19J- is it at last dead?

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Just had the engine apart and found that the head gasket had indeed failed between cylinder 2 and an adjacent pushrod. Fired it up to turn the 90 around to face the garage, and when I took the rocker cover off straight after, there was a tell-tale cloud of exhaust in that pushrod bore only.

Haven't inspected the head properly yet (I was getting bored and hungry) but a couple of the head bolts were easier to undo than expected. I suspect they've loosened over time and that's allowed the gasket to blow. Better check those torque settings a few hundred miles down the road...
 
FlyingPete said:
Just had the engine apart and found that the head gasket had indeed failed between cylinder 2 and an adjacent pushrod. Fired it up to turn the 90 around to face the garage, and when I took the rocker cover off straight after, there was a tell-tale cloud of exhaust in that pushrod bore only.

Haven't inspected the head properly yet (I was getting bored and hungry) but a couple of the head bolts were easier to undo than expected. I suspect they've loosened over time and that's allowed the gasket to blow. Better check those torque settings a few hundred miles down the road...
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Check head and hotspots carefully when it is off again, Payen or Elring gasket.
 
Juss had another thought. I have never retorqued those heads. I dont know if that is best practice, just never done it.
Maybe James will inform when he comes back.
 
Turboman said:
Most I have seen are. Not a good sign! :(

I have found it to be fine for what I do, farm work, and a bit of local mileage, odd laning trip. I wouldnt dream of using it for long distance, or a commuter car.
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Have owned mine for 18 months - In that time I've taken it to Normandy (From Cumbria) and Switzerland. Yes its had its problems, but always got us there. albeit at 50 mph!

Currently considering using a bit of Veg oil in it, I've a 200tdi waiting to go in for when it finally goes ping :)
 
Retrospaceman said:
Have owned mine for 18 months - In that time I've taken it to Normandy (From Cumbria) and Switzerland. Yes its had its problems, but always got us there. albeit at 50 mph!

Currently considering using a bit of Veg oil in it, I've a 200tdi waiting to go in for when it finally goes ping :)
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Had mine about 8 years, only about 30k on the new engine. So I wouldnt really expect problems. Having said that, some of the originals did blow at low mileages. I would think mostly the ones without coated pistons.

They do suffer from thermal stress issues, and other problems. But they are hard as nails, it will still get you back with a couple of cracked pistons, and a blown head gasket! :D

If you only cruise at 50 in level country, there may be room for improvement. If all the servicing and tappets are good, I would think pump timing, injectors etc. Mine could easy pull 60 all day on open road.

Veg oil, I wouldnt myself, maybe look into bio fuel manufacture? Good quality diesel additive is nice for the injector pump, and may give a bit extra power and mpg.;)
 
Turboman said:
If you only cruise at 50 in level country, there may be room for improvement. If all the servicing and tappets are good, I would think pump timing, injectors etc. Mine could easy pull 60 all day on open road.

Veg oil, I wouldnt myself, maybe look into bio fuel manufacture? Good quality diesel additive is nice for the injector pump, and may give a bit extra power and mpg.;)
Click to expand...

Don't forget the boost diaphragm in the pump either! Mine went and significantly reduced performance as the fuelling wasn't increasing on boost. Cheap and simple fix and easy to check.

I tend to use Millers diesel eco-max or whatever it's called. It certainly seems to make things quieter and smoother. It works out cheaper than using v-power or similar. The petrol additives seem to be mostly snake oil, but the diesel ones have got something going for them.
 
So my parts finally turned up. I got the head back on this evening (Payen gasket this time) and everything on the right hand side of the engine refitted before I got hungry and it started raining a bit. Still got the manifolds/turbo to fit properly, heater pipes to refit and valve clearances to check while it's opened up. Going to check the air filter too as I suspect the quantity of exhaust/oil going down the breathers has saturated that with oil and general crud.
 
Got it back together this afternoon, after wrestling with bolts that didn't seem to fit, spanners getting stuck etc. It fired up after much cranking (bleeding air out of the injector pipes, thought me) before eventually sounding like a canal boat which is definitely not right. Pulled the rockers off again and found a slightly bent pushrod. Fantastic. Suspect it wasn't quite seated right and the first turn of the crank knocked it. Can they be straightened?

Really don't want to pull the head off again if I can avoid it- that would mean the last couple of days have been a complete waste of time...
 
LR adjustment tool didn't do the trick, but the next size up did. It lives once again
:)

It's very easy to have a pushrod skip out of the ball on the rocker, and I reckon this is what happened before. The resulting overextension of the valve would have caused the rod to bend.
 
All seems good with the 19J now- apart from a sort of ticking noise (varying with rpm) that's a bit concerning. Possibly it's the not-quite straight pushrod making contact with something, or a valve not quite set right.
 
Seem to have found it.

Replaced the manifold bolts and torqued them up properly, which didn't fix it but needed doing. In the end I tightened down the injector nuts a bit more, which seems to have stopped the ticking. We will see next time I take it on a motorway run.
 
After resetting the valves (a couple were a bit out, hence the clatter) I took the 90 for a test this evening. All seems well- it pulls strongly through the rev range, not too smokey, less clatter and more of a healthy-sounding diesel noise when you put your foot down, and it will comfortably do 60, making 70 (possibly a bit more if you pushed it) on the flat. There's a bit of blow-by but I imagine that's just the rings being a bit worn by now- certainly nothing excessive.

Does this sound about right for a 19J?
 
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