Do head gasket leaks progress quickly?

[rsmcmahon]

Here is my dilemma. I have a daughter who a freshmen in collage that is driving a 97 Land Rover Discovery with 107,000. The drive to school is 75 miles each way and she make the commute approx once a month. I have gone to great lengths to see the car is maintained in hopes she will never be stranded on the side of the highway. Last week while she was home, I once again rolled up under the SUV to check hoses, belts, etc. With my flashlight, I noticed a very small amount of antifreeze seepage from the drivers-side rear of the engine. The small leak is occurring where the engine head meets the engine block ? or the head gasket leak. The leak is so limited; the coolant overflow reservoir hardly shows any sign of a loss of antifreeze. I have never noticed any sign of a coolant leak on the garage floor either. With the exception of seepage of oil from various locations of the engine area ? everything looks good. The engine runs well too. No signs water in the oil.

Do you think I?m setting on a ?time bomb? and my daughter will likely soon be stranded on the side of the road with an overheated engine? I?m also worried if the leak gets worse she will ignore any signs of overheating and completely destroy the engine before taking any action.

Does a leaking head gasket go from a seep to flood very quickly or is this something that will become more apparent as the condition progresses?

I have 3 kids in college so needless to say I don?t want to spend the $1500ish for a head gasket replacement?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Russell

 

[dhuddleson]

Try to investigate if the coolant could be leaking DOWN from the intake manifold. The intake manifolds are more prone to leaks, and that could run down the back of the engine and seem to be coming from the head mating surface.

If it is the intake, that would be a simpler task than the head gasket.

Good luck!

 

[macklow]

I guess it all depends on your situation, but I just checked some of my old posts, and my head has been leaking since at least October 2005 (221K miles). Two years later the truck has 267K miles, leak has slowed down (most likely due to internal corrosion plugging the hole).

 

[Darren M.]

it's a Rover, so yeah, it's a time bomb. The head gaskets will leak for a while, but you don't want your daughter to be in a situation on the road when they let loose. I drove mine for 25K before it got real bad. Normal local drving was OK, but that sucker would guzzle down the antifreeze on the highway. Depending on where you live, and who does the work, it will cost you anywhere from $1500-$3000 for the heads to get done, and the installation of the gasket. I'm in Northern NJ, and a non dealer who works primarily on Rovers did the work for me, and it still cost me $2800. It's a big expense, but if somebody else is driving the truck, you want to make sure they are safe. My wife drives my truck all the time with my daughter, and I didn't want her stranded on the side of the road somewhere with a 6000 lb truck spewing green juice and smoking. So I bit the bullet and got the work done.

 

[ptschram]

Darren is right, put a load on the truck and it will accelerate the deterioration. I was fine in my P38 until I tried to tow a trailer and all Hell broke loose!


In town, it will probably be just fine. Highway and heavily laden are out of the question-also, if the cooling system is not up to snuff, it will hasten the demise!

Where are you located? We might be able to help you find an independent who can help you out.

Cheers,
PT

 

[Darren M.]

2006 was a beautiful year. Fan clutch, radiator and head gaskets. The Triple Crown.

 

[daven5735]

Russell, these guys are right. Leaks almost never stay the same or get better....they almost always get worse. I just had a top end job done on my D1 and paid $2,000. This included new heads, gaskets, bolts and the labor. Here is a link to the actual heads I got: http://www.motorcarsltd.com/epcstartreverse.epc?cookieID=28S0Y8D5N28S0YB2GN&drillid=10&subcatid=0999@@Cylinder+Head&clientid=motorcarsltd

I don't have three kids in college but my thought is that if you plan on her driving the vehicle for any time, those heads are going to have to come off. With that mileage you might as well do a valve job or go the reman route. With regular oil changes and not too much abuse (unlike what some of us might be guilty of on this site), the bottom-end of these engines is solid. With new heads you might get another 100K-150K miles. The head gaskets today are improved over the originals as are the head bolts. If you purchased all the parts and had them ready, you could do the job over a weekend for under $1000. Just my .02. Good luck.

 

[Ron]

Trade in for a honda. Slow leak is standard and as LONG AS SHE CHECKS TO SEE THAT IT IS FULL she will be fine.

 

[rsmcmahon]

Considering the speed limit from Tulsa to Stillwater (OSU) where my daughter goes to college is 75mph and I?m sure she drives 80ish, I?m guessing the head gasket leak will see it?s demise sooner than later. I replaced brake pads, rotors, re-shimmed the swivel housing, 4 new tie rod ends, new front tires, all new radiator hoses, heater hoses, serpentine belt, spark plugs, and various other items replaced just before school. Fuel pump less than 6 months ago. Geeze, replacing the rotors on the Series I is much more involved form what normally is an easy task. Between working on my other cars and the Land Rover, I had one of the neighbors ask if I?m a mechanic by trade. I feel as if I?m feeding $$$ to the Land Rover monster. She has never used the off road features of the Discovery so it might be time to say ?good by.?

