96 4.0 disco valley gasket

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Author Message   Brad_N Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 02:57 pm:    Going to finally install a new valley gasket this weekend. I have a work shop manual. Any pointers from discowebbers who have done this before? Thanks Brad   Brian Friend (Brianfriend) Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 04:13 pm:    what is a valley gasket?   Ron Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 04:30 pm:    intake gasket Torque all the bolts down LAST and make sure the end seals are alligned properly and properly gooped up with right stuff or whatever. Ron   Scott Scottish Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 05:08 pm:    Yep. Just hope it does not run like mine when you finish. See the Vacume Leak thread below. I have just stripped mine down. Found no vacume leak or anything that looks suspect. After paying about $150 Australian for the valley cover (gasket) and the end seals I am putting it back together none the bloody wiser. Good luck and hope it runs on all 8. Scott   todd slater (Toddslater) Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 05:40 pm:    permatex is your friend   Brad_N Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 05:45 pm:    Thanks for the tips What is permatex and where can I get it? Whats up with the vacume leak metioned Brad   todd slater (Toddslater) Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 08:35 pm:    permatex,blue goo, etc.. is availible at Pep Boys or any other auto parts store. I use the blue goo for intakes, they have other flavors but blue will do.   OLIVER CLOTHSOFF (Everythingleaks) Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 08:56 pm:    LAND ROVER NORTH AMERICA RECOMENDS USING THE RIGHT STUFF. SEEMS TO WORK WELL WITH THE HIGH EXPANSION RATE OF ALUMINUM. BE QUICK TO SET IN PLACE AS THE MATERIAL SETS UP QUICK. WORKS MUCH BETTER THAN THE "TUB AND TILE CAULK" USED BY THE ENGLISH   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 09:51 pm:    I used hylomar sealant when I did my 88RRC. I have been happy. You can get it from Atlantic British. Just be sure to label everything you take apart. Hoses and wires go everywhere. I also took digital photos just in case I had questions later. It's also a good time to replace heater clams and hoses in those hard to reach places. I also at that time replaced several vaccum (SP?) hoses. How many miles do you have on your rig? If you are taking that much apart, maybe you should consider replacing the head gaskets and do a valve job. You will be right there. It's not too much more to take off the heads. I would suggest it, if you are over 80K and have never had a valve job. It put alot of power back into my rig. Head gaskets are about $30, (or you can buy a complete kit with the valley gasket) I took my valves to a machine shop and had them done for $250. What year is your rig and what engine? It's not a hard job, just time consuming. Good luck. -John Post if you have further questions.   Brad_N Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 10:08 pm:    I have a 96 disco with a 4.0. I have 63,500 miles on the beast. As far as I know the valves are original. I bought it used. I have thought about the head gaskets and valve job, but every thing seams to be fine. The valley gasket is the last leak I need to fix (for now) The leak seams to be worse now that winter has arrive in the norther NY. When I have the heat on for long periods of time,(commute to the office) a pool of radiator fluid ends up on the drive way. Time is a concern and I need to get the rig back up and running asap and I do not want to have to deal with this later on when it is twenty below out. It is a risk, but as of today I have no problems with the valves or leaking heads. If the heads were leaking then I would go all the way. But with my luck,I will need a valve job in a month. That is the just way it goes. Thank for the support.   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Thursday, October 31, 2002 - 11:26 pm:    Where are you, I'm in Albany, NY. No shit it's getting cold! If your near by, I'll swap you the rest of my Hylomar sealant for Beer! 1/2 tube, love beer... I just sold my rig... -John   Brad_N Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 06:31 am:    John I am in Plattsburgh, NY. Cold, it is snowing today. Sorry I have my tube of Hylomar and beer. You sold you rig, did you get anouther one or did you get some thing that is reilable and easy to maintain (ha ha)Np mpore outragous repair cost and things that go bump in the night Thanks for the tips.   gp (Garrett) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 07:32 am:    just finished mine this past weekend. was leaking coolant pretty bad in the rear of the gasket. good time to get in there and clean things up a bit too. all is well now.   