Thread: My discovery 2 plus some questions

Hi everyone i thought i might tell the story of my move from newcastle to adelaide with my discovery 2.

It involved lots of stress and money and very little sleep it is kind of a thank you to a couple of people as well because with out them i would be without my car and caravan.

Late 2016 i got a posting from Newcastle to Adelaide which i was hoping for especially since my wife and i tried for a third child end ended up with twins so 4 under 6 years old. our initial plan was to drive my 2003 td5 disco 2 and our 18' caravan and also our grand carnival across the hay plain to reach Adelaide. Very Quickly this idea was knocked on the head and tickets were booked for my wife, mother in law and 4 daughters to fly to ahead and i'll meet them there. Sorted.

I was looking at getting an upgraded radiator for the disco any way and ended up fitting it along with new Silicon hoses. i towed my caravan to my very good friends house, on the way the temp guage went north after about 20-25klms so i left my car with him to investigate since he fitted the radiator and hoses and is a boss land rover mechanic (owns 4, 300-200tdi's and rebuild his dads to showroom nic). While he was fault finding i had to go home in his car to help removalists pack me house.

Later that afternoon he calls me and says "your head gasket is blown". My stomach dropped i was about to take this car and van 1600klms in 2 days time. I just said "get back to me with some options" He was on the phone for hours before he called me back with,
1, new engine which had been sourced for $2500 or
2, Head and gasket for $3500 which had been sourced from AMC overnight from sydney.

I went with the known to me and ordered a new head and gasket from sydney. When i had finished packing i went back to my mates house and from 7pm until 5am tore the top end down. In this time the things we found wrong or dodgy was incredible. I had bought my car mid 2015 with 300k klms for a song as the person selling was posted overseas for work btu we now know why else it was cheap. The exhaust to turbine inlet gasket had blown through and was repaired with orange (now black) silastic. The exhaust manifold had a bolt missing on the aft most screw i was worried it was because of a warped manifold but it wasn't they just never refitted it. The head had also been blown for a while as the head gasket had orange silastic between galleries. so the previous owner went as far as pulling the head off but just refit it.

So at 7am that morning i went back to my house to help "uplift" my belongings into the trucks while my mate cleaned everything. I bought a parts washer to do the job properly. at 7pm the same day chucked my filthy clothes on from last night and got to work rebuilding the engine with a new (apparently gold) head. Some funny things happened like dowels being put in wrong holes but it broke up the stress. i also took off the sump and checked the oil pump bolt (serv). at around 5am i went to bed again and got up at 7am to clean and paint the house while my mate did the finishing touches.

I couldn't find in the RAVE where it said once we put it back together we had to sort out the timing. What a pain in the but that was as we didn't have the timing pins so we set it by feel. I think it runs a little better now but i could just be happy it runs we take it for a few test drives and fit an engine watchdog that i've been meaning to fit for a while. 1AM the next day the car is still over heating just much slower now so enough is enough I purchase 20 litres of OAT coolant pack my bag and prepare to set off slowly in the cool morning.

If you've driven newcastle to sydney you'll know the hills i was scared of on the way. I cut off 2 trucks trying to pull over before the m2 and by the time i reach yass services it's been 8 hours and 6 stops to let the car cool down. While sitting with my food i think "when we changed the radiator we put in a new thermostat"...... a three pronged thermostat. that would easily fit either way. A quick google search later shows my mate fitted my thermostat the wrong FKN way a month prior. now i'm in the truck parking area in yass services draining coolant and and switching the thermostat around.

I drove the rest of the way event free in about 10 hours.

I would like to give a massive shout out to my mate (you know who you are) even though you caused me so much grief you also saved me from it. albeit super expensively.

And i know you cant name and shame but i want to do the opposite but i'll wait to see if it's okay as the company was super hardworking, accommodating, and all round super helpfull and got my on my way.


Now that my story is over what is the transmission temp supposed to be?
I've fitted the engine watchdog to the side of the gearbox case but in the heat of the day while towing have had it up too 100c. I'm guessing thats not right this is in adelaide 42c weather though. the fluid was replaced the same time the head was off but i've never had a warning light. I totally understand that the warning light might not work.

I hope my story didn't bore you I'm the worst story teller in the world but funny/ridiculous things always happen to me i swear i need a gopro permanently attached recording my life.

Thanks

Sure,, and afterwoods do it again in the Recommended suppliers Forum
the sensor is on the exit of the trans cooler??
the sensor is not a common replacement item,, just be sure to pull over if the dashlight comes on!
Heat and lack of servicing kills these gearboxes,