I wish I had a shop and didn?t have to resort to working outside in the cold, driveway this time of year or I might try the job myself. I have the rover manual.

 

[daven5735]

Sounds like you know the vehicle pretty well. Now it becomes mathematics. What would you get if you sold it as is? What would you buy with the funds (plus how much more)? So buying another (presumably) pre-owned vehicle you don't know the real history of or a new one vs. the top-end job. I feel your pain.

 

[Darren M.]

That's the problem with these damn crack trucks. You get hooked, blow all your loot on them like a stripper at a nudie bar, then you fall in love with them. If you are over 100K, do the heads and the gaskets and be done with it. The truck will run right, and you'll have the peace of mind knowing you defused the ticking time bomb. As long as it leaks, it's not a matter of if, but when.....

 

[ptschram]

I wish I had a shop and didn?t have to resort to working outside in the cold, driveway this time of year or I might try the job myself. I have the rover manual.

It's not that warm in the shop, trust me!

As for kids in Rovers, keep in mind this is without a doubt one of the safest trucks you can put your kids in. My son has been rear-ended twice and both times got out to give first aid to the women who hit him. The second crash, the woman who hit him was helicoptered to the hospital, she was so beat up.

Lastly, I've collected almost twice the purchase price in insurance settlements. I tell all my clients that the Rover is a perfect vehicle for a kid. They are undeniably safe, they don't go fast enough to get them into trouble with the law and they get horrible fuel mileage so they can't go too far to find trouble! Yes, I was a vehicular troublemaker when a kid!

PT

 

[D2ohno]

Great comments PT, I kinda stumbled into a Rover wanting a 4wd because we live at 8000ft with snowy mountain rds that make this dad nervous. I realize after your comments and others I made a great safe choice for my 16 yr old daughter. I as well have kids in college and with the help of D-web plan on doing my heads in a very cold garage this jan. Price wise no choice as I see it. Maybe somebody out there will help this guy through the job.

Don

 

[Buddy]

Ok, I seem to have a very similar issue to the OP. I started to notice a very small coolant leak under the truck after following it I found a small leak on the back drivers side of the engine. It does not seem to actively drip at idle at least not when it's still below running temps. But it does become noticeable after 3-4 days of sitting. I'm about 98.5% certain it's combing from the HG. I can't find any moisture anywhere above that point.

Is the common consensus still the same as the above. That under light usage these leaks can stay put for a decent amount of time? Or has that changed in the last 7 years?

I'd like to find a lower mileage replacement engine rather than trying to fix this one since this one also has other issues. But I there are two event's coming up that I want to take the truck to before I'll have time to actually do that. It's a trailer queen and I typically have a pretty light foot so I'm hoping it would be ok.

Thoughts?

 

[singingcamel]

Ok, I seem to have a very similar issue to the OP. I started to notice a very small coolant leak under the truck after following it I found a small leak on the back drivers side of the engine. It does not seem to actively drip at idle at least not when it's still below running temps. But it does become noticeable after 3-4 days of sitting. I'm about 98.5% certain it's combing from the HG. I can't find any moisture anywhere above that point.

Is the common consensus still the same as the above. That under light usage these leaks can stay put for a decent amount of time? Or has that changed in the last 7 years?

I'd like to find a lower mileage replacement engine rather than trying to fix this one since this one also has other issues. But I there are two event's coming up that I want to take the truck to before I'll have time to actually do that. It's a trailer queen and I typically have a pretty light foot so I'm hoping it would be ok.

Thoughts?

It may be the valley gasket end seals , Id get a socket 1/2 and a driver with small extension and retorque the front and rear intake seals , they'll loosen up and cause a slow leak.
Located in the middle of the valley gasket . cant miss the front one , rear is not visable but easy to get to.

 

[robisonservice]

Coolant leakage onto the ground is not usually a hazard, nor does it tend to worsen catastrophically. It may get worse gradually and it may get to be enough to bother you. Block sealer may fix it for a good while. Several people have posted the suggestion that the leak may actually be from the intake but if you're on a budget block seal may fix that a while too.

The head gasket failures you read about - the bad ones - are combustion gas leaks; a totally different thing from your problem

 

[Buddy]

Thanks, if checked the other areas and all seems to be ok there. I also cleaned that area and took it for a test drive to get it up to running temp. The leak got a little worse and I could actually see it seep out and drip from that spot very slowly maybe 1 drop per minute.

I figure for now I'll wheel it and see what happens and maybe plan to either fix this one or build another one.