Head Gasket... Anyone?

[dandruka]

The beast is a 04 Disco.

The symptoms: pool of coolant on the floor in the am's, Exxon Valdez in the engine bay, just some plain bad vibes about it all.

So, I figured this lovely weekend would be the best time to tackle this looming problem I've been avoiding. I got the parts, grabbed a beer, and dove head-first into it!

Well, who would have guessed it. I ran into a couple snags and out of beer.

1) I can't get the head bolts to budge. Won't they bust off if I give them the 'ol hee ho? Also, this one goes out to anyone who had done the heads before on the 4.6 disco-how the hell do you get to the first bolt near the fire wall on the left side? I've tried every tool I own, and now I feel like one.

2) Should I even bother? After spending 4 hours digging down past all the nonsense to where I need to start, I finally removed the rocker covers and I swear, it looks like the person who had this before me Rino Lined the inside of the engine. I'll be a day or two now just letting parts I removed soak in chemistry, but what about the rest of the once suitable buick-designed powerhouse? I just bought this 70K mean green machine in Dec from someone who I would have peggd as a loyal maintenance man..........well....yeah. i guess not

3) If the general consensus is to continue with this ordeal (and I don't end up going josh beckett on some of the smaller parts) is there anything else I might want to know before hand from the vast wisdom of all you who like me like to spend every free moment thinking, dreaming, tinkering, but more likely fixing rovers? The alternative: I was contemplating replacing the engine because of it's knocking.....

but...

That's a thread for another time!

Thanks for help

________________________________________
1997 DI - $5500
1999 DI - $21000
2004 DII - $8500

One wife who actually understands why only one Rover will never be enough...

Priceless!