I'm sure I am asking a question that has been addressed many times so please forgive me if I am. I recently bought a 2001 Disco 2 w 128,000 miles for what I thought was cheap ($1500) hoping to fix it and resurrect it so I could have a seven passenger vehicle for my family without spend 30 or 40 grande. (Which I most definetly cannot afford) Plus I have always loved Land Rovers and always wanted to own one. When I got this truck it was overheating like many I have read about on this forum. So the first thing I did was replace all the hoses, water pump because it was sqeallin, thermostat, and flushed the radiator. It was also making a horrible steam engine like sound so I changed out the exhaust manifold gaskets, and then decided to go further. I changed both the valley gasket under the lower intake manifold, removed and rebuilt the fuel injectors, gasket under the plenum, valve cover gaskets, new plugs and plug wires, and the throttle body heater plate gasket. All excited I buttoned up everything and started her up hoping she would run like new. And boy was I disappointed. From the drivers side of the motor I once again heard the steam engine noise again. Thinking maybe the exhaust manifold bolts needed re torqueing I killed the motor and re torqued all the bolts on both manifolds. Started it back up and no change. So shined my light around with it running and noticed that puffs of air were blowing oil onto the exhaust manifolds. Based on what I have read on this forum it seems to me that my head gasket on that side has blown. So it sounds like I need to tear it all down and remove the heads. But in doing so I don't want to waste my time having the heads resurfaced etc if the motor block is no good. I know these trucks have problems w cracks behind the liners. And I have seen a shop here in Oklahoma City that builds motors for these trucks with top hat liners that claim to fix these issues in that this motor has always suffered from. However their motors are way out of my price range. So my question is after I pull the heads how do I determine if this motor has any liner issues or maybe problems with gasses between the liner and the cylinder wall? Is there a chance that maybe my motor may be OK and I can just go back together with new head gaskets? Also I have read here on this forum that maybe I should go with the composite head gaskets versus the metal for reliability. I have heard though that this will give me a slightly lower compression ratio but that it not enough to worry about. Sorry for so many questions in one post. I'm just crossing my fingers hoping this truck can be saved. I know of a guy who is a machinist who has top hat sleeved these motors before and has quoted me a fair price to do that and rebuild the whole motor. But me and my budget is hoping maybe I can just replace these head gaskets and get back on the road for a lot more miles.

 

For a cracked block you can do a pressure test on the block. You can fab one or buy one online, or rent one. I have one I can rent for $50 plus shipping(out of the country until Jan 5th). You hook it up, pressurize the system, then check back for loss of pressure. Also spray soapy water on the tops of the cylinders to see if air is escaping.

For slipped liners you should hear the liner moving up and down hitting the heads. But also might be able to see the liner has moved once the heads are off.

Also, once the heads are off, push on the sides of the liners and see if any coolant seeps out.

Good luck.

 

if the exhaust is blowing out between the head and the exhaust manifold, you simply have a blown head gasket.
If it passed a standard coolant system pressure test then, there No need to suspect the block

 

agree.
sounds like your head gasket has retired. you are sure to do more damage with the overheating. overheating is like kryptonite. if you want a cracked block and loose liners, just keep overheating it.
cannibal is the place that top hats in okc. there are a few other options, if you go the replacement route. but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
figure out the extent of the damage and then draft a plan of attack.
those dang fuses