6.2L Diesel Discovery I

[GMRover]

Figured I'd jump on this page as I think it's more active than landroversonly is and seems more geared towards overlanding which is what I'm interested in doing and have been doing with my Disco since I got it in February. Got it from my uncle after he'd had it in and out of various shops for a few years getting the ARB bumper stolen at one point and then later recovered and he just wasn't enjoying it so he offered it to me if I came and picked it up from his yard.

When I first got it, it hadn't been run in over a year and the front bumper was off it and it was a tinge of green after sitting outside in WA for a year not being washed. Pressure washed all the green off it and brought it back to being the factory white. Had to buy a new starter for it as the one in it was seized. Got it to turn over slowly with the new starter and had had the batteries on chargers for awhile but they were old and had sat discharged for awhile. New batteries, put some fuel in the line going to the mechanical lift pump and got it fired with the help of some starting fluid.

Then I had to take care of actually getting it registered and while I waited for that to get processed I picked up some grade 8 hardware and mounted the bumper back up. Drove it around for awhile, discovered a rear shock was broken so I replaced both rears with OME units. Took it on it's breakin camping trip with some friends in the snow and it did great. No issues and even the next morning when it was below freezing it fired right up no problem. Didn't even need starting fluid.

It ran great for awhile just driving it around town running errands and whatnot. Took it across the pass and over to Idaho for a ski trip at the beginning of March. That was quite the adventure. The day I tried to leave I had my right from caliper seize and actual break off it's mounts and rip the rubber brake line too. I ended up stuck in Idaho for an extra 2 days while I waited on Les Schwab to get calipers in stock and fix my front brakes for me. Normally I would have done it myself but I didn't have the tools to get it done with me so it was easier to just have them do it. Finally got on the road and about an hour after passing through Spokane I started to smell the tell tale sweet smell of coolant so I started to pull over and as I checked to make sure no one was behind me I saw the big cloud of smoke come out. Got pulled over and looked in the coolant reservior and it was all milky. Turns out it'd thrown the PS and Alt belts which also drive the water pump causing it to overheat and due to the location of my gauge it didn't show till too late. Got it towed to the next town and got my dad to drive over the pass and pick me up so I could then come back later with a truck and trailer to retrieve it.

Got it back home, got permission from my grandpa to use his barn for the teardown and rebuild and had the whole top end of the engine apart in about 4 hours and then was on my way to the machine shop with the heads to get them resurfaced. Took 3 afternoons to put it back together as I was working slowly to make sure I didn't screw anything up. Got it all back together and it fired up after purging all the air out of the fuel lines by cranking it with the glow plugs removed so it wasn't fighting compression. Put a few more miles on it around town locally to make sure all was set before I went too far from home with it.

Once I was satisfied with it I took it across the mountains again to Cle Elm and Ellensburg for a 3 day weekend trip with friends camping in 2 different spots and exploring the outskirts of Ellensburg. Lost the bendix drive on the starter but luckily because it's manual we towed me up a hill and I just used momentum to compression start the engine the second morning. On the way back home we went a bit slower over the mountains as I was running a bit hotter than I had on the way over. Didn't get a chance to investigate it more but I think it was the fins of the radiator being filled with dust affecting the heat transfer of it.

 

[GMRover]

More pictures from the top end rebuild and the broken caliper.

 

[GMRover]

And pictures from the Ellensburg trip. Got a new phone and don't have pictures on this one from the snow camping trip.

 

[LtFuzz]

that's my old truck, bought it on here in 2010 after I got back from Afghanistan. glad to see it's still around. if you do a little poking around this forum you can find my posts about it and even the original as from the owner, Rhino something. He runs a BMW shop in Maryland. also if you look in the For Sale section I have a thread with some other bits and pieces that will go on that truck if youre interested

some nice parts on that truck. that's a mantec snorkel & skidplate, real Wolf steels and that roof rack is pretty valuable -- it's a Safety Devices Expedition Rack. dont let that go easily

what happened to the Saudi Grill?

 

[GMRover]

that's my old truck, bought it on here in 2010 after I got back from Afghanistan. glad to see it's still around. if you do a little poking around this forum you can find my posts about it and even the original as from the owner, Rhino something. He runs a BMW shop in Maryland. also if you look in the For Sale section I have a thread with some other bits and pieces that will go on that truck if youre interested

some nice parts on that truck. that's a mantec snorkel & skidplate, real Wolf steels and that roof rack is pretty valuable -- it's a Safety Devices Expedition Rack. dont let that go easily

what happened to the Saudi Grill?

That's awesome! I had no clue this truck had come from the east coast at one point. I was wondering if it was a SD rack or not. It seemed similar but I wasn't sure. As far as I know from when my uncle got it to now it's always had the stock grille on it. I'd love to find a Saudi grille for it as that could help with airflow through the radiator.

 

[getlost4x4]

Cool truck, love the wheels, I'll be getting some of those soon.

 

[superbuickguy]

I love 6.2s. But as you found out, quickest way to kill one is to overheat it. That said, starting fluid does the heat gaskets no good at all - use silicone spray if you must, but run away from starting fluid.
Another tip on those motors, since they're all pre-sulfur-removal pumps, use a 1 quart of ATF (any is fine, it's the seal package included in the ATF that you want - so avoid the really expensive stuff, rather the cheapest really is best) in the fuel every 1000 or 2000 or so miles to help keep the seals intact in the pump.

