So I bought an 03 discovery about three weeks ago and drove it from CA to VT. Upon getting to VT I noticed the heat was intermittent. I brought it to the local rover mecahnic and he checked the coolant, no obstructions, the thermostat no obstructions. He pressurized the system and it read 30 psi, indicating a leak somewhere. There were no visual signs of an exterior leak. He took out a spark plug and it had white corrosion on it which he explained was coolant in the engine. He said he would have to inspect for a blown head gasket. He opened it up and said that the gaskets had been replaced recently and they looked good. He pressurized the heads to check for leaks and he said that seemed good too. He sent the heads to be magnafluxed for cracks. My question is this: Has anyone else experienced this? Although it is an expensive car, I'm not made of money. It seems like the mechanic might be trying to diagnose a bigger problem than is actually present. could it actually be the heater core that is leaking? Any help would be great especially since the labor is adding up at about $600 a day.

Thanks

 

radiator, or the coolant valley pan, need to pull the upper intake and the back crossover tube to access it. need lots of parts and its best to replace all the pcv hoses and smaller hoses and clean out the oil tube that runs to the oil pan. gets filled with cheese and stuffs everything

 

head gaskets wont cause an overheat unless warped. its possible they might be warped but if they overheat at idle check to make sure the clutch fan works but more importantly, make sure the dealer didnt add sealant to the system and its clogged the crap out of everything. seen it a few times. the radiator gets clogged from all the crap and it wont run right. if it was my truck, I would take off the hoses and clean out the radiator, the coolant lines and the heater core. and make sure the coolant bottle isnt stuffed either. if all is cleaned and the fan works and then bleed the system. pour the coolant into the bottle till its full and then open the bleed screw and fill up till the level in the bottle rises with the cap off. put the cap back on and fill it to the top and run it and check to see if it still runs hot. if it does then its the warped heads and or a sleave.