and changed the bolts and the heads were decked at the machine shop. Like I said I bought the tuck with the motor disassembled, when I reassembled it then I did the liquid block test to check for combustion gasses in the coolant system and it tested positive (turned yellow) I did opt for the lower cost Morad 180 stat, I'm sure it's working I checked it in hot water. but even if it wasn't working that would not allow combustion gasses into the system. I also bought an Ultra gauge. I wasn't going by the in dash gauge. I don't think I'd buy a used motor and install it, I think my only route would be a top hat lined short block, like I said I pressure checked it for well over 24 hours and it held 60 psi, I had the heads decked new bolts and gaskets and it still has overheating issues, what other tests or what else could I have done? I would have no faith in a used engine even if it was guaranteed.

 

sorry to hear about your problem, unfortunately when you pressure test a block you need to ability to do it hot and cold. a lot of leaks behind liners will not show up until the block is up to temperature. I would agree with Savannah at this point you have nothing to lose by using irontight or k-seal is going to the bone yard any way.

 

Thank you for the reply, I may try those products but in the back of my mind I would always question reliability............more than I already do. I've actually thought about draining the coolant out and pulling a head bolt one by one and blowing air into the bolt hole and smearing up the bolt with some JB weld and running it in and torquing it quickly before it hardens. Most of the cracks seem to happen at the bolt treads so that might seal it..... Granted, I may never get the heads back off but I this point that thought doesn't bother me one bit... with 110K on the clock.

 

One suggestion : paragraphs

 

Put in two bottles of Barr's leaks.
You have nothing to lose.

I drove a rover with a cracked head from Seattle to Rochester NY.
It was a 1991.

In Chicago it was blowing steam out the exhaust so bad that cars behind me must have been almost crashing from 0 visibility.

Put in two cans of Barr's leaks.
By Indiana I was fine.

I went all the way to Boston and from Indiana on - no antifreeze used.
Drove it for a month, down to NYC
back to Boston and back to Rochester NY.

Sold it to a guy in Rochester.

They tore down the engine and said the engine was toast.

Yet - the Barr's leaks provided.

 

Sorry for the bad result after all the hard work. If it comes down to selling the redone "no SAI" heads - I'm interested.

Chris