Head gasket?

My 300 tdi started to run rough yesterday, then the temp guage suddenly shot up to the red. I stopped and the rad and top hose were cold until I tapped the thermostat housing. Got towed home and this morning I took out the thermostat (which didn't open in boiling water) Put it all back together (- thermostat) and it won't start and pressure builds up in the coolant resorvoir.

I'm pretty convinced the head gasket is gone but is there anything else I can try?

I have checked the lift pump and that there is fuel at the injectors, I even tried a squirt of brake cleaner in the inlet but it's just not going.

head gasket ,as vehicle ages gasket gets easier to blow let alone a overheat,check rad gets hot all over once done eventhough this seems faulty thermostat

I did check the rad about 2 weeks ago before Eastnor, I had a busy week and knew I would be doing a lot of miles so I changed all the oils and gave it a general check.

Seems like this thermostat has killed the HG which was new about 2 years ago (before I got it)

Oh well, that's my Sunday afternoon taken care of.

Well that was quick, but I'm stuck because I need my other socket set to get the manifolds off but I'm guessing these valve caps are biffed. Considering the Head was supposedly done less than 12000 miles ago this is pretty poor.



That's not grit on the 5th one from the left, it's actually chewed up

SteveD said:

Well that was quick, but I'm stuck because I need my other socket set to get the manifolds off but I'm guessing these valve caps are biffed. Considering the Head was supposedly done less than 12000 miles ago this is pretty poor.

View attachment 49962

That's not grit on the 5th one from the left, it's actually chewed up

View attachment 49963

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tis and not uncommon you can leave them out and adjust tappets to suit ,wouldnt help starting or good running with caps that worn,you either change everything (usually not cost effective )or take a risk that some parts have a short life left not allways identifible

You can probably tell I'm more used to working on delicate rotary engines lol.

Must be 25 years since I did anything like this to a diesel.

But now you have a D1. And so you can get used to HG repairs. HURRAH!

LOL well the head is off and it was definitely the gasket. Injector nozzles look like they have seen better days so I'll prolly send them to be cleaned. I'll have a good look at the valves and seats later in the week. Bit busy at work tomorrow and Tuesday.

This is the worst bit



Am I right in thinking these blobs are in lieu of holes?

Well back from holiday and so are my injectors



Just waiting on the stuff from Paddocks now.

SteveD said:

This is the worst bit

View attachment 50046

Am I right in thinking these blobs are in lieu of holes?

View attachment 50045

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yes its a 2 hole gasket

Cheers James,

It's ok I measured the stand off with a DTI and ordered the same. I didn't want to go thicker unless I needed to