Cheap Disco - Head Gasket Fail?
Discussion
Found a cheap Land Rover discovery for sale, '94 2.5 TDI, 174k miles, for £600.....but.....
"DISCO 300TDi, MOT'D UNTIL AUG 2011, NO TAX (ON SORN).
VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN USED SINCE PASSING MOT AT END OF AUGUST. HAD WATER LEAK REPAIRED AT LOCAL GARAGE BUT STILL OVERHEATS ON SUSTAINED HILL CLIMBS. GARAGE ADVISES THAT IT NEEDS HEAD GASKET REPLACED. WILL BE SOLD WITH HEAD GASKET SET INCLUDED.
VEHICLE TOO GOOD TO BREAK BUT I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO REPAIR IT."
Does this mean that it has had head gasket failure for some time and the top end is buggered, or does it mean once the gasket is replaced it should run fine?
I can replace the gasket no probs and as it has 9 months MOT, if its ok to run I could sell it after some winter use.
The rest of the car looks quite tidy in the pics, but I'd rather not link to the ad in case someone else sneaks in!!!
Opinions of any mechanics/Landy owner types?
"DISCO 300TDi, MOT'D UNTIL AUG 2011, NO TAX (ON SORN).
VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN USED SINCE PASSING MOT AT END OF AUGUST. HAD WATER LEAK REPAIRED AT LOCAL GARAGE BUT STILL OVERHEATS ON SUSTAINED HILL CLIMBS. GARAGE ADVISES THAT IT NEEDS HEAD GASKET REPLACED. WILL BE SOLD WITH HEAD GASKET SET INCLUDED.
VEHICLE TOO GOOD TO BREAK BUT I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO REPAIR IT."
Does this mean that it has had head gasket failure for some time and the top end is buggered, or does it mean once the gasket is replaced it should run fine?
I can replace the gasket no probs and as it has 9 months MOT, if its ok to run I could sell it after some winter use.
The rest of the car looks quite tidy in the pics, but I'd rather not link to the ad in case someone else sneaks in!!!
Opinions of any mechanics/Landy owner types?
Assuming that the block and head are made out of pig iron, then as long as it hasn't been overheated to the point of grinding to a smoking halt it'll probably just be a straight swap of the gasket without any time consuming and expensive skimming neeeded
ETA - Wikipedia says alloy head, so perhaps not that simple. Might be able to find one in good nick from a scrapper to swap though?
ETA - Wikipedia says alloy head, so perhaps not that simple. Might be able to find one in good nick from a scrapper to swap though?
Edited by The Wookie on Thursday 28th October 10:16
The Wookie said:
Assuming that the block and head are made out of pig iron, then as long as it hasn't been overheated to the point of grinding to a smoking halt it'll probably just be a straight swap of the gasket without any time consuming and expensive skimming neeeded
ETA - Wikipedia says alloy head, so perhaps not that simple. Might be able to find one in good nick from a scrapper to swap though?
If the head is gone, it should just be a simple swap then? I'd imagine there wouldn't be much need for skimming heads/bloocks etc? Or am I just being hopeful?!ETA - Wikipedia says alloy head, so perhaps not that simple. Might be able to find one in good nick from a scrapper to swap though?
Edited by The Wookie on Thursday 28th October 10:16
My sister works at a Jag/Landy dealership, so I've asked her to ask the chief techy what he thinks, and I could get 20% discount on parts. I'm thinking it could be either potential gold mine, or potential money pit!
Is this the engine with a waterpump with a plastic impellor that breaks up and leads to overheating?
Friend had this problem on a diesel RR and he had thought it was the head and wasted a lot of time on that until he checked the waterpump.
Friend had this problem on a diesel RR and he had thought it was the head and wasted a lot of time on that until he checked the waterpump.
