Pulled my '99 Disco II out of the garage today to make room for another project. Haven't driven it in a few months. Left it running for about 20 mins or so and came back to find it overheated, in the red, indicator light on. Shut it down and popped the hood, only to find what I believe to be a warped valve cover. I was noticing a slow leak from the driver side cover, left rear (driver's perspective) corner. Same thing happened a few years back and I had the engine rebuilt.

Searched here and found one suggestion about tightening up any bolts I could get to. Feeling that that will be more of a band-aid and will probably lead to more problems down the road. If I've got to replace this valve cover, am I looking at another complete rebuild? Or should I be able to remove the intake manifold and then just replace the valve cover?

Appreciate any help or advice.
-C.

 

Before you replace the valve cover gasket make sure that you didnt drop a cylinder sleeve.

 

Whoever told you that you needed to rebuild your engine to fix a leaking valve cover is one hell of a salesman.

 

Just replace the valve cover gasket.

 

It wasn't the gasket before. Cover was actually warped. Saw it with my own eyes and actually a friend of mine who was a LR mechanic verified that (before I had someone else work on it). I will check the gasket to be sure, though.
As for the rebuild, it was time. My friend would have done it, if not for hand surgery he'd just had.
-C.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but what does your valve cover have to do with your truck overheating? A leaking valve cover / gasket will leak oil...

 

One would think. I guarantee you that it's leaking coolant.

-C.

 

 

The quickest way to kill a Rover is to overheat the engine. It will run for miles with the oil light on but only minutes with the temp gauge in the red.

 

Agreed that valve covers will leak coolant. Got my gaskets replaced last year for that same reason. Head gaskets are just fine.