300tdi broken cambelt, overheating and burnt valve

Hello all,

I'm new here, but have owned Land Rovers for 15 years - first an ex-MoD series III 109, then more recently a 1995 300tdi Defender 110 CSW. It's been an adventure so far, but has just turned into a nightmare, and I'm seeking advice or at least moral support!

Cutting a long story short: a couple of months ago I had the Defender serviced at a local specialist in the UK, and had the cam belt changed as it was due in the next year. About 50 miles later the cam belt broke (the new tensioner had seized) while I was doing 70mph. Garage recovered the vehicle and pulled out all the stops to replace the belt, associated parts, all eight bent pushrods and four broken rockers, because the next day I was driving from the UK to Warsaw, Poland.

All went well for about 1100 miles across Europe then I suddenly lost power on the motorway, and saw the temperature gauge way over the red. Got recovered, and it seemed that the fault was a failed P gasket which let the water out, then the exhaust valve burnt on no. 4 cylinder. The Land Rover still goes, but only runs on 3 cylinders and needs half a gallon of water adding every few miles. The P gasket is definitely leaking.

Now I've found a local specialist here who's looking at it. He's just called and told me that the camshaft bearings are loose in the block, which basically writes off the engine - he hasn't even taken the head off yet.

I looked up 300tdi camshaft bearings and it seems that they can loosen, but would cause a loss of oil pressure. I haven't seen any low oil pressure problem at all, so I'm not sure what's going on here.

Any ideas or experience? What's the going rate for a decent 300tdi engine?

Cheers, and thanks in advance,
Chris

Which indy are you using? there are some right cowboys over here and you will end up paying "Angol tax" too.

heres a link to some engines linky

It's at Land World in Warsaw, which was recommended to me by a friend. Do you know it?

Thanks for the Allegro link...

Chris

I've been to look at the vehicle this morning and found out more about the supposed camshaft problems. Apparently the mechanic could hear tapping from the area of the camshaft bearings with a stethoscope, and there's some pitting on the cam lobe which drives the vacuum pump, and this led to the conclusion that the camshaft bearings have enlarged their holes in the block. Hmm.

I don't think there's actually a problem, and told them so: the valve clearances are all over the shop because the rockers and pushrods were replaced just over a thousand miles ago, I know the vacuum pump is a bit rattly, and the engine's done 150,000 miles anyway. The oil pressure is absolutely fine as far as I can tell. I think it's a phantom fault and everything's just a bit worn, exactly as I'd expect it do be. I've told them not to mess with the camshaft for now but concentrate on the head, where there's definitely something wrong!

Chris

Now the head's off the news isn't good - no burnt valve, so the diagnosis from the garage that towed me away from the motorway wasn't right. The head gasket's gone between cylinders 2 and 3 and there's terrible scoring in cylinder 4. You can feel it with a fingernail quite clearly.

See the attached photos

It's a case of either rebuilding this engine or finding a good secondhand one, I think. Not what I really was hoping for

Chris

In all honesty, I would source a replacement engine. It has suffered serious damage from overheating and a cam belt failure. There is no telling what components hidden from view have been fatigued etc. Unless you plan on a complete strip down and blueprint style rebuild of the engine, it would be far cheaper and easier to source a complete engine.

On a positive note, there are plenty of 300tdi discos in scrapyards, albeit a long way off. Maybe a kind soul can ship an engine from the UK for a reasonable amount?

Well, as luck would have it, there are plenty of 300Tdi discos in scrapyards in Poland too! The garage has found a replacement engine with apparently only 80,000km on the clock (I'm not sure whether I really believe that but it may have been rebuilt, I suppose) which should be going in in the next few days. My fingers are crossed.

Chris