Thread: Any Advice for a New Disco II Owner Working on His Car

Originally Posted by shack

Ah, rebuild interval, that makes more sense than a "quick rebuild"!

It wasn't rebuilt the second time, it was a failed head gasket. Caused by ...... you guessed it ....plastic dowels.

Sorry if that wasn't clear, long time owners would recognise the comment about the plastic dowels.

So no, don't use plastic dowels on any version TD5.

My plastic dowels were nearly cut in half by the movement!

All the best..


Edit:

As you haven't been around TD5s for very long, I should also mention that 100k km was a pretty common failure interval for the plastic dowelled ones

Great, mine's at 185k kms and I doubt it's had steel dowels/HG done . Will have to add this to the bloody list of TD5 scaries!

Dumb question - what were your symptoms on the second rebuild? losing coolant? Overheating?

Originally Posted by reid25

Dumb question - what were your symptoms on the second rebuild? losing coolant? Overheating?

Not a dumb question at all.

First symptom was always having a really hard top hose from gases leaking into the cooling system, this was often still the case the next morning before starting.

Occasional rough running for a couple seconds on the first start for the day.

Then yes, losing coolant and overheating.

I wouldn't call it a "scary".

Just make sure that if you do have the head off, don't skimp on the job, do everything properly and you should be fine for many years.

Originally Posted by Reddirt204

When I did my sons head gasket I was very surprised to find plastic dowels as it is a 2003 build 2a

Parts bin special....

Sounds like steel head dowels are hopefully okay, and I also cannot be bothered having to wait again any longer for one more tiny part to arrive.

Although in other news I have discovered some interesting things... someone had previously already removed the EGR valve, the differential plug were already swapped for brass ones, and there definitely appears to be some coolant in the oil when I removed the valve cover.

Originally Posted by Overconfident Kid

Sounds like steel head dowels are hopefully okay, and I also cannot be bothered having to wait again any longer for one more tiny part to arrive.

Although in other news I have discovered some interesting things... someone had previously already removed the EGR valve, the differential plug were already swapped for brass ones, and there definitely appears to be some coolant in the oil when I removed the valve cover.

The steel dowels should be fine, just measure the depth etc to double check.

If there is water in the oil check the oil cooler (below the turbo) while things are in bits, much easier to do now rather than have to come back in a few months and strip things down again (been there done that....)

If the EGR has been removed and diff plugs done, they're good signs that someone at some stage was trying to look after it.

cheers

Redd

Originally Posted by Overconfident Kid

...... I also cannot be bothered having to wait again any longer for one more tiny part to arrive.

.....

Another thing you need is patience. Totally understand the desire to get it going, but being more methodical and careful will help to make it more reliable.
If you've never been around landrovers before, they have a reputation for oil leaks, yeah!!

Like reddirt said, whilst you've made a lot of space around the engine now, good time to renew many seals/gaskets and o-rings.
The oil coolers(heat exchanger part) have been known to leak, so you get oil in your coolant or water in your oil symptoms.
Quite a few seals in that area. remembering that the car is 20+ years old and o-rings do compress to the point that they readily leak after such a long time.

You don't have to remove the turbo to do head gasket, but doing so, it gives you a lot more room to move around there. Almost 100% for sure, the turbo drain pipe has warped, as they pretty much all do.
So check the turbo end of the flange on the pipe for flatness, and file/grind the flange face to flatten it before you waste energy and all your swear words getting it back on.

Just so you know, the inside flange bolt(should be 8mm) is a total pain to get back on. What I've now started to do is to use hex or socket head bolts of that thread size(I can't remember exactly, it may be M5, but really not sure!!) With a socket head, you can more easily get a long straight allen key more easily in there, than a 1/4 drive socket.

Research research , Slow and steady. Take your time and if in doubt ask questions.

Originally Posted by Overconfident Kid

Sounds like steel head dowels are hopefully okay, and I also cannot be bothered having to wait again any longer for one more tiny part to arrive.

Although in other news I have discovered some interesting things... someone had previously already removed the EGR valve, the differential plug were already swapped for brass ones, and there definitely appears to be some coolant in the oil when I removed the valve cover.

As mentioned, use steel dowels.

Are you sure it was coolant in the oil?, or could it be condensate from short runs, I say this, as it would be unusual for either a head gasket or oil cooler to have these symptoms in a TD5, the oil cooler and/or O rings fail the other way around (oil in coolant).

enjoy the journey.