Edited by WhoseGeneration on Thursday 28th October 10:34
irodger said:
The Wookie said:
Assuming that the block and head are made out of pig iron, then as long as it hasn't been overheated to the point of grinding to a smoking halt it'll probably just be a straight swap of the gasket without any time consuming and expensive skimming neeeded
ETA - Wikipedia says alloy head, so perhaps not that simple. Might be able to find one in good nick from a scrapper to swap though?
If the head is gone, it should just be a simple swap then? I'd imagine there wouldn't be much need for skimming heads/bloocks etc? Or am I just being hopeful?!ETA - Wikipedia says alloy head, so perhaps not that simple. Might be able to find one in good nick from a scrapper to swap though?
Edited by The Wookie on Thursday 28th October 10:16
My sister works at a Jag/Landy dealership, so I've asked her to ask the chief techy what he thinks, and I could get 20% discount on parts. I'm thinking it could be either potential gold mine, or potential money pit!
If you're not doing the work yourself, don't bother, it'll be a money pit and I doubt the thing's worth more than 1500 quid if it were mint
WhoseGeneration said:
Is this the engine with a water pump with a plastic impellor that breaks up and leads to overheating?
Friend had this problem on a diesel RR and he had thought it was the head and wasted a lot of time on that until he checked the waterpump.
Good point, if there are no other symptoms of head gasket, it could just be the water pumpFriend had this problem on a diesel RR and he had thought it was the head and wasted a lot of time on that until he checked the waterpump.
SlimRick said:
Easily worth the £600 he's asking for it.
PS. Ads are easy to find if you copy and paste them word for word
The 300tdi is a very tough engine, a couple of hundred quid for a replacement head if needed and you can do the work yourself. The only downside I can see is that it's an Auto.
Haha! I didn't think the copy and paste through did I?!!PS. Ads are easy to find if you copy and paste them word for word
The 300tdi is a very tough engine, a couple of hundred quid for a replacement head if needed and you can do the work yourself. The only downside I can see is that it's an Auto.
I wouldn't be using it for any serious off-roading so the auto wouldn't be a major issue, though I agree the manual is preferrable. I'm going to contact the guy to see how honest he sounds and try and suss the car out. Is the 300tdi the newer version of the one that used to crack blocks?
Thanks for the advice
frosted said:
SlimRick said:
PS. Ads are easy to find if you copy and paste them
It has 80quid of diesel in it . Looks like a tidy car to me , however to me it looks like that car has been driving till it stopped working .Get it. The engines are bullet proof pretty much. Yeah they leak and require some TLC, but my engine is the best part of my landy. It's push road, so if the belt snaps it only bends the rods, this happened to me and I fixed it myself for £100 in parts and a crate of beer to a mate to time it back up (never timed a belt, let alone a snapped one).
If it's got a knackered head, you can pick up another lump and throw it in for £300. Easy worth the £600 he is asking. Use it for winter, when the snow starts flog it for an inflated price.
If it's got a knackered head, you can pick up another lump and throw it in for £300. Easy worth the £600 he is asking. Use it for winter, when the snow starts flog it for an inflated price.
Bear in mind that Disco 2's, although extremely capable, have a horrible reputation for reliability with even LR expressing their regret over it. If you do get it and fix the overheating problem then I'd sell it on fast. I know two Disco 2 owners - one has just sold it because he just spent too much time fixing it, the other says it's fine. I asked him what he was doing at the weekend - he was replacing bushes and had sourced a great supplier for a replacement gearbox.
FamilyGuy said:
Bear in mind that Disco 2's, although extremely capable, have a horrible reputation for reliability with even LR expressing their regret over it. If you do get it and fix the overheating problem then I'd sell it on fast. I know two Disco 2 owners - one has just sold it because he just spent too much time fixing it, the other says it's fine. I asked him what he was doing at the weekend - he was replacing bushes and had sourced a great supplier for a replacement gearbox.
Don't get me wrong, but isn't this a Disco 1 rather than 2? The 1 has far less complexity in it. I always thought the original models were reasonably solid, if a little temperamental electricallyGassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff