DII overheating part 2

[tjp74]

Looks like my worst case senario or fear turned out to be true.

Ok, so call me stupid to get into this mess but it's too late and I moved on.
Now, I need to figure out the best wa to get out of this mess with minimal loss.

Long story short, I bought this DII last month. Previous owner was expriencing overheating issue so he got the headgasket replaced only to find out the problem is still there. Shop thought it was a radiator but I thought may be a themostat. I bought it knowing that there is a chance that I may need a new engine. Luckly I didn't pay it too much.

It turns out that I have a very small combustion gas leak into the cooling system. It's very small so I don't see much bubbling at the idle and engine would idle all day long with cap off witout overheating. The problem is, with cap on and if I drive it hard, excessive pressure builds up in the system and I believe when a big air bubble gets created around the water pump, coolant stops circulating and engine overheats causing even bigger air bubble. Plus high pressure will slowly push coolant out to the over flow tube causing the cooling system to dry up in few days causing overheat too.

I don't believe I have a dropped sleeve as it idles and runs perfectly fine, no oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. As long as I keep relieving pressures by opening up the bleed cap letting air out every stop, it feels like truck would run forever.

It believe it's a tiny crack behind the sleeve. I found it on internet that it's possible to have cracks without sliped liner on rover V8.

Am I correct on my finding or am I missing something?

Anyway, I am looking at several option.

1. Get rid of it as is.
2. Fix it up.
2a. put a used engine
2b. Seize the opportunity and upgraded to 4.6L used engine.
3b. Since heads were all checked out fine, and engine only has 65K miles, take it apart and resleeve the block and fix the crack.

Or???

Also, how hard is it to pull an engine from DII? Hour wise?

What's the good way to resleeve the block? I heard "coscast" block or top hat liners. Good place to buy the parts in US?

 

[Disco Mike]

How many miles on the D2, how much are you into this truck for?

 

[tjp74]

paid $4000 and spent $700 on doing the 65K mile service you recommended and fixing some of minor issues like door lock, broken tail light etc.

I know I know I should have waited on doing the 65K mile service before making sure overheating issue is fixed. But it ran so fine, I didn't think it was a major issue like that.

And I know I over paid if engine is considered blown. But I took the chance and risked it.

it's DII SE7 with ACE option. Just under 65K miles.

 

[Philly1time]

I'd Fix the original engine. I was in your same situation with one of my rovers. Its worth nothing broken, since there are so many rovers lying around with blown motors. You might be over book value with all the work, but who cares I'd rather have a $8,000 running car than a $4,000 paperweight. Where are you located ?


Phil in CT

 

[alzerom]

Value examples to help you decide:

I sold a 97 disco with 215,000 when the engine needed a complete overhaul, leaking everywhere. I wanted to get a used engine or a rebuilt, but they were difficult to locate, ship and install. It was sold for $500. This group also helped me decide.

I then bought a flawless 2004 for $10,995, $900 to ship, $500 brakes - total $12,500. This was April 2010, in North Carolina. A local Rover-guy with a shop helped me make the decisions.

My opinion is you are right in the middle.

 

[tjp74]

So, I decided to fix it. It's worth practically nothing with engine problem like other poster said. May be $2000 if I am lucky.

I have the ability to replace/rebuild the engine. My labor is not free but at least I don't have to pay $100 an hour shop rate to make someone else rich.

If properly fixed, it is worth about $6000-7000 or even more if engine is completely rebuilt.

I am estimating about $1000-$1500 in parts to fix it plus my labor. So my total expense is about $6000.

So. my remainig options are...

1. Fix the crack in the block and replace the dropped liner with new original type (cheapest)
2. Above plus replace all liners with top hat design
3. while at it, just go all the way and rebuild the entire engine (most expensive)
4. Found a good used 4.6L block for under $700. Simply replace the original block.
5. Replace it with known good engine ($1200-$1700 with less than 100K miles)

What do ya all think?
Also, how long does it take to remove engine typically if you are exprienced mechanic but doing it for the first time on LR? 10 hours? 20 hours? Any special tools required?