Recently purchased a one owner garage kept '02 D2 that had a suspect blown headgasket. This non-SAI engine was not original. It was a replacement from Will and installed by Drew about 30k miles ago when the original engine blew up. PO noted the engine should only have about 100k on it now. Codes showed misc misfires and #8 specifically. No water showed on the dip stick but the vehicle sat garaged for 2 years. I pulled the top end off to determine what direction I might go. Damn, LR made some stupid engineering design decisions...like having to dismantle damn near the whole front end to pull a simple radiator...but I digress. Both headgaskets looked okay with no obvious blowouts or damaged sealing rings. #8 cylinder was steam cleaned. There is indication of milky oil in the valley so I suspect that coolant is sitting in the bottom of the oil pan (I'll be pulling it today). There is no indication that the cylinder sleeves have moved at all. The cylinder heads will go to the shop for rework this coming week. I have a good set of older heads but wonder if the compression would be affected negatively. I'm attaching photos for general observations and comments.
Headgasket issue with pictures
- Thread starter ezzzzzzz
- Start date
When I replaced my head gaskets the failure in the gasket was difficult to see. Just because you can't find obvious damage to the gasket doesn't necessarily mean there is none. If you personally have not performed the job on the engine then there is no way of knowing if it was done correctly. There is no guarantee that you will do it correctly, either, but the point is that if you do it yourself you know what you did.
#8 suggests a gasket issue to me (as opposed to a cracked block, but that's not impossible, either). Since you have it all apart you might as well install new gaskets & hardware, button it all up, drive it for a while, and see what happens. Once you've run it a little you might try a compression test to learn if the gasket was the issue or if there is a different problem.
Regardless, it sounds like a truck worth fixing and keeping.
#8 suggests a gasket issue to me (as opposed to a cracked block, but that's not impossible, either). Since you have it all apart you might as well install new gaskets & hardware, button it all up, drive it for a while, and see what happens. Once you've run it a little you might try a compression test to learn if the gasket was the issue or if there is a different problem.
Regardless, it sounds like a truck worth fixing and keeping.
It's torn down completely...intake, heads, oil pan, water pump, timing cover all removed. There was a fair amount of coolant in the bottom of the pan, a very small amount in the oil filter and the oil is a dark mocha color. The cylinder walls look okay with no scoring and the slightest sign of original cross hatching still visible. I hope the bearings didn't fail as a result of contamination. I hate pulling the rod caps because those fucking bolts suck and love to seize. I guess I'll pull a couple of rear main caps to look for indications of wiping though. Oh, and another comment about LR's engineering. The eight 10mm bolts holding in the cross member are asinine. I had to apply a torch to all of them and only two came out unscathed but the others are trashed. They'll be replaced with good torx head hardware.
that's a nice steam cleaning job on #8! definitely burned some coolant there. but, as we all know these engines are well known for head gasket failure more often than dropped cylinder liners (which i hope is not your case). I had the same problem last year. got the heads rebuilt, dropped the pan and did the oil pump and gave everything a good cleaning inside and out and it's been running great since and that's been about 20k miles ago. so that's the route i'd take before condemning the engine. may the LR Gods smile upon you and good luck!
I am in the middle of doing this very same thing..
Mine was the front cover gasket blew out letting all the coolant into the front cover then right into the pan.
I was only able to get 7 of the cross member bolts out and just moved the damn thing out of the way.
And I forgot to order the upper intake gasket so now I wait..
Mine was the front cover gasket blew out letting all the coolant into the front cover then right into the pan.
I was only able to get 7 of the cross member bolts out and just moved the damn thing out of the way.
And I forgot to order the upper intake gasket so now I wait..
My rule of thumb is that if the coolant is in one of the outer cylinders, it is likely the head gasket. If it is in one of the middle cylinders, it is likely a cracked block, or more unlikely, a cracked head.
Heads are going to the shop today for a cleaning and skimming. I don't think there is a need to invest in a full valve job but I'll price it out. I'm ordering the extra bits I hadn't thought about this week too (oil pan gasket, timing set, water pump, radiator, etc). Everything is degreased, oil pickup tube cleaned out, block was sprayed out with brake cleaner, cam/lifters/valve train will get lubricated prior to closing the top up. I stripped the valve covers this morning with Aircraft paint remover so they're ready to paint. It's a waiting game on the machine shop and parts order now. Once buttoned up I'll run it for 15 minutes with cheap oil, flush with Amsoil cleaner and refill with quality oil and filter.
I encourage you to go for the valve job. Yes, it will inflate your bill at the machine shop, but if you've gone to all this trouble already it's one of those things that is worth doing while everything is apart. Good peace of mind if your goal is long-term ownership.
Heads were cleaned and skimmed at a very respectable shop. Full pressure/vacuum testing proved the valves were fine. I disassembled to install new valve stem seals and inspect valves/seats. Everything was great so I installed the heads yesterday. Did I mention I hate installing heads in the vehicle? Especially torque to yield bolts! I know a lot of folks say use ARP studs. While it's an improvement these are not high performance engines so I couldn't justify the cost. Plus they are a pain with the engine still in the bay. Now I'm waiting on a timing chain set, oil pan gasket, water pump, radiator and some hoses. I'll pick up another fan clutch locally and bolt everything back together when the parts arrive next week.
When I did my rebuild my machine shop had a nifty rig that uses compressed air to push motor oil into the lube passages via the oil pressure switch hole. Instant oil pressure at start-up and no white knuckled waiting for the light to go out while the bugger rattles to life. The owner loans it to customers as a courtesy for the work being done at his shop, and he said it has virtually eliminated start-up disasters. It might be worth asking your shop about it. I was going to make one I read about and he was like, "You mean like this right here?" and pointed to one sitting on the floor.
Interesting... I always had a spare distributor gutted for this practice. With DIS I typically loosen the spark plugs and disconnect the coil pack then give it a good spin until I get oil pressure. I like this idea and fabbing such a simple device will be easy.
I like it much better, too. I am not convinced the starter can spin the pump fast enough to prime the oil system from dry, even with the gears packed with assembly lube. I could be wrong. Mine took quite a bit of cranking before she came to life.
I've always heard that you are better off just starting the motor rather than trying to prime it with the starter.