Hey, I know there's about 3,000,000,000 posts about Land Rover gaskets a day here, since it's such a common issue. I mainly want to make sure it's actually the $800 gasket fix that this guy says it its.

1.) The vehicle is out here in Las Vegas, and he's willing to drop to $1k for it. It's a 97 Disco. I'm not sure if it's a 1 or 2, and for some reason, after all I tell him how to identify it, he still can't figure it out, which leads me to question him. It looks like a Disco 2, from the pictures I can KIND of see the door handles, and I'll post a link just to have you experts make sure. BTW ... $1k for a Disco, broken or not, is UNHEARD of out here, most people want $4k for them.

2.) He says that there's an apparent Manifold Gasket issue, because the engine is running ungodly loud, yada yada yada ... is this possible? From my experience, gasket issues always just led to oil leaks and cooling issues, which apparently there's none of. It sounds fishy. So is it really like a thrown rod or a cracked piston head or something ungodly, not making it worth my time to even go look at it?


Any advice is good advice.

Here's the link:

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/2140037205.html

 

A '97 will be a Disco 1. Disco 2 is from '99 onwards.
If it's loud then it could be an exhaust manifold gasket, a cheap fix... if that is what it is since he says it's a manifold gasket (inlet or exhaust manifold?). It could also be a blown head gasket letting exhaust gasses out, that's a hg job and possible head repair and everything that goes with it. If it's not that then it's a crap shoot of a million other things - there's no way anyone here will be able to tell you.
Go look at it and drive it, go with your gut feel.