Am i loosing my head

[dacard]

I bought my dico II six months ago, private (twit) no warrenty.....soon found i was loosing some coolent....kept topping it up, didn't know where it was going....just been away for easter, towing a caravan, which has now made it smoke, it did nearly over heat..i put moor water in and all seemed ok, even stopped smoking..just had it checked at garage, and he thinks its head gasket, but he will have to strip it down to check...sounds costly, he took off coolent filler cap and dipstick out where there was smoke comming out of the dipstick hole...is this a sure sign of head gasket prob or is this normal...(worried about being taken for a ride) can anyone please help

[dacard]

oh and i also forgot to say, the oil looks fine, and no gunk around cap...the coolent bottle does seem to blow bubbles and there is alot of presure in there, if i look at it after it has been running there appears to be no water in it then if i let the pressure out the water sucks back in, but never to where i filled it...

[Andyally]

Assume you have a Td5, if so some early models did suffer from head gasket problems.


Symptoms do sound like the head gasket is at fault. If you get away with just changing the gasket you'll have been lucky :( you are probably looking at having to machine the head to ensure you don't get the same problem in the future.

Only advise is to shop around. Find yourself a good independant specalist LR workshop which will be much cheaper than a dealer.

Cheers,

[dacard]

yes it is the td5 1999, i thought it sounded like head gasket:eek: , just couldn't understand why it still seems to drive so well, and i allways thought you ended up with creamy oil.......anyone tell me what other symtoms there are.....:)

[Andyally]

It sounds like your gasket as failed from a bore across to a water channel hole, hence the lose of water.

However this does not guarrantee you are going to get water in to the oil as the fault in the gasket may only be opening under pressure \ suction from the piston when the engine is running. In this case the water is going straight out the exhaust pipe.

With the engine fully warmed-up, check for steam or lots of white smoke coming out of the tail pipe, this would be an indication of a blown head.

The only fool proof test is to have a compression check done on the engine, but from where I'm sitting it definatly sounds like the head gasket.

Hope you get it sorted, Cheers,

[dacard]

Thanxs for your help, sure does seem that way, just hope it doesn't end up costing an arm and a leg. :( ...i'll keep you posted

[Hightower]

I had this on mine last year. Pressure in the coolant system, loss of coolant and overheating every now and again.
Unfortunately a pressure test may not prove anything (I had 3 of them which all indicated that nothing was wrong). Finally got the gasket done (didn't need a skim of the head - I was lucky) at a dealer for about £500 - didn't have time to sort out an independent at the time.
My advice would be to get it done sooner rather than later, as the longer it goes on the more chance the head itself will get damaged.

[dacard]

I've got it done now, it was the head, found a local independent LR specialist he did it for me for £250 + vat, which i thought was good, other places were quoting me £700...:eek: he said the head looked fine....:D only prob is he said the plugs from the elec managment system, that go to the injectors are tracking oil , so they would need replacing...gonna cost another £250 :eek: just hope it realy does need doing....dont know how i will be able to tell...

[Andyally]

I've got it done now, it was the head, found a local independent LR specialist he did it for me for £250 + vat, which i thought was good, other places were quoting me £700...:eek: he said the head looked fine....:D only prob is he said the plugs from the elec managment system, that go to the injectors are tracking oil , so they would need replacing...gonna cost another £250 :eek: just hope it realy does need doing....dont know how i will be able to tell...

Glad you got it sorted out, £250 sounds like a very good price, where did you get it done?

The wiring harness tracking oil is a known problem. If it's got really bad you can see oil weeping out of the harness at the ECU connector plug which will ultimatly cause your truck to stop :eek:

The proper fix is a revised harness, but I've read somewhere about a 'bodge' repair using silocone and heatshrink sleeving, but I can't remember the details. I'll have a think about it and let you know.

Cheers,

[alankemp]

I lost my head. 1999 disco 2 TD5. The problem started when a hose to the heater rad started to leak after rubbing on an engine lifting bracket, (LANDROVER DESIGN FAULT). At first it was noticable cos I had no heater in winter, do you have this problem.


This caused the engine to overheat on a long journey on motorway, fully loaded. This warped the head and started pressurising the cooling system which by now had all hoses replaced, new water pump x 2, new rad cos there was a bad batch according to landrover dealers, who incidently were not interested as mine was 2 months out of warrenty by the time I realised what had happened.

Landrover could not supply a new replacement head, apparently there is a design fault on the early disco2 heads. I ended up having the head skimmed and refitted, luckily there was no other damage internally.

Cost £1800 all in so whatever you do, dont overheat it.

PS Pressure tests by dealers did not reveal the fault.

Alan

[dacard]

i did have the same trouble with the heater not working, i was told that was an air lock, the water tank was becoming pressurised, i've now had the head gasket replaced, and some wiring loom, for the injectors, and touch wood, seems to be ok now....no other damage ..according to garage....fingers crossed! im lucky i hope..cost £580 in total... if all is ok now im very happy