Head gasket or oil cooler broken ??

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A

Andy Beasley

New Member
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5
Hi, new to this so please bare with me !!
Got a 1999 TD5 which has done 108K, had a loss of coolant in the top up bottle, so re-filled and kept an eye on it. Slight loss again after a week and water became rusty in colour. Topped up again and booked into garage to check out. Before i got to the garage had a massive loss of power, started to overheat so i stopped. Creamy crap had blown through the water filler cap. Garage said straight away that the head gasket had gone. The garage have now had the car for three weeks, have replaced the head gasket and flushed the system. When the top hose screw is removed it's clear. If you then run the car around the block and remove the screw again the creamy crap is back. The garage are now telling me that it may be the oil cooler, and another large bill !!
Help !! Please !!
Has anyone had a similar problem ??
Did the head gasket need replacing or am i being ripped off ??
Cheers
Andy
 
Well, you may be able to argue that they replaced the wrong thing and it was the cooler all along, they can break down and then water and oil can mix.

Does your radiator look a bit tatty?
 
Thanks for your reply, the rad looks fine.
Do my symptoms sound typical of an oil cooler failure ??
Would the system flush clear and then mix creamy again (visible through the top hose plug) ??
Cheers
Andy
 
Oil only goes to the cooler when its thermostat opens, so if it was all flushed out, then it could have taken all the oil that was going to come out with it, then the next time the oil cooler was in operation (usually motorway or fast driving where the turbo is heating up the oil) it would send more into the cooler and let it mix again.

You could get them to presure test the radiator with the oil lines off.
 
Thanks, what will pressure testing the rad prove ??
If the rad holds pressure is the oil cooler broken, or if the rad loses pressure could it be the rad and still the oil cooler that's broken ??
Sorry for being thick !!
 
When the head gasket blew in my Camaro, needed quite a few flushes to clean all the gunk out. There's still oil on the top of the coolant dip stick to this day.
Is there still a drop in oil level? If it's not dropped since the gasket change, one would guess you're not loosing any into the coolant and it's the old mess still lingering.
 
The oil level has dropped considerably so the fresh oil is still mixing with water somewhere ???
It's had four system flushes now !!
 
Well that doesn't sound great. It could be the oil cooler but it may be they did a shoddy job of the gasket change.
I'm not too familiar with the TD5 - is the oil cooler a sandwich plate near the filter?
 
My 10p worth.

No it doesn't sound great but dont be too hard on the garage, the symptoms you described would make most engineers say "head gasket" and to be fair, it needed looking at first. Maybe the oil cooler can mix the oil and water yes, but its not such a common fault. Its also possible that the block has cracked, unlikley its true, but it is a way for them to mix too.

Unfortunatly you are having to use a garage, thats always expensive, but dont shoot the mechanic for making a bad diagnosis, Its what most would have diagnosed too.
 
Thanks very much for your advice.
I guess i need to wait for the mechanic to do a full check and then find my cheque book !!
 
Andy Beasley said:
Thanks, what will pressure testing the rad prove ??
If the rad holds pressure is the oil cooler broken, or if the rad loses pressure could it be the rad and still the oil cooler that's broken ??
Sorry for being thick !!
Click to expand...

If there is a leak between the oil and water within the rad then a pressure test of the rad (radiator guys can do it out the system) could show this leak.
 
Hi Andy,
I had similiar diagnosis - but I was also told that my cylinder head was cracked.
I have just spent three days changing the cylinder head. Once complete the symptoms are the same - after a test drive I noticed some water leaking.

I traced this to my Oil Cooler and then spent another two hours removing the Oil Cooler - this is severely corroded.

Hopefully once I manage to source a replacement Oil Cooler the TD5 will be back operational.

Good luck with your Land Rover.

Ghillie
 
Andy,
Just had my oil cooler replaced. Symptoms were largely same as head gasket except no coolant getting into oil, it was oil in coolant was sign. Got my indy to replaced the oil cooler and even after a few flushes, there was oily gunk back in the coolant, but as said before, this is due to the gunk waiting to be dislodged etc. Will be going back for a further coolant flush soon, so hopefully that will cure it. Oil coolers are not that cheap though, about €400 over here.
 
Ghillie said:
Hi Andy,
I had similiar diagnosis - but I was also told that my cylinder head was cracked.
I have just spent three days changing the cylinder head. Once complete the symptoms are the same - after a test drive I noticed some water leaking.

I traced this to my Oil Cooler and then spent another two hours removing the Oil Cooler - this is severely corroded.

Hopefully once I manage to source a replacement Oil Cooler the TD5 will be back operational.

Good luck with your Land Rover.

have you got a picture of the oil cooler ? I maybe able to help. we are talking the oil cooler in the rad ? or am i lost?:confused:
Click to expand...
 
oggy said:
Ghillie said:
Hi Andy,
I had similiar diagnosis - but I was also told that my cylinder head was cracked.
I have just spent three days changing the cylinder head. Once complete the symptoms are the same - after a test drive I noticed some water leaking.

I traced this to my Oil Cooler and then spent another two hours removing the Oil Cooler - this is severely corroded.

Hopefully once I manage to source a replacement Oil Cooler the TD5 will be back operational.

Good luck with your Land Rover.

have you got a picture of the oil cooler ? I maybe able to help. we are talking the oil cooler in the rad ? or am i lost?:confused:
Click to expand...

OIL COOLER
Click to expand...
 
stretchie_ said:
ratty said:
That's the fella, I'm after one of these. Someone has a used one on fleabay now for £200. But one just went on fleabay for £50 so got my fingers crossed to find a cheap one. Mine had a crack the whole length of it.
Click to expand...

Might be worth asking shifty what he's doing with his old one. He's just bought a new engine for his TD5.
Click to expand...
 
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