If you have to do the heads again - there's an updated head that is much, much better (as evidenced by the machine shop advice of - if the crack doesn't affect anything, leave it); also investing in head studs can go a long, long way towards preservation of the head gasket.

 

[GMRover]

I love 6.2s. But as you found out, quickest way to kill one is to overheat it. That said, starting fluid does the heat gaskets no good at all - use silicone spray if you must, but run away from starting fluid.
Another tip on those motors, since they're all pre-sulfur-removal pumps, use a 1 quart of ATF (any is fine, it's the seal package included in the ATF that you want - so avoid the really expensive stuff, rather the cheapest really is best) in the fuel every 1000 or 2000 or so miles to help keep the seals intact in the pump.

If you have to do the heads again - there's an updated head that is much, much better (as evidenced by the machine shop advice of - if the crack doesn't affect anything, leave it); also investing in head studs can go a long, long way towards preservation of the head gasket.

Curious what affect starting fluid has on the gaskets. I've never heard of it causing issues to a gasket as it's a highly flammable aerosole.

And I do plan to start running used motor oil and ATF through the fuel tank now that I've learned I've got a milspec engine that can handle it. I do think that I need to rebuild the injection pump as cold starts are difficult and I believe it needs new glow plugs as well. I'll be making a list of everything I want to do to the truck. I work aboard ships and received orders to join a ship starting next Friday and will be there 4-5 months. But then when I come back I'll split my attention between some maintenance and upkeep stuff as well as modifications on the Rover and getting some planned paint and bodywork done on my Subaru.

My head's actually shocked the machinest when I took them in, he thought for sure they would be cracked as he put it "they all are" and mine pressure tested good so he decked them and did the valve seats and new precombustion chambers. In hindsight I wish that I'd gone to headstuds but I was able to pick up felpro head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and intake and exhaust manifold gaskets as well as a new set of Torque to Yeild head bolts at NAPA so I just went with that. Since it's really not hard to pull apart I may order studs and do them when I've got the injection pump off for a rebuild.

 

[superbuickguy]

the problem with starting fluid is it's too volatile, when it ignites it literally lifts the head from the head gasket. It's why GM put the big sticker on their air cleaners to never use starting fluid.

not sure why milspec is different in a 6.2.... when Navistar started building the motors in 2002 - they only built 6.5s because 6.5s are backward compatible to the 6.2s (externally). As far as previous motors, I've had a bunch of either and found nothing different inside or outside (beside the obvious milspec requirements of things like 24v)

as long as you don't use starting fluid, you shouldn't need studs - studs start becoming important under boost (which is what both my detroit diesels enjoy... I have a 6.2 with an ATS turbo and a 6.5 with a larger turbo).

One thing about overheating - I have a second gauge on every motor that is the old capillary and wire type (needs no power to work).... it's saved my bacon, though strangely, it's because the stock gauge in my older truck is possessed and claims it's hot when it's not even close.

 

[GMRover]

the problem with starting fluid is it's too volatile, when it ignites it literally lifts the head from the head gasket. It's why GM put the big sticker on their air cleaners to never use starting fluid.

not sure why milspec is different in a 6.2.... when Navistar started building the motors in 2002 - they only built 6.5s because 6.5s are backward compatible to the 6.2s (externally). As far as previous motors, I've had a bunch of either and found nothing different inside or outside (beside the obvious milspec requirements of things like 24v)

as long as you don't use starting fluid, you shouldn't need studs - studs start becoming important under boost (which is what both my detroit diesels enjoy... I have a 6.2 with an ATS turbo and a 6.5 with a larger turbo).

One thing about overheating - I have a second gauge on every motor that is the old capillary and wire type (needs no power to work).... it's saved my bacon, though strangely, it's because the stock gauge in my older truck is possessed and claims it's hot when it's not even close.

Ahhh okay that makes sense about the starting fluid.

The only temperature gauge I have is the capillary and wire type. The only gauges that work in the factory cluster are the speedo, sometimes, and the gas gauge. I've got an external temp and oil pressure gauge.

 

[superbuickguy]

Ahhh okay that makes sense about the starting fluid.

The only temperature gauge I have is the capillary and wire type. The only gauges that work in the factory cluster are the speedo, sometimes, and the gas gauge. I've got an external temp and oil pressure gauge.

I went to the expense and trouble of sourcing and putting a 300 tdi in a D2. Too bad I got the motor from someone whose morals would make a hooker look like a preacher. I wish I'd put a 6.2 in instead - but my good theory that caused the build was keeping it all LR would make the swap easier. Yeah, no...

I use Evans coolant in my FJ40 (they're notorious for overheating with V8s in them), it's breathtakingly expensive (figure at least $200 likely $300) to swap - but it brings a couple major advantages. The problem with coolant is at some point it boils to vapor. Vapor doesn't cool anything so you get a hot spot and failure. Evans coolant doesn't boil and is stable to 300 degrees. In my limited experience with it the only down side is it seems to read warmer on electronic gauges (though this may also be another failed Dakota Digital part)...