Blown Head Gasket ???

Have been reading up this afternoon...

Had a few quotes this morning. anything betwen £800 & £1200 if it needs a head

decided to take off head myself and check the damage 1st,

got list of the parts I need... they do a Heavy Duty Gasket, would you recommend one or stick with the normal type ??
and they also stock the new replacement expansion tanks.

found a place not far away that does a stage 1 head seems to be complete with valves for £550 or £450ish for standard replacement.

its going to be a FUN weekend wheilding a SPANNER..

Cheers Ian.

I am having my head gasket done, I went by today and the head pressure tested good so they are going to give the mating surface a light cut and put it back togethor, the mechanic pointed out that their was a leak in the cooling system(I just got the car last week) water pump housing had eroded where it connects to the block, at the sealing flange, he is going to get it welded up and machine it flat again, you might check yours, I am not sure if this a common problem. The other thing he showed me was that this engine had been apart before, which seems odd for only having 100k miles, but whoever put it back togethor had allowed the turbo to pump pressure line get sandwiched between the block and head, its a wonder the rear cylinder ever sealed(the middle two are the failed ones). Hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread, but we are in the same boat. If I had not just touched down in this new country and had a place to work I would have liked to have done it myself...good luck

celticknight said:

Have been reading up this afternoon...

Had a few quotes this morning. anything betwen £800 & £1200 if it needs a head

decided to take off head myself and check the damage 1st,

got list of the parts I need... they do a Heavy Duty Gasket, would you recommend one or stick with the normal type ??
and they also stock the new replacement expansion tanks.

found a place not far away that does a stage 1 head seems to be complete with valves for £550 or £450ish for standard replacement.

its going to be a FUN weekend wheilding a SPANNER..

Cheers Ian.

Click to expand...

Head off, pressure tested, skimmed ,New genuine Land Rover head gasket corresponding to head skim (dont skimp on gasket, lot of crap about) new head bolts............. can't think of anything else

is there a problem with using the old headbolts? do they have stretch issues? I will have to see if Land Rover/Ford has them here...

RGT said:

is there a problem with using the old headbolts? do they have stretch issues? I will have to see if Land Rover/Ford has them here...

Click to expand...

Stretch jobs you have to bin em and get some more.

Thanks I would have missed that..

the Heavy Duty gasket was a Original Land Rover one.. it has a ceramic layer.

RGT dont mind at all, the high jacking that is....

celticknight said:

the Heavy Duty gasket was a Original Land Rover one.. it has a ceramic layer.

RGT dont mind at all, the high jacking that is....

Click to expand...

I would go for Heavy duty one but you have to get head tested first to check it's not knacked,skimmed,then you get new thicker gasket to compensate how much has been skimmed of the head.

Thats the plan of action,

will try and start stripping down the top half later on today after work.

the only prob i can see is when rebuilding.. the use of a gauge to corectly set the final angle of the head bolts ie 60' when you have torqued them down...

will worry about that later.

celticknight said:

Thats the plan of action,

will try and start stripping down the top half later on today after work.

the only prob i can see is when rebuilding.. the use of a gauge to corectly set the final angle of the head bolts ie 60' when you have torqued them down...

will worry about that later.

Click to expand...

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][/FONT]
You need a:
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Cylinder Head Bolt Angular Torque Gauge

[/FONT]
And for gods sake dont put 60° straight onto each bolt as you risk warping the head.Do it in 2 stages of 30° to each bolt!

Thanks for the warning... will do.......

made a start stripping down the head.

first problem was the alarm........ disconnected the battery, the alarm went off,
tried the reset code with door key, wouldnt reset, whipped off the electrical connectorheld hand over sounder until the back up battery went flat.


went to see an engine rebuilder about the parts needed.... was told that the head is coated with something called LM24? to protect the alloy, if the engine overheats then this coating softens, and you need to replace the head...

if not, the gasket could blow again within a few weeks.......

so its back to getting the tools out and carry on strpping the parts off.

I have made an executive decision

The Disco is going to a garage to be repaired. I cant donate the time to repair it myself at moment, considering I Bug***d up my van this morning too.

Have made the AA's profits dip since saturday with the times Ive had to call them out.


Been told by my Fiance that I am NOT to drive her car

The Disco is now in safe hands....

A quick look see under the bonnet by the mechanic, suspects the Viscous Fan is NFG... uh thats Not Flipping Good !!

will wait and see when they whipped the head off to check the damage..

hi
check thermostat if 300 tdi its between the hoses from the tank if it fails it causes pressure temp senders dont work on 200 and 300 tdis until its too late

Hiya,

thanks for the info... as said its out of my hands at mo. Its with a local Landy Garage.

Just gets me how long this could have been faulty ?

Have checked the MOT paperwork for milage as its nearly up this month, only done less than 5k. so thats abt 100mile a week. done only 19k in 3yrs

on the other hand, my Vito van is now 151k and thats on a 03 plate.

and I know which one i prefer to drive.....

Worst fears confirmed.

The gasket has blown between the 2nd and 3rd cylinder. The head is apparently ok, got the start of a melted piston and slight scoring of the bores due to excesive heat.

Oh, and the Fan is definately Knackered.

Awaiting some realistic prices to decide what to do next.. was recommended a short engine at £1500 + a Gordon Brown (VAT).

Hopefully I get some more options .....

If the worst comes to it.. I'll have to bring it back home on a low loader to wait and save up to get it repaired.

Hi All,

Am back on the road again....

upshot of all the problems that were fixed.. replacement pistons, new rings, block Honed, Head refurbished with new gaskets & bolts.

Expansion Tank.

The conclusion being, the tank leaked, water level droped, caused the engine to verheat inturn blowing the head gasket and what was left of the joints on the expansion tank.

Had EGR blanking plate & Hose fitted at same time.

With the need of a track rod end and fitting of new rear disks & pads I already had, to do for MOT,

The grand total was £1,151 ish.

Hi all,

the Saga continues.....

Did a 650mile trip down to Dorset from North Wales, the Disco ran like a dream. no apparent problems, checked the water levels during a few pit stops.


now, back home on monday evening, today seem to have a steady drip of water, im guessing from the water pump. hard to tell exactly where from, looking upwards, the oil pipes are in the way, so cant see.

thought it was from the oilpipes from the joint where there is a large nut underneath the water pump area, hard to describe it any better.

but have confirmed it is water dripping. its not a great amount but it is noticable on the carboard i placed underneath.

could do with one of those cameras they stick down your throat to have a proper look.

celticknight said:

Hi all,

the Saga continues.....

Did a 650mile trip down to Dorset from North Wales, the Disco ran like a dream. no apparent problems, checked the water levels during a few pit stops.


now, back home on monday evening, today seem to have a steady drip of water, im guessing from the water pump. hard to tell exactly where from, looking upwards, the oil pipes are in the way, so cant see.

thought it was from the oilpipes from the joint where there is a large nut underneath the water pump area, hard to describe it any better.

but have confirmed it is water dripping. its not a great amount but it is noticable on the carboard i placed underneath.

could do with one of those cameras they stick down your throat to have a proper look.

Click to expand...

Either

1:Waterpump

2:"P Gasket" which is behind the waterpump onto the engine block

3:A core plug that's leaking behind the waterpump in engine block.