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 08:19 am:    I just sold my 88RRC to buy a newer disco. I'm currently looking for either a '99 or 2000. I still have the LR bug. I don't know if it's good or bad but I live about 2 miles from Atlantic British! Good luck with the valley gasket. At least replace the rocker cover gaskets. Only four screws per side. You could check for the build up of sludge on the rockers and top sides of the heads. If you wanted you could remove the rockers, 4 bolts per side and really give them a bath. That would also let you examine the lifters and cam for wear. Check out www.rpiv8.com. Lots of good info there. Only other word of advice is keep everything really clean. After you remove the valley gasket don't let any dirt or muck get down on the cam and lifters. What you said about losing coolant bothers me, thats how I found out I had blown the head gasket. Exhaust leaks into the coolant through the head gasket and causes coolant to expell. To check for this look for bubbles in your expansion tank after the thermostat is open. Again, Good Luck, post if you have questions. -John   Brad_n Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 08:45 am:    John I was planning on replacing the rocker cover gaskets as well. Good point about the lifters and cam. The coolant leak has been there for some time, just seams to be getting worse now that I am running the heat more. There are no bubles in the expansion tank and no signs of coolant itn eh oil, but I will keep that in mind when I have every thing part. Good luck finding a disco. I bought mine from a local guy who goes to CT and buys repo's and then resells them. Prices seam resonable and the owner is a good guy and is willing to negotiate. He is a no pressure salesman which was refreshing.   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 09:09 am:    I'm buying mine through a broker who gets them at auction. I sold the RRC on e-bay! It's still sitting in the garage waiting for the buyer to arrange shippment. I'm just not sure how running the heater would cause you to lose coolant. Have you done a compression test? Also from what I understand coolant rarely gets into the oil unless your head gasket is totally blown. When mine went I didn't have any noticiable loss of power. Just the loss of coolant, it kept getting worse, then finally I got the bubbles in the expansion tank. -John   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 09:13 am:    Have you noticed leaking coolant in the valley or does it come out of the expansion tank. On my 3.5 there were coolant passage ways in the four corners of the intake manifold. If I remeber correctly... If the valley is leaking oil, I could be leaking coolant there too. -John   todd slater (Toddslater) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 10:17 am:    This is some scary stuff !   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 10:26 am:    It's not that bad if you are a decent mechanic with good tools, take your time and have a torque wrench. I did my head gaskets over two weekends. One Sunday to take apart. Had the valves machined during the week. Reassembled the next Saturday. I spent $125 for the gasket set. $250 for the Valve job. The dealership quoted $2500 to $3000. It's all labor. I estimate it took me 24 hours, two 12 hour days. I also cleaned everything, replaced hoses and gaskets,etc. The engine looked great and performed even better. -John   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 10:40 am:    Also, the shop manual is a must! -John   todd slater (Toddslater) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 10:41 am:    No, the scary part is suggesting a person (with no signs of head gasket problems, valve problems etc..) get in their and pull everthing down. Thata skeers me ! That and statements like "LAND ROVER NORTH AMERICA RECOMENDS USING THE RIGHT STUFF. ETC..."   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 11:13 am:    The reason I suggested checking out the heads/valves is because of the mysterious coolant leak and when I did my heads the most time consuming part was removing wires, plugs, hoses, then p chamber and intake manifold. After that all that stuff is out, you are right at the heads, so if your going that far, you might as well be sure the cause of the leak is not the head gaskets. I'm sure you know, LR's with a Aluminum block are notorious for blowing head gaskets. Not trying to be scary, I just wouldn't want to have to do that twice. -John   Brad_N Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 11:42 am:    To all Thanks for the concerns, but I am very confident that the cooliant