Hi All! Allow myself to… introduce myself. I’m a long-time lurker on this forum but this is my first post. I have a 2004 Disco II (SE7) with ~180k miles. Runs like a top - no ticking sounds, never any overheating, no drama. Except: rapid coolant loss - I have to top it off quite frequently. It was (unsurprisingly) diagnosed with a failing head gasket about 2 years ago, and there are clear signs of an external HG leak.

I finally brought it in for a head gasket replacement (my DIY skills are limited unlike most of you on this forum, so I had to delegate…)

After they pulled the heads off, I was told:

“There is a leak on cylinder #2 and it is in an area without water jacket passage, so it is from cylinder sleeve failure”. I attached the relevant pic sent to me by the mechanic.

What would you do in my shoes at this point?

1) March on with the head gasket replacement as planned and keep truckin’? (What I’m leaning towards)

2) Pony up the cash for a rebuilt motor, e.g. from Atlantic British. The mechanic quoted me $12K + tax for this option (long block), so this is… unlikely…

3) Drop in a used motor? Very hesitant to do that since it seems the motors on these things are ticking time bombs and mileage, etc. is not a great predictor of longevity.

4) Anything else I could consider??

Background info: The Disco is in excellent condition throughout except for the usual clear coat failure on the roof which is now starting on the hood. Body is straight as it gets and not a speck of rust anywhere (lifetime CA car and I am the second owner - have had it for ~6 years). And like all of you, I am an addict - love my Disco to death and the thought of life without it makes me sick!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! Any input greatly appreciated!


The suspect: Cylinder #2

 

Also in case anyone has any thoughts / suggestions on this - I have a couple of nested questions:

1) Does anyone here have experience with dropping in a Turner replacement motor in California? Does it pass smog, etc. here?

2) Based on this diagnosis, what would you predict would happen to this motor if I slap a new HG on and keep driving? Would this be expected to end in an out-of-the-blue catastrophic failure?? Or would you expect that there would be signs of impending failure - e.g. would it devolve and run like crap for a bit before it totally kicked the bucket so there would be some warning?

Thanks!

 

It would help to have images of the gasket itself. I'm not convinced that a failure on that cylinder is necessarily an indication of a sleeve issue. Sometimes gaskets simply fail due to age.
You're much more likely to get detailed feedback if you post/look in the Disco 2 forum instead of this general one.

 

pull the head - do a leakdown test

 

Thanks mollusc and disco96sd for your input. I will also repost this now in the Disco II forum as suggested.