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poor gas milage / blown head gasket? got a read diff for a 94 D90?

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90 d90 gas
4K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  rover_rich_d90 
#1 ·
Hey guys.. I've got a 94 D90 and I've been getting extremely crappy gas milage (10mpg) city/highway.. for a while now. I hear of some people getting upwards of 17mpg. It's been running really rich, I can smell the gas. I had a left 02 sensor warning come up, but it's not the sensor.. is just running like crap. I brought it by Roverland in SF, he seems to think my head gasket is shot. He wanted 2500 bucks to fix it. Said he hooked it up to the diagnostics machine and had a very high hydrocarbon reading.

Anybody have any experiences with head gasket issues with their D90? If it is blown, it's not in an area that is allowing engine oil and antifreeze to mix, because I'm not getting any of that. I am however loosing oil, and it's not getting to the ground. It's burning somewhere.

Any help would be appreciated. I spoke to my other mechanic and he said he would replace the head gasket and do a valve job for like 1200. That sounds a little more reasonable. Anybody know of any good rover specialists in the SF bay area? Phillipe at Roverland is a very good mechanic, but seriously lack any good business practices. I leave my car there, and like I can't get in touch with him. He doesn't pick up the phone, you leave a message and he doesn't call back.. I don't particularly like that when I'm potentially spending a whole lot of money to repair my truck.

On a side note, I'm getting a whining noise out of my rear diff - when I am going on the highway.. over 35mph or so, and I let off the gas and coast. They seem to think a bearing is shot in my read diff. I might just want to swap it out entirely. Anybody have a relatively in-expensive spare rear diff they'd like to part with?


Cheers,
Rich
94 Metallic Blue D90
rich13@agristar.net:(
 
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#3 ·
Just had that experience at the dealer, except they wanted 3,600 to change the gasket.

Unless you see anti-freeze on the block and/or are experiencing overheating problems, I would discount the the head gasket. Clean you block well and take a look for yourself. If it is leaking, you'll know.

One problem may be the age of the block. Might want to consider a rebuild or start shopping for a 4.6 to drop in. If you're interested, I know of a factory new 4.6 for sale.

EwS
 
#4 ·
Have you seen this thread ? I just tried the stuff and it seems to have made a bit of improvement.

How much oil are you burning? I think most rovers burn some oil so I would not be too surprised at that.

As far as 10mpg well I get about 15 if I drive careful otherwise I put 13 gallons in the tank every 140 miles.

I agree with Eric unless you are mixing antifreeze with the oil or loosing antifreeze then your head-gasket is probably OK. Allot of places like to point at the head-gasket because it is prone to failure, especially after overheating.

So run some Seafoam through your engine and don't sweat the bad mpgs.:grin
 
#6 ·
Alittle better, but I rarely give myself time to get to work in the morning....

I had my engine decarbonized by the dealer prior to finding out about seafoam. Same thing except you don't get bent over and bumped by the dealer. I most likely would have screwed it up anyway. Still learning the ropes.

EwS
 
#7 ·
Well, it started to overheat the other day. Got the temp needle into the red - then pulled over - waited for about 30 min - added some water to the radiator resevoir tank - then drove on - the needle kept in the middle from there on out. I don't see any mirkyness on the oil dipstick or any milky white resedue on the oil filler cap. I'm starting to this it is a head gasket issue, but still not entirely sure. I've tried cerrones - they are good, but a lil pricey. Never tried that shop in the east bay, any good?

I don't think I'm ready for a new engine yet, this one only had 54k on it. I should hope it will last for a lot longer.

Hey James - can you get me the contact info of the guy in los altos? Thanks man.

-Rich
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the feedback guys, sorry I don't get a chance to hop on here all that much. I dropped my truck off at my trusted mechanic in San Jose, who is going to do the headgasket and valve job for 1150 labor + parts (I ordered the full head gasket kit from Rovers North - with the new composite head gasket).

Cheers,
Rich
 
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