leak is due to the valley gaskey. The coolant is leaking in the back and drips down and makes its way down the exhaust to the cats then onto the drive way. Oil is also present. My shop told me twice about it but I left it alone. Why do I think that running the heat makes the problem worst, Not sure. The past few days it has been cold(30F)so I run the heat on the way to work about 30 miles. The truck sits parked most of the day, when I went out for lunch I saw the puddle and looked under to see where it was coming from. I recently fixed a coolant leak in the front cover(new gasket did the trick) Could be that add pressure is causing it to leak a little more than usual. I think it is just to the point where I need to deal with it. I have done this type of work before on other cars so I am not that concerned. And if shit happens, I still have my trusty for escort with 152500 miles on and no problem to get me around while the rover is down. If the parts don't show up from Atlantic Britsh today, It will have to wait some more. Brad   todd slater (Toddslater) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 11:59 am:    John, I hear ya, there is no joy in taking all the stuff off. On the other hand I try to make pretty d sure what my problem is before I commence the goings on. In the case of a blown HG vs the an intake leak, this is something that can/should be easily distinguished. If head gaskets are a big problem with these things, maybe Fel Pro or someone out there makes a Loc Wire head gasket for them.   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 12:19 pm:    On my 88RRC, I replaced the original steel gaskets with composite gaskets. I had the heads shaved slightly to make up for the loss of compression with the thicker composites. Turned out great. That with the valve job put alot of life back in my rig. The top end was pretty sludged up, so I cleaned all that too. -John   eric Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 12:35 pm:    John, How much did you take off the heads to make up for using a composite gasket? I have a 3.9 and am doing a rebuild. Thanks erc   John Moore (Jmoore) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 12:50 pm:    When I sold my truck, I gave the new owner all the records. I think was .020" Search the board, I can't remember for sure. -John   OLIVER CLOTHSOFF (Everythingleaks) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 07:15 pm:    ON THE 96 DISCO THEY HAD A PROBLEM WITH BOLTS STRETCHING AND CAUSING A COOLANT LEAK. I HAVE HAD MANY TRUCKS THAT YOU COULD TAKE THE BOLTS OUT BY HAND. LAND ROVER HAD A BULLETIN OUT WITH REVISED BOLTS AND WASHERS. AS FAR AS THE GENTLEMAN THAT WAS AFRAID OF MY THE RIGHT STUFF COMMENT, I WOULD BE MORE AFRAID OF PUTTING IT TOGETHER WITH HYLOMAR. LAND ROVER EVEN QUIT USING THIS STUFF DUE TO LEAKS AND THAT SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING. THE RIGHT STUFF IS THE ONLY THING I HAVE SEEN HOLD OIL IN THESE BLOCKS FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME AND I HAVE TRIED A LOT OF OTHER SEALERS. I THINK I AM QUALIFIED TO SAY THIS SEEMS HOW I HAVE CHANGED OUT MORE INTAKE GASKETS, HEADS, ECT THAN MOST LAND ROVER OWNERS HAVE CHANGED THE OIL IN THEIR TRUCKS   Brad_N Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 07:48 pm:    I have it all apart now. Some bolts were easier to remove than others. Valve covers are off too. Every thing looks good. No sludge any where. You say to use the "Right Stuff" What is the right stuff? I was going to use RTV like the work shop manual states. The RTV I bought states that it is rated for high temperture and is for use on intake manifold. Even says designed for imports. It is made by Permatex. I want to do this right the first time.   ScottP Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 07:51 pm:    Be careful with this "Right Stuff" sealant, it seems to have serious side effects. For instance, your CAPS LOCK key may become permanently engaged. ScottP   Brad_N Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 08:14 pm:    I ordered a kit from Atlantic Britsh. It cam with a gasket called " gasket adapter" Where does that go? It is trapazoid in shape. Thanks. Brad N   todd slater (Toddslater) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 11:02 pm:    Where do you suppose the RIGHT STUFF might be obtained !!! I wonder if the ever experienced onre could elaborate on the chemical composition of the RIGHT STUFF. WhErE Is ThAt CaPs LoCk KeY ThAt I hAVe HeArD sO mUcH aBoUt ?   todd slater (Toddslater) Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 11:22 pm:    Oh never mind it's made by non other than permatex...see original post. IMHO a little overkill for use in the intake area. But then again, I haven't worked on very many BUICK motors.