2.5 TD breathing heavy....gasp!

Turboman said:

Head gasket failure in the manner described is extremely common on these engines. Changed a number myself.

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Not being familiar with this particular engine I bow to your wisdom; I was thinking the gasket might have failed between 2 and 3 giving the low readings on those two cylinders... I await the outcome with bated breath.

Extreedoc said:

Not being familiar with this particular engine I bow to your wisdom; I was thinking the gasket might have failed between 2 and 3 giving the low readings on those two cylinders... I await the outcome with bated breath.

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Usually blows into the pushrod tubes. Quite easy to diagnose by chuffing from the rocker box cap.

Turboman said:

Usually blows into the pushrod tubes. Quite easy to diagnose by chuffing from the rocker box cap.

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Yes, it would be like the chuffing at the exhaust tailpipe when an exhaust valve has burned out.

Thanks for the feedback. But if i take the head off and find gasket damage, what then ? Even If I spend a few quid on a new gasket is it not likely to recur?
Cheers folks.

moorlander said:

Thanks for the feedback. But if i take the head off and find gasket damage, what then ? Even If I spend a few quid on a new gasket is it not likely to recur?
Cheers folks.

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not with a quality composite gasket unless you can see something obviously wrong

moorlander said:

Thanks for the feedback. But if i take the head off and find gasket damage, what then ? Even If I spend a few quid on a new gasket is it not likely to recur?
Cheers folks.

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The gasket will probably look OK, but you will be able to see dark stains where the gas has been running across the gasket.
Just clean it up carefully, replace any swirl chambers that have fallen out. Payen or Elring gasket, torque it down right. Off you go.

Thanks folks, does the fact that cyls 2&3 give the same reading suggest a blown gasket between them , or not necessarily? Even if so, I don't follow how a damaged gasket would cause the crank case to pressurise?

moorlander said:

Thanks folks, does the fact that cyls 2&3 give the same reading suggest a blown gasket between them , or not necessarily? Even if so, I don't follow how a damaged gasket would cause the crank case to pressurise?

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because they are both low, most common failure is between 2 cylinders though its often accompanied by failures to a water way ,pushrod gallery etc

One more thought. I know of a disco 200tdi with about 100k on the clock, with the add ons radiator etc for £500.
Its from a friend I trust. I'm wondering whether to bite the bullet and go down that route? Painful though it would be, and an admssion of defeat. If so has anyone posted any good threads on the transplant?
Please have a long hard look into those crystal balls!
Cheers.

200 Di conversion here:

http://www.glencoyne.co.uk/200di.htm
Look here too:
http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/200tdiconversionIntro.htm

moorlander said:

One more thought. I know of a disco 200tdi with about 100k on the clock, with the add ons radiator etc for £500.
Its from a friend I trust. I'm wondering whether to bite the bullet and go down that route? Painful though it would be, and an admssion of defeat. If so has anyone posted any good threads on the transplant?
Please have a long hard look into those crystal balls!
Cheers.

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Awful lot of work compared to a head gasket. You could de-turbo yours, a 2.5 NA is a pretty good engine in a Series.