Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place! I'm looking at an 04 for sale with 100k miles and blown head gaskets. It looks really good and well maintained otherwise, but I'm still a bit apprehensive. The seller said this is the first time that it's overheated and that its just the head gaskets that need replacing. My worry stems from whether or not this is a horrible decision. Is there a risk that the block is also warped or cracked or that the sleeves are slipping? Or does that take multiple blown headgaskets / overheating before that level of damage happens to the engine?

Thanks for any and all replies! I'm just now dipping my toes into the world of land rover so I'm still pretty new to all this!

 

Well I would say that is not the best place to start your relationship with Land Rovers. Similar to finding a bloody girl on the street who has been divorced three times and deciding that would be a good first wife...

Unlikely that the block is warped. Could very well be that the block is cracked and worthless. There is no science on how many overheatings the block will take before it is toast. You would literally be rolling the dice.

What you do not mention is your mechanical skills and depth of wallet factor.

Depending on the above you may be better off finding a less pretty one that has a good engine.

 

I'd say I'm decently mechanically inclined. My grandpa worked at the MG and Jaguar plants in England before coming to the US and my dad's restored a pretty beat up MG a few years ago, so I'm confident that any work I couldn't do or figure out myself they'd be able to help me with. But yeah I figured it would be somewhat rolling the dice. The mechanic the owner took it to said it just needed new HG, but I'm not sure if he checked the block or anything like that.

 

You can diagnose a cracked block with little effort... A cracked block usually comes with misfires. They might not show up right away if the previous owner cleaned things up for a quick sale... Basically with a cracked block coolant will enter a cylinder and foul the plug leading to the misfire. You can get the truck up to temperature, shut it down, pull the plugs and inspect all the cylinders for coolant bubbling in. Use a boroscope tool for this. You can get cheap USB ones on Amazon. A car needing a head gasket should be able to run short distances... You may be able to arrange a pre purchase inspection if there is a reputable independent Land Rover shop near you. I would not take it to a dealer or any other "foreign car" shop. They generally see anyone with a Rover as a walking talking open wallet.

 

The likelihood of the heads or block being at risk depends largely on how severely it overheated. At 100k miles the head gaskets were approaching replacement anyway.

If you do decide to take the plunge and buy it, be aware that you are committing to ongoing maintenance and expenses in order to keep it running. There is a lot of discussion of this kind of thing in the Disco2 forum, rather than this general forum.

 

A D2 with head gasket issues is a 1K tops vehicle and that would be with everything else being in mint condition with a clean title. If the rest needs work $500.00 tops or they pay you just to clean it out of their yard lol.

HG's aren't a big deal if that's all it needs. However depending on how the HG's are leaking and how long it's been sitting = Engine can be a ticking time bomb. Latte oil = water is mixed with the oil and that is not good for any bearing surface of the engine. Or if coolant is just sitting in the cylinders rusting away at the sleeves/pistons.