Is this a knackered head gasket?

My 2001 TD5 is losing engine coolant, other than a little around the expansion bottle top I can't find any signs of a leak. I had topped it up the other weekend and then did a 200 mile trip to Birmingham and back with five of us in the car. All was fine and the Disco pulled like a train apart from going up long hills when it would lose speed and power, slowing to about 60 from the previous brisk 70 mph, changing down to 4th didn't improve matters apart from getting noisy.

Today the heater was only blowing cold so, after searching around on Landyzone, I checked coolant level again and topped it up. I warmed the engine until the top heater hose got hot and then bled a small amount of air out of it. The heater worked fine - all warm and toasty again - I drove around locally and did about 5 miles in 20 mins and it warmed up well. When I got back I checked the coolant level again and it had used most of the contents of the expansion bottle. There are no obvious signs of leaking, the expansion bottle cap has held since I tightened it up hard.

Is it the head gasket or (hopefully) something more straightforward that I've missed?

Thanks in anticipation

check your carpets inside are they wet in the footwells??

Thanks, done that, all appears dry!

what does the coolant smell like ??? burnt?? what does the oil look like??? is there water in the sump??

Coolant smells like old coolant and is a rusty brown colour (top up fluid is neon red), no niff of diesel as far as I can tell but I'm not sure what burnt coolant would smell like. Oil on the dipstick looks black, no sign of emulsified oil when I look in the oil filler cap.

Not sure how I would check for water in the sump

Thanks for taking time to reply

have you checked the water pump and water pump gasket? this happened to mine so i changed water pump and gasket and has been fine since touch wood

Thanks Gamekeeper, there's no sign of any coolant dripping under the car, I'll have a closer look tomorrow.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news mate but it does sound like your head gasket is gone.

The coolant is pressurising and forcing itself out the pressure release valve on the expansion tank cap.

Mine was doing the same. It turned out my nylon dowels had distorted allowing the head to move.

It may be worth checking that your thermostat is working on BOTH valves and also that your waterpump is too.

The thermostat has the usual heat sensitive valve but has an additional valve that is opened by the suction of the waterpump at 1500rpm upwards. If this valve sticks or the waterpump is weak it could cause the system to pressurise.

I think this is unlikely but it has to be worth spending £15 on a new thermostat before chucking money at getting the headgasket done.

Thanks Ratty, I thought it might be, I hope the head gasket is covered by my warranty!

Cheers

Thought I'd give you an update on this!

Warranty company sent me to local "approved repairer" - the muppets had the car for four days and still couldn't work out what was wrong. As I was pestering them daily they sent the car to their local "diesel specialist" who diagnosed a knackered head gasket. He also said he needed some special Land Rover tools that he didn't have and that he wouldn't be able to get them until the new year! When asked neither "approved / specialist" had tested it on a Nanocom or similar. :doh: :mad2:

I retrieved the car and took it to my local friendly garage that I've been using for 15 years for several different makes of car.

They checked it properly, including a coolant pressure test, cylinder pressure test and head pressure test. The diagnosis was a leaking water pump and a split top radiator hose.

All fixed and she's running really well so far. :clap2:

I can't speak highly enough of the guys at Motor Inn, they fix all sorts of cars - including Discoverys :drum: :beer2:

Thanks also to all on here who suggested solutions, especially Ratty :tea:

So if you are near Ruislip in Middlesex and need a good garage their contact details are;

Motor Inn Ltd
Unit 1-2,Eastcote Autocare,
726 Field End Rd
Ruislip
Middlesex
HA4 0QP

Tel
020 8423 0384

All the best

Thanks for the update. I'm glad you got it sorted.

At least yours wasn't as bad as feared.

Cheers Ratty, it still cost a shed load to fix though - hope I can get it back from the warranty company!

Headtester said:

Cheers Ratty, it still cost a shed load to fix though - hope I can get it back from the warranty company!

Click to expand...

I don't know what you paid for parts but should you knacker either your top hose or water pump again I found famous four were the cheapest for the top hose (£25) and ebay was cheapest for a waterpump (£25). Obviously you woulda got the garage to supply and fit parts on this occasion but if you wanna get em yourself and get em to fit them it might save you a fair chunk of the cost.

Thanks for that, you are right the garage sourced the parts and charged a fair bit more than those prices for them but the warranty should pick that up. Not so sure about the labour charges though, I might have to stand a chunk of them myself.

It's great to have my truck back though

If I ever end up doing the job again myself I'll shop around for the parts as you suggest.