BTW, he drove it at speeds up to 60mph, and it was fine, other then waterfall noise!

 

My Disco II is on its way to Land Rover of Tacoma, via Silverdale Towing. (flatbed). He has done everything he can think of and suggestions from all of you. Thought we had it fixed so drove it 15 minutes away to hockey and on the way home it overheated, so what better way to get it 40 miles to a Land Rover service station then by having my insurance company pay for it. Good old road side assistance.

Towing $4.25/mile plus $75.00 service fee. $300.. Probably pennies compared to what's coming next week. Should we start a guessing pool and see who was closest to the actual problem?

 

How mechanically inclined is your husband? Does he have a good set of tools? Worst comes to worst you've got a head gasket problem. I think those can cost up to $1200 at the dealer. It's about $200 in parts and a weekend or two of labor DYI.

 

Since you have done everything cheap, most likely you do have a head gasket problem. With air bubbles purged, engine runs normal, but you hear more bubbles when revved up. Those are most likely new combustion gas bubbles making their way into the system when engine power increased. And in dramatic fashion, they can make temperature spike.

Since you had heard waterfall for a long time, (you thought they all made this noise) the engine has been run hot, just on the verge of overheating for a long time. The Rover temp gauge shows 9:00 for a very wide range of temps, like 235 degrees or more, which are not normal for an aluminum engine. Head gasket finally failed. One test for this is a combustion-gas-in-coolant test, about $50 for auto parts store. Turns a special color if hot exhaust bubbles detected.

$200 or so is the head gasket and bolts, another $200 for machine shop work to shave the lumps off the warped heads. 15 hous of labor. Suspect LR dealer price for HG will be a lot more than $1500, that is more like an indy shop price.

Once you get it repaired, suggest aftermarket temp gauge, like the Ultra Gauge - this lets you keep a very close eye on this.

 

What was the outcome?

 

The outcome is still a work in progress. He has completely replaced everything as far as hoses, wires, water pump, and anything else that goes along with headgasket replacement.

The Rover is still in my garage, we are waiting to order an aftermarket temp gauge. It is out of stock until after Christmas.. The problem we seem to have is we don't trust the thermostat. It is flicking just over the 9 slightly. Can't find an auto parts store that will let us rent one. And he doesn't want it to overheat getting there.

Sorry I don't post pics of repair or details, my husband does all the work, and I ask the questions when needed.

 

I think he is wise to want to use a digital display of temp, that way you can see if your various repairs and adjustments make a difference, before overheating begins. If you are looking for 198, and it gets to 215, you don't need to go to 240, etc. You will notice on a normal system from a cold start, the stat will open later than expected temp, cool down, and start a cycle of up/down by smaller amounts. That kind of overshoot is normal. The only other indicator besides the gauge is the electic fan, which should come on at 212 F. Also, if he can borrow an IR thermometer, he can point it at the pipe that leaves the engine and connects to upper radiator hoses. Since hot coolant leaves the engine at that spot, readings will be pretty close. That pipe is #8 on this RAVE drawing.