Question you sent an answer back to me earlier in the year regarding the water sploshing noise in the passenger well of our 2000 Discovery and we checked everything you told us to to no avail. This week we took the 2000 Discovery to LAndrover for them to look at and they told us that the noise is the coolant in the tank going back and forth because it isn't full and told us that the Head Gasket is bad. However there appears to be no mix of oil and coolant , no overheating of the engine and no steam coming out of the exhaust pipe , and no sign of oil or coolant on the garage floor in fact if there wasn't that weird noise we would not know that anything was wrong with the car. Is this possible that it is the head gasket gone bad with none of th obvious signs. The charge is $2,500 to repair this bad gasket. What are your best thoughts? Earlier int he year they did a diagnostic test and did not report finding anything, should they have been able to see something then, at the time they said that it might just need bleeding? I saw that your site had another person write about a water sound in the passenger well, i wonder if it is a defect in this model. I have read that the only reason for a head gasket to go is poor design or overheating , the car has yet to overheat and we have driven it back and forth from Baltimore to Richmond VA fairly regularly. Thanks for any thoughts Camilla
Answer******************* Follow up ****************
Camilla,
I had your problem in the back of my mind and asked around about premature headgasket failures on 2000 models.
Apparently, early 1999 and 2000 Discovery TD5's can suffer premature headgasket failure. The cause was attributed to plastic locating dowls on the head bolts which allowed some movement resulting in gasket failure. LR replaced the plastic dowls with Alloy dowls sometime in the 2000 year models.
There is one other possibility for coolant loss - a leak in the radiator. Its quite possible to have a leak and not even know it. No telltale signs on the garage floor. This would allow air to enter and thus the problem begins.
Any local garage can pressure test your rad OR your engine for either headgasket failure OR radiator leak. This is something they do very often and its no different on the Disco.
Just thought this might help,
JohnMc
NB: I had a slow leak in my rad and only this summer did I start to see a problem. I replaced the rad myself and it cost me about $500.
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Hi Camilla,
strange that there was no signs of headgasket damage. No leaks on the floor, no smells, no frothy oil in sump, no loss of power, no in-engine mess was mentioned.
A compression test would determine if a headgasket is blown. If you doubt your dealership, you can go to most general mechanics and have the test done.
If it is a blown headgasket and you find the $2500 is too high a price, you can consider local mechanics that specialize in european engines. General mechanics can also to the work but their familiarity with LR engines would be preferred. You may be able to save $1000 to $1500 on the price.
The advantage of LR doing the deed is that they have the tools, parts and experience. We would hope that LR would fully test out the work and ensure the job was done right the first time. This however, comes with a price tag.
Having a 3rd party do the work is risky. If they are not familiar with LR engines and don't have the proper testing tools, it could take longer and may not be done as precisely as LR.
Let me know in which state you'll want to service your Disco and I'll send you some more info that may help in your decision. Local Rover clubs are an excellent source for experienced mechanics and advice.
Its not really a common problem to Discovery engines. If it was a problem it would have surfaced much earlier. Disco II's have more trouble with exhaust valves than headgaskets.
Best of luck,
JohnMc
