At a decision point. I have a 2000 Discovery II with 72k miles. Started loosing coolant and this got progressively worse over several months. Had one overheating incident and towed to a repair shop. Replaced radiator and thermostat and confirmed combustion gas in the coolant. Concluded head gasket (1.8k job) but I moved to another shop with more experience. The 2nd shop pulled the plugs and pressure tested - found coolant leak in #8 cylinder and concluded cracked block with only pressure test - mechanic said block cracks are common on land rovers. I question this point. Estimated repair cost $4k or worse. Now this is where I am...I have the vehicle and deciding next step. Options I'm considering:
1. Sell the LR for $2k - of course disclose all the above situation
2. Have a shop Borescope the #8 cylinder - look for the crack objectively. Do the head repair if borescope is clean, but risking the cracked cylinder - I don't wish to spend the cylinder repair if the crack is detected
4. Buy a used engine on-line $1.5k and replace the engine - need to get a cost estimate for the labor needed, but want to keep the total cost around $2.5k
Any advice from more experienced members appreciated.
Thanks.

 

May need a third opinion. See pix of failed HG. The "slot" is the water channel, front and rear of each side of engine. Very common for HG to fail at front or rear cylinders, because the coolant channel is right next to them. The number of bad HG is much much higher than cracked blocks, at least reported on this forum.

A coolant pressure test can detect a leak, but only at 20 PSI or less, as that is the pressure rating for various parts of the cooling system, hose start to pop off, etc. A block pressure test removes the cooling components from the loop, and goes up to say 80 PSI, and looks for pin holes, etc. So while a coolant test may find a really big cracked block, it might not find the smaller ones. A cracked block usually causes overheating spikes as steam is injected into the cooling system, violent bubbles in the coolant reserve tank, hoses hard as a rock, etc. And it certainly may have a slipped sleeve tick involved.

Won't be able to "see" the crack behind a sleeve in the block, will have to infer that from coolant at the top of the sleeve.

You can put a dye in the coolant and it will show up in the cylinders and on the spark plugs. It is a bigger problem if it shows up on the in-board cylinders.

DIY HG is quite possible, reported on here weekly it seems, $300 parts and new bolts, $200 machine shop to flatten heads and test them. A used head, should you have a cracked one, is like $90.

Indy shop HG are in the $1500 - $1700 range.

 

Thanks for the in depth information Savannah!. After reviewing the manual...I feel confident in the DIY to a degree to expose and determine the block crack (or hopefully not!) by visual check. If I need to do the engine pressure test or machine the heads due to warpage - I heard that you should absolutely do this at head gasket exchange - do I need to move the entire vehicle to a machine shop? If I start the work at my house - how is it best to include some of the detail check by other shops. My thought is to do the machining by a shop but not pressure test due to no facility in my garage. Do you feel too risky to forgo the engine block pressure test if I observe no cracks - maybe also magnaflux or the white spray (not sure term for this) can be used check the cylinders at home?
Thanks again!!!

 

Bad head gasket, the second shop is just wanting to sell you a engine in my opinion.
This is common for coolant to get into the cylinders from a blown gasket.
Yes it could be a cracked block, but I doubt it.

 

HG only. Take heads to machine shop with the valve seals (they will test for flatness within the spec of .002 inch - 1/2 the thickness of copy paper), machine if needed, test, clean heads, and install valve seals (not guides) for like $100 a head.

 

Thanks Spike and Buzz...I'm going to give it a try and hope for the best. I too suspected the 2nd shop was looking for big bucks. I'm happy to know I can DiY and use a shop for the heads. I checked Atlantic British parts - gasket parts and new bolts for near Buzz's ballpark prices.

 

Think of the flatscreen... er.. tools you can buy with the savings. Usually machine shops that specialize in cylinder heads are modest size places, owner in the shop, etc. Those guys can split a gnat's eyelash.