My dream Defender is turning into a nightmare!

Hi!
I live in Chile and have bought my dream Land Rover Defender 110, 2006 on the 10th March.

All was going swimmingly and I decided to drive it back to where I live in the south of Chile, Puerto Natales, a journey of 2,000kms.

After approximately 1,000 kms the engine overheated and I switched off immediately and let it cool down. Then I refilled it with water, as all the water had been spurting out of the water reservoir (not the radiator), I noticed the water was orange with oxidation. I limped back to the nearest town that I had passed that day some 60kms away. I found a mechanic and they told me the head gasket needed to be replaced which we did. I also asked them to check the radiator which was full of gunk, so that was cleaned and replaced.

After trying out the vehicle on some nearby roads, I continued on my journey south. I did not have any problems, but I did notice it was leaking some oil, so I kept stopping and checking the oil and water levels. Only the oil went down a bit, so I kept topping it up.

I managed to arrive at my home in Puerto Natales. In order to find out where the oil leak was I sent the vehicle to have the engine cleaned. It was running well and I was happy again. That same afternoon, just as I was arriving at my house, there was a loud bang and the engine started banging. I coasted a few metres to my house and parked. I inspected the engine, took of the rubber cover and noticed that one (of the three) bolts was poking out.

I called a mechanic and he came out that night and we put it back in, also noticing that on the thread were small pieces of the thread from the head (aluminium). So he managed to get the bolt back in and secure but when I fired it up again the same thing happen, the bolt was pushed back out and the engine started banging.

I had to wait all Easter until today to get another mechanic to come out and look at it. We took off the cover and the part with the rocker arms out and he noticed that the rocker (shaft I think, it's the long rod that passes through all the rocker arms) was broken. So I can find a new rocker shaft but I am worried that this is a product of another problem, not the problem itself.

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about his type of problem and can hint as to what else could cause a rocker shaft to break. The break is inside the support furthest from the front of the vehicle. So that one end of the rocker arm is wobbly. Would this alone cause all the problems I am having or is there something else causing all these problems.

Unfortunately I realise now that this defender had not been well looked after, and I probably made a big error in buying it

I will be grateful for any help anyone can give me. I have only had my dream car for 18 days

What engine is fitted to it (300TDI or TD5?) as I believe ROW (Rest of the World) spec vehicles carried on using the 300 after the UK moved to the TD5

presumably td5 if so were the injectors set ,ie with cam at fully open rocker fully up for that injector, adjuster wound down till no free play then back one full turn, will lash adjusters squeeze in a vice

If your mechanic replaced the head gasket then he will of had to remove the rocker shaft, so it sounds like it was refitted incorrectly, maybe bolts not torqued to correct setting when re built

Look like this?

Or this?

Kwakerman said:

Look like this?
View attachment 98674

Click to expand...

It's the same as the first photo

Victoria Mattison said:

It's the same as the first photo

Click to expand...

300 tdi , either tappets(valve clearances) set badly or bolts not tightened properly

I know that they re-used the old bolts which I understand should be replaced with the new head gasket. The mechanics had the spanner with the pressure and they did 60, 60 then 20 on only the thicker bolts

Above all welcome and SO sorry to hear of your troubles...........................

There was tapping when I drove the remaining 1,000 kms which gradually got louder

Victoria Mattison said:

I know that they re-used the old bolts which I understand should be replaced with the new head gasket. The mechanics had the spanner with the pressure and they did 60, 60 then 20 on only the thicker bolts

Click to expand...

you dont need to fit new bolts as long as old are ok ,you need to ensure you fit the right thickness gasket and set valve clearances, and its 40 nm 60 degrees 60 degrees and 20 degrees on the 10 bolts immediately surrounding cylinders

As the head gasket was skimmed at least twice, once when I was having the work done, and the mechanic told me it had been skimmed at least once before, we bought the thickest head gasket which has 4 metal parts riveted together.

I am wondering if it will be better to buy a new head... or is it normal to have these skimmed when replacing the head gasket due to an overheat?

Victoria Mattison said:

As the head gasket was skimmed at least twice, once when I was having the work done, and the mechanic told me it had been skimmed at least once before, we bought the thickest head gasket which has 4 metal parts riveted together.

I am wondering if it will be better to buy a new head... or is it normal to have these skimmed when replacing the head gasket due to an overheat?

Click to expand...

thickest gasket would be obvious choice but without measuring the valve depth(valve stand down) from new head surface you cant tell whether thick gasket was enough, new head is best in any case ,personally i prefer composite gasket rather than steel multi layer for 300 tdi, its possible a valve touched a piston as conditions became right ,but likewise it could be poor clearance setting or bolt fitting (2 bolts 3 nuts in fact)

Victoria, it looks as if you're in for a thorough top end overhaul - which may well be best going for a new or reputable re-conditioned head. Small comfort but at least the darling thing did actually get you home - I bet some of that journey was rural to say the least......................... All our landys cause us untold grief and trouble, after awhile we get them sorted, don't give up, Good luck

Thanks for all your help. I think the best thing is for me to find a new head (can these come complete with new pistons, rocker arms and shaft etc? or this not really required?), gasket and bolts and install it all new. Just hope nothing else rears it's ugly head after all that. The journey was lovely, some parts extremely rural, especially in the Argentinian part!

Hopefully pistons will be fine, you need to find out next time the head is off, above all you need a reputable mechanic and source of parts. Others more familiar with the 300tdi will no doubt advise on your parts list - I run a petrol V8
Good luck and keep us informed.

I'd be looking at pushrod condition, rocker arms, pushrod seats which are brass and can deform if they receive a battering of the pushrods and obviously replacing the knackered rocker arm bridge and checking the condition of the valves depending on the marks on the top of the pistons if there are any . Pistons themselves should be fine. I've got a 300tdi head and all the bits sat in my shed so if you need any pictures or measurements let me know. The replacement engine in my defender came from Argentina so you shouldn't have any problems sourcing parts

Marmaduke said:

I'd be looking at pushrod condition, rocker arms, pushrod seats which are brass and can deform if they receive a battering of the pushrods and obviously replacing the knackered rocker arm bridge and checking the condition of the valves depending on the marks on the top of the pistons if there are any .

Click to expand...

+1

I could be wrong but from the description, it sounds to me like one of the rocker pedestal bolts is stripped. I had that problem on my 200 TDI, when it comes away the tappets do become a lot louder and oil of course escapes from the rocker. Assuming the design is the same on the 300, the pedestal bolts only go into aluminium and take very little torque. I had to put a helicoil in to repair mine which has held fine